Vancouver Winter Olympics

MOSCOW - Russia's flop at the Vancouver Winter Olympics followed widespread misspending by sports officials and a dysfunctional bureaucracy, government auditors said.

The audit puts Russia's total spending for the games, including preparations, at $186 million. It cited dozens of examples of money being wasted, saying the figure ran into millions of dollars.

Russia, a traditional sports powerhouse, won only three gold and 15 total medals in Vancouver, putting the investment cost of each medal at $12.4 million. Russia spent five times less in Turin in 2006, when it won eight golds.

The daily Vedomosti said Monday the findings would raise pressure on Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko to resign.

According to the audit, Mutko charged 97 breakfasts to the Russian taxpayer during his 20-day stay in Vancouver. Why he would need five breakfasts per day - costing $4,500 in total - went unexplained.

Mutko could not be reached for comment, but has rejected the audit's findings in comments carried by the Russian media.

Russia is hosting the next Winter Olympics in 2014 in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The Vancouver figure did not include $19 million spent on promoting the Sochi Games, nor $12 million on the Paralympics.

President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the audit after the Vancouver results humiliated the country and cost many top sports officials their jobs

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