Olympic Notes: Russian National Hockey Team Coach Resigns After Sochi Loss

Russian national hockey team coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov "is leaving his job after the home team's disappointing quarterfinals exit at the Sochi Olympics." The Int'l Ice Hockey Federation said that Russia "is looking for a new coach before the world championship in May in Belarus" (AP, 3/5). ... Doctors said that Russian freestyle skier Maria Komissarova "who was hospitalised after a serious accident at the Sochi Winter Olympic Games is permanently paralysed." The 23-year-old "is in a German clinic after suffering a fractured spine in a crash in training for the ski cross event at Sochi 2014, by far the worst accident of the Winter Games." Citing specialists at the German clinic, Russia's Freestyle Federation said, "Due to the severity of the injury, the functions of the spinal canal are not regenerating" (NEW ZEALAND NEWS, 3/6).