Olympic attention moved from Canada to the former Soviet republic of Georgia as luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was buried in his hometown of Bakuriani.

National Tragedy

The 21-year-old hurtled off the high-speed track and slammed into a metal pole at 140 km/h (90 mph) just hours before the start of the Games. He was taken to hospital with blood pouring from a head wound after trackside emergency treatment, but doctors were unable to save his life.

His funeral was attended by thousands of people, including the country's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, and other politicians.

"This is a huge tragedy both for Nodar's family and the entire nation," Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Nino Kalanadze said.

"This is very hard to bear for tiny Georgia," the country's first lady, Sandra Rulovz, commented.

It was earlier announced that a street and a luge track in Bakuriani, some 190 kms from the capital Tbilisi, would be named in the athlete's honor.

U.S. lead medal table with 20

The U.S. are in first place in the overall medal count table, with six golds, eight silvers and eight bronzes. Favorites Germany are second with 13 (4,5,4). Norway are third with 10 (5,3,2).

Russia to grin and bear Plushenko ruling

Russia will not lodge an appeal against the judges' decision to give 2006 Olympic free skating competition champion Evgeni Plushenko the silver medal. Gold went to the U.S.'s Evan Lysacek.

Many commentators, both in Russia and abroad, felt that Plushenko had done enough to win gold, but Russian sport minister Vitaly Mutko said that "the judging system is the way it is, and we need to adapt to it and not criticize it."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin earlier backed Plushenko, who has said he may now retire from the sport.

Swedes lead ice-hockey Group C with 100% record

Reigning ice-hockey champions Sweden defeated Belarus 4-2 to go top of Group C with tow wins in two games.

Sweden's Daniel Alfredsson scored his country's fourth with less than 10 seconds of the game remaining after Belarus had fought back from 3-0 down.

Britain's first gold

Britain's Amy Williams on Friday won the women's skeleton, bringing her country its first gold medal.

Williams, 27, finished with 3:35.64. Germany's Kerstin Szymkowiak took silver with a time of 3:36.20.

Germany's Anja Huber grabbed the bronze medal. Her time was 3:36.36.

Russia gets a second bronze.

Russia's Alexander Tretyakov won the bronze medal in the men's skeleton on Friday. His time was 3:30.75.

Canadian Jon Montgomery took the gold medal with a time of 3:29.73 and Latvian Martins Dukurs grabbed silver with 3:29.80.

Russia now has five medals, one gold, two silvers and two bronzes and is in joint sixth place in the overall medal count table.

MOSCOW, February 20 (RIA Novosti)