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Sochi roundup: Bear mascot caps off Closing Ceremony, Russia wins final medal count and Canada repeats in hockey

Sochi roundup: Bear mascot caps off Closing Ceremony, Russia wins final medal count and Canada repeats in hockey

The 2014 Sochi Games came to an extravagant end Sunday with a Closing Ceremony that was just as impressive as the Opening Ceremony over two weeks ago. The Russians even poked fun at the ring mishap from the Opening Ceremony. We also got to see the now-famous Sochi bear mascot blow out the Olympic torch and cry a single tear before we got a look-ahead to Pyeongchang in 2018.

[Photos: Sochi 2014 Closing Ceremony]

The Russians rounded out the day by winning the overall medals tally with 33 total medals – 13 gold, 11 silver and nine bronze. It was quite the rebound for Russia after they won just three gold medals in the 2010 Vancouver Games. The Russians capped off the Games with a Sunday podium sweep in the men’s cross country. They also pulled out another gold in the four-man bobsled. The United States claimed the second spot with 28 medals (nine gold, seven silver, 12 bronze) and Norway was third with 26 total (11 gold, five silver and ten bronze).

Team Canada repeated as the top dogs in hockey with a 3-0 shutout of Sweden on Sunday. Jonathan Toews, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz each scored and Carey Price registered another shutout behind the stout Canadian defense. Team Sweden was missing three of its top players with Henrik Zetterberg and Henrik Sedin being out with injury and Niklas Backstrom testing positive for a banned substance believed to have been from the use of an allergy medicine.

[Related: Sochi Bear mascot 'blows out' Olympic flame to cap off a great Olympics for bears]

The French men’s ski cross team swept the podium on Thursday, but several opponents accused them of using modified race suits. Canada and Slovenia appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have the French disqualified, but the appeal was ultimately dismissed. Canadian and Slovenian officials alleged that the suits were illegal and changed to gain an “illegal aerodynamic effect.”

"I came here and said, 'Impossible.' We were here and you saw (an) old, Stalinist-style sanatorium city where you entered the room and you were looking at the roof so you would not be hit by something falling down. It was terrible. And then seeing now... it was really amazing. And now it will be important to secure the legacy of this games."

- IOC president Thomas Bach on the transformation of Sochi.

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