PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Irina Rodnina and Alexander Zaitsev from the Soviet Union perform their program during the pairs figure skating's competition 17 February 1980 in Lake Placid at the Winter Olympic Games. Rodnina and Zaitsev won the gold medal in front of compatriots Marina Cherkosova and Sergei Shakrai (silver) and East Germans Manuela Mager and Uwe Bewersdoff (bronze).

Evgeniy Kulikov of the Soviet Union flashes down the rink to win the men???s 500-meter speed skating event at the 12th Winter Olympics at Innsbruck, Feb. 10, 1976. His time was 39.17 seconds. (AP Photo)

Galina Kulakova of the Soviet Union moves across country on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1976 in the women???s 10-kilometer cross country ski race at the 12th Winter Olympics. The placed third to win the bronze medal. Miss Kulakova had third place in Saturday???s five-kilometer race but was disqualified after she took drugs for a cold. (AP Photo)

Gold medal winner Nikolai Bajukov of Soviet Union joins hands with silver medalist Evgeny Belieav, also of the Soviet Union, left, and bronze medalist Arto Koivisto of Finland, right, during the award ceremony, Feb. 9, 1976 at the Innsbruck Olympic hall in Innsbruck for 15-kilometer cross country competition of the Winter Olympics. (AP Photo)

Soviet attacker Sergey Kapustin, foreground, circles around on the ice in the first group game against the U.S. team during Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, February 6, 1976. U.S. goalie is James Warden, on the extreme left is U.S. defender Richard Lamb, others are unidentified. (AP Photo)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Irina Rodnina and Alexei Ulanov (C) from the Soviet Union, flanked by compatriots Lyudmila Smimova and Andrei Surakin (L) and Manuela Gross and Uwe Kagelmann from East Germany, smile as they wave to the crowd on the podium during the medals ceremony of the pairs' figure skating 06 February 1972 in Sapporo (Japan) at the Winter Olympic Games. Rodnina and Ulanov won the gold medal, Smimova and Surakin, the silver and Gross and Kagelmann, the bronze.

A soviet player scores a goal in a scramble with two Czech players in the Winter Olympics hockey match between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia on Jan. 31, 1964 in Innsbruck, Austria. The Soviets won 7-5 and took a giant stride toward a gold medal; the Czechs had been considered the Soviet???s chief obstacle to win the Olympic title.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Lyudmila Belousova and her partner Oleg Protopopov (C), flanked by West Germans Marika Kilius and Hans-J??rgen B??umler (L) and Canadians Debbi Wilkes and Guy Reveil, wave to the crowd on the podium of the figure skating pairs competition 15 february 1968 in Innsbruck. The Soviet couple won the Olympic gold medal in front of the Germans and the Canadians.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Lyudmila Belousova and her partner Oleg Protopopov from the Soviet Union stand of the podium of the figure skating pairs competition 15 february 1968 in Innsbruck, after winning the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Lyudmila Belousova and her partner Oleg Protopopov from the Soviet Union execute their program during the figure skating pairs competition 14 february 1968 in Innsbruck. The Soviet couple won the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Lyudmila Belousova and her partner Oleg Protopopov from the Soviet Union execute their program during the figure skating pairs competition 14 february 1968 in Innsbruck. The Soviet couple won the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

Congratulating each other on the podium after receiving their medals for taking their first three places in the Biathlon, in the 10th Winter Olympics Games, in Grenoble, France on Feb. 12, 1968. From left to right; Alexandre Tikhonov of the Soviet Union, who won the silver medal; Norway's Magnar Solberg, who won the gold medal and Vladimir Goundartsev of the Soviet Union who won the bronze medal. (AP Photo)

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Lyudmila Belousova and her partner Oleg Protopopov from the Soviet Union joke in front of photographers February 1968 in Innsbruck. The Soviet couple won the gold medal in the figure skating pairs competition at the Winter Olympic Games.

PHOTO: EAST NEWS/AFP Lyudmila Belousova and her partner Oleg Protopopov from the Soviet Union execute their program during the figure skating pairs competition 29 January 1964 in Innsbruck. The Soviet couple won the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

The winners of the women's 1500-meters speed skating competition pose with their medals, on February 21, 1960, at the VIII Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley, California. From left are: Elwira Seroczynska from Poland, silver medal winner, Lidia Skoblikova, Soviet Union, gold medal, and Helena Pilejczyk from Poland, who won the bronze medal. (AP Photo)

Russia's Ljubov Kozyreva winning the women's 10 kilometre cross country ski, at the seventh Winter Olympic Games, at Cortina, Italy, on Jan. 28, 1956. This was Russia first ever gold medal at the winter Olympics. (AP Photo)

The Russian team enter the stadium at Cortina, Italy, at the start of the seventh Winter Olympic Games, on Jan. 26, 1956. This is the first time that a team from Russia has taken part in the Winter Olympics and they are the largest team present, 145 members. (AP Photo)