The Sochi Winter Olympic Games drew to a close Sunday, with China winning nine medals, three golds, four silvers and two bronzes, ranking No.11 in its 10th appearance in the Games.

Host Russia finished off a successful competition in top spot with 33 medals, including 13 golds, beating out Norway and Canada in second and third places.

Although winning two fewer medals and with a lower placing than at the Vancouver Games in 2010, China ranked top among Asian countries at Sochi. 

Chinese sports officials declared their satisfaction with the performance, especially with breakthroughs in several events, including men's curling and women's speed skating, and with the greatly increased communications skills of the delegation and athletes' persistence.

Liu Qiuhong, a short-track speed skater, will be China's flag-bearer at the closing ceremony.

Although Liu did not win a medal in Sochi, she displayed true sportsmanship after missing Vancouver due to injury, but kept fighting for another four years to encourage young skaters.

Many other accomplished veteran athletes, including figure skating duo Pang Qing and Tong Jian and freestyle skier Li Nina, have made as much contribution by simply competing, even though they did not get a medal, said Xiao Tian, deputy director of the Chinese delegation.

The ongoing bid for Beijing and Zhangjiakou, a small city in Hebei Province, to co-host the Winter Games in 2022, will help boost winter sports development in China, said Xiao.

While trying to improve understanding and training methods for athletic events in the future, the government would also work to promote winter sports among the public using market incentives, Xiao added.

Despite various safety and human rights concerns beforehand, the Sochi Games ended up "great," pronounced International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, saying the response from the athletes was "overwhelmingly positive," reported AFP.

"The ice of the skepticism toward the new Russia has been broken," said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.

Global Times