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"We have come close a couple of times and it is finally nice to get the first one (gold)."įinland and the Russians came into the Beijing games as joint-favourites after perennial contenders Canada and the United States were weakened by the NHL’s decision to keep its stars home over pandemic concerns. Hockey is a big thing in Finland," said captain Valtteri Filppula. "It is hard to put in words what this means. The Finnish men have now won medals in seven of the past 10 Winter Olympics going back to 1988, including two silver and four bronze. With the victory, Finland finally added gold to a packed Olympic medals case in ice hockey. (Photo by Sergei Bobylev\TASS via Getty Images)įinland then went ahead 30 seconds into the final period when Bjorninen scored, and nearly added more down the stretch. Ivan Fedotov in action for ROC in the men's ice hockey gold medal match. With the Russians scoring few goals at the Beijing Olympics, his saves made him a star. "I'll definitely put it on and enjoy that but later on.”įedotov was born in Finland with Russian-Finnish heritage, but grew up in Russia.
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“I'm an all-or-nothing person, and it's hard to accept a defeat. “It's hard to accept that it isn't gold,” Fedotov said afterwards. When Fedotov received his medal he simply couldn't bring himself to put it around his neck.īy the end of the ceremony he was the only player from both sides not wearing a medal. The Russian goaltender held his medal in his hand instead of putting it around his neck after the ROC's 2-1 loss to Finland in the men's ice hockey final on Sunday.ĭue to Covid-19 protocols at the Beijing Games, athletes are tasked with picking up their medals from a platter rather than having them placed around their necks. Ivan Fedotov was so devastated at missing out on the gold medal at the Winter Olympics that he couldn't bring himself to wear the silver in the post-game ceremony. This article originally appeared on Yahoo Sports Australia.