SOCHI, February 11, /ITAR-TASS/. Bronze medal at the Olympic Games is a doubtless success for the whole Russian mogul, freestyle skier Alexander Smyshlyaev, who won bronze in a mogul event Monday, said in an interview with Itar-Tass.

He said he was glad to get to the third position in the ranking.

“I think that’s a victory for the entire Russian mogul because it’s the first medal over a period of twenty years and I devote this success to my daughter, whom I’ll meet with very soon.”

“I wasn’t upset when I failed to get silver because my competitors had worked during the season much more than I did and they deserved their medals by right,” Smyshlayev said.

“Could have I done better than them?” he said. “If you take the technical aspect, I probably could, but if you take the jumps then I don’t think so.”

Smyshlyaev pointed out the role that the fans’ support played in his victory.

“The Russian fans helped me really a lot today because I felt a flow of energy from the spectators stands was so powerful that can’t even describe it,” he said. “I heard the shouts of our fans even at the start.”

The previous time the Russian team won a medal /silver/ in mogul was in Lillehammer in 1994. Victory was then scored by Sergei Shupletsov.