Russian or Soviet skaters had dominated the pairs event by winning gold at 12 successive Olympics stretching back to the 1964 Innsbruck Games but on Monday they were completely knocked off the podium after Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov both crashed to the ice in their free program.
Search and rescue helicopters and volunteers struggling through thick forest and mountainous terrain spotted bodies but no survivors on the Indonesian mountainside where a Sukhoi Superjet 100 crashed by the time darkness forced an end to the search Thursday night.
A dark cloud was cast Wednesday on the revival of Russia’s aviation industry when a Sukhoi-built Superjet 100 with 50 people on board disappeared from the radar screens of Indonesian flight controllers.