Putin Meets U.S. Women’s Hockey Team in Sochi
The U.S. women’s hockey team had a surprise encounter with Russian President and renowned hockey fan Vladimir Putin at the Sochi Olympics, captain Meghan Duggan said Thursday.
Putin stopped during a tour of the Olympic village in Sochi to chat with the players as they drank coffee in a break area, Duggan said.
"He came right up to us, introduced himself and said nice to meet you," she said. "When we told him we played hockey, his eyes lit up."
Duggan added: "Being an American and meeting President Obama is close to my heart...but meeting the president of another nation is a big deal."
Putin occasionally plays hockey at charity events and took part in an exhibition game alongside Russia's defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Bolshoy Ice Dome in Sochi’s Olympic Park, which will host the women’s final February 20 and the men’s gold medal game three days later.
In an Olympic Record, More than 50 World Leaders to Attend Sochi Games
The Sochi Olympics have barely begun yet already the first world record looks sure to be smashed: More than 50 heads of state and government are to attend Friday's opening ceremony.
Among the leaders are Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Norway’s King Harald V and Prime Minister Erna Solberg.
"The Games in Sochi will be record-setting in the history of the Winter Games by attendance of heads of state and government," the Games organizers told R-Sport in a statement.
"That's more than at the last two Games in Turin and Vancouver combined," they added.
U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron are among the more conspicuous names to have turned down invitations; while French President Francois Hollande declared in December he would not attend and German President Joachim Gauck explicitly cited Russia's human rights record as the reason he would skip it.
Gay rights groups have called for an all-out boycott of the Sochi Games due to a law signed by President Vladimir Putin that criminalizes any perceived promotion of homosexuality to the under-18s.
The Games run February 7-23.
For a full list of delegates who are attending the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, visit R-Sport.
Published by exclusive arrangement with Around the Rings’ Sochi 2014 media partner RIA-Novosti.
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