Russian sports fans were urged on Monday not to dramatize the situation around the poor performance of the country's Olympic team over the first two days of the Winter Games in Vancouver.
Russia has won just one of the 30 medals awarded so far - Ivan Skobrev's bronze in men's 5,000 m Speed Skating on Sunday.
"We were disappointed twice - in biathlon and in figure skating," the head of the Russian Tennis Federation, Shamil Tarpishchev, said.
Russia's Yuko Kavaguti and Alexander Smirnov are third after the short program in figure skating, 2.5 points behind the leaders, China's Shen Xue and Zhao Hongbo.
Russia's biathlon sprinter Ivan Tcherezov came 10th on Sunday.
"I don't think that was a tragedy in the biathlon. I somehow believe we will win a couple of golds in biathlon. The preparations went well, and I know how it's going inside the team. Let's hope [they] perform better," Tarpishchev said.
Russia's hopes in the luge were not justified either, with Albert Demchenko finishing fourth by three-hundredths of a second, and a Russian entrant in the Nordic combined, Niyaz Nabeev, was barred from competing after pre-games tests detected too-high hemoglobin levels.
"Yes, that might not have been nice, but we believe our major successes are yet to come," said Viktor Khotochkin, deputy head of the Russian Olympic Committee.
Vitaly Smirnov, the committee's honorary president, called for patience and hope.
"Hold off with the criticism, we must create a positive atmosphere now. Everyone's working... We will be hoping. We should have patience," said the Russian Olympic chief, who turned 75 on Sunday.
In a message of congratulations to Smirnov on Sunday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev praised his contribution to Olympics development and efforts to popularize mass sports and a healthy lifestyle.
VANCOUVER, February 15 (RIA Novosti)
