Ski Racing Federation head resigns after Olympic blunder

There has been more fallout from Russia's less-than-perfect display at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. The president of the country's cross-country skiing federation, Vladimir Loginov, has resigned.

He is the third sports chief to quit since the end of the Games.

Loginov, who took office six years ago, stepped down after his athletes underperformed in Canada, taking only four medals – half as many as they got in Turin in 2006.

“The work on the development of ski racing and training of the Russian Olympic team done over the last years, unfortunately, has not given us the opportunity to enter the leading positions in world ski racing in the Olympic season. As a result, we were able to win only four Olympic medals (one gold, one silver and two bronze), showing the 4th result among countries involved in ski racing competitions at the 2010 Winter Games. Russia finished second in the 2009-10 World Cup season. I think it’s not enough for the credibility of Russia's skiing. Therefore, I have decided to resign as president of Russia’s Ski Racing Federation. I want to express gratitude to all the people involved in development of ski racing in all corners of our country for their work,” Vladimir Loginov’s statement on the Federation’s official website said.

His departure comes after scathing criticism from the athletes themselves.

14 of the country's top skiers – including the only Vancouver gold medalist Nikita Kryukov – wrote an open letter to President Dmitry Medvedev, claiming the federation bosses did nothing to help the sport develop.

While Loginov publicly called athletes in the national squad "spent material that he has to deal with."

Loginov's resignation follows the retirement of Olympic chief Leonid Tyagachev and Deputy Sports Minister Gennady Alyoshin.