A first gold that appeals to the soul of the host nation

In an arena filled with waving flags, the coronating presence of President Vladimir V. Putin, bouquets of tossed flowers and a whiff of scandal, Russia won its first gold medal Sunday as host of the Sochi Olympics, taking first place in a new team figure skating competition and reasserting its prominence in the marquee sport of the Winter Games.

The victory at the Iceberg Skating Palace brought a buoyant moment for the home country and a restorative achievement for a dominant figure skating nation that had failed to win a gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. It was the first time since 1960 that Russia or the Soviet Union had failed to win gold in the sport, but it turned out to be a brief drought linked to the sporting tumult that followed the collapse of the Soviet Union.

"It's important because it is not an individual event but a team event, and it brings joy to the whole country," said Tamara Moskvina, who has coached Russian pairs skaters to four Olympic gold medals. "Figure skating is our tradition. It combines technique and art and Russia has great tradition in those fields."

A team competition was introduced in Sochi to bring more visibility to a sport whose vitality and credibility had been sapped by predetermined outcomes, a scoring system inaccessible to casual fans and the anonymous nature of the judging.

Canada won the team silver medal, and the United States took bronze, buoyed by Meryl Davis and Charlie White, who won the short and long program in ice dancing.

As the medalists celebrated, though, skating again had veered into accusations of impropriety. L'Equipe, a French sports newspaper, recently quoted an unnamed Russian coach as saying that the U.S. and Russia had conspired to fix the team event and the pairs and ice dancing competitions at the expense of Canada.

Denials and shrugs have been issued all around. And it was clear in the team event that if Russia did seek illicit help, it did not need it. By any objective measure, the victory came by merit.

"For all this talk of a deal, the Russians would have won anyway," said David Wallechinsky, the president of the International Society of Olympic Historians.

Yevgeny Plushenko, 31, the Russian men's star competing in his fourth games, won the men's long program Sunday with a valedictory performance that was full of showmanship and calculatedly lacking in risk.

He attempted only one four-revolution jump, not wanting to jeopardize the team gold, and became the most decorated Olympic skater in the modern era. He now has four career medals, having won the men's singles competition in 2006 and silver medals in 2002 and 2010.

Only Gillis Grafstrom of Sweden, the Olympic men's champion in 1920, '24 and '28, and a silver medalist in 1932, can match Plushenko's total.

"Many skaters are good, but Yevgeny has charisma," said Alexei Mishin, his longtime coach. "He radiates power. He radiates a sense of beauty. He radiates something what spectacles need. The majority loves him, the minority jealous."

Plushenko's achievement is made more impressive  by his perseverance through repeated injuries. He said he has needed a dozen operations to repair the effects of the pounding his body has sustained with jarring landings on ice.

Though he skated safely and cautiously on Sunday, Plushenko can still land effortless quadruple jumps and feathery triple axels despite having screws in his back from surgery. He said he felt pain in his spine Sunday, though, which raised questions about whether he would compete this week in the individual men's event.

His body does everything but clink, as if he were leaving a dinner party with all the silverware hidden in his overcoat. But he was upbeat Sunday night, saying, "It feels great. I would like more medals."

Even if Sunday was his final Olympic performance, Plushenko has secured his reputation as one of the sport's greats.

"It's absolutely amazing the longevity he's had," said Kevin Reynolds of Canada, who finished second in the men's long program. "He's been doing quads since the age of 14. To do what he's done at that age is absolutely incredible."

Yulia Lipnitskaya, 15, of Russia, won the short and long programs in the women's team event and became the youngest gold medalist since Tara Lipinski of the United States won the women's individual competition at 15 at the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

With the flexibility and fearlessness of youth, and the gravity and emotional resonance of her performance to music from "Schindler's List," Lipnitskaya also established herself as an emerging challenger to Kim Yu-na of South Korea, the reigning Olympic champion.

"She's 15, but she's completely unfazed," said Gracie Gold, 18, of the United States, who finished second in the long program to Lipnitskaya. "She has no spine, but she has iron in her bones."

© 2014 New York Times News Service