Sochi 2014: Controversy as Russian Adelina Sotnikova upsets Korean favourite Kim Yu-Na to snatch figure skating gold medal

Russia's Adelina Sotnikova rode a powerful wave of national emotion to win a controversial Olympic figure skating title on Thursday as the Sochi Games felt shockwaves from Ukraine's bloody civil unrest . Sotnikova, 17, captured Russia's first ever women's individual gold as defending champion and red-hot favourite Kim Yu-Na was dumped into the silver medal position. 

Despite an error when she two-footed a double loop in her combination jump the teenager improved her free skate score by a massive 18 points to take a third skating title in Sochi for hosts Russia.  In stark contrast, both Kim and third-placed Carolina Kostner of Italy gave error-free performances.

"I just have faith that the judges made the right decision," said former world champion Kostner. Kim, 23, had been bidding to become just the third woman to win back-to-back titles after Norway's Sonja Henie, triple winner between 1928 and 1936, and Germany's Katarina Witt in 1984 and 1988.

Controversy: Russia's Adelina Sotnikova celebrates holding her flag at the end of the Figure Skating Women's free skating Program.

Kim watched in tears as the scores came up putting her second behind four-time Russian national champion Sotnikova, who finished runner-up at the Europeans behind countrywoman Julia Lipnitskaia last month.

Lipnitskaia, 15, finished fifth on Thursday.

"I smashed my season's best. In fact, I smashed my highest score for my whole career and I did it at the Olympics. I didn't think I could skate like I did today," said Sotnikova.

It was a third title for Russia after Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov pairs' success, in which they led a 1-2 ahead of Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov. Russia had also won the team competition.

Meanwhile, a Ukrainian alpine skier and her coach pulled out of the Games in protest at the authorities' deadly use of force against the protests in Kiev.

At least 67 people have been killed in two waves of violence between protesters and riot police that first broke out on Tuesday, Kiev city authorities said.

Upset: Russia's Adelina Sotnikova upset South Korea's favourite Kim Yu-Na in a controversial final.

Bogdana Matsotska and her coach Oleg Matsotskiy, who is also her father, said they were "outraged" by the refusal of President Viktor Yanukovych to favour dialogue.

Six gold medals were up for grabs on Thursday with the women's ice hockey final again featuring Canada, who have won the past three gold medals, against the United States, the winners of four of the past five world titles.

In men's freestyle ski cross, Jean Frederic Chapuis led home a French clean sweep ahead of Arnaud Bovolenta and Jonathan Midol.

It was France's first winter podium sweep and also made the Sochi Games the country's most successful with 14 medals so far.

All-conquering Canada won their first Olympic women's curling gold since 1998, defeating Sweden 6-3 to avenge their defeat in the final on home ice at the Vancouver Games.

Skipped by Jennifer Jones, who took to the rink appropriately wearing golden eye shadow, Canada ended Sweden's hopes of a third successive Olympic title.

World champions Britain sealed bronze with a 6-5 win over Switzerland to ensure the country's most successful Winter Olympic Games since Chamonix, France, in 1924.

"It's a dream come true. This is the medal we've been missing and to win it with four of my best friends feels so special," said Eve Muirhead, who skipped Britain to the 2013 world title.

Britain has three medals in Sochi -- one gold and two bronze -- and are assured of at least a silver when their curlers face Canada in the men's final on Friday.

Norway beat Germany by a fraction of a second in a thrilling final sprint to take gold in the men's Nordic combined team relay for the first time since Nagano in 1998.

In the day's other medal event, Maddie Bowman of the United States won the women's freestyle halfpipe, a new event at Sochi.

S.Koreans blame Putin, bias for 'Queen Yuna' loss

SEOUL - South Koreans blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and biased judging at the Sochi Games after their top skater Kim Yuna was denied back-to-back Olympic golds by Russia's Adelina Sotnikova.

In her final Winter Olympics, 23-year-old Kim was beaten by 5.48 points by Sotnikova, who secured Russia's first ladies singles gold, despite a flawless performance from South Korea's most loved and best-known athlete.

Many in this country of 50 million people stayed up until the early hours of Friday expecting to see "Queen Yuna" join Germany's Katerina Witt and Norway's Sonja Henie as the only women to win successive Olympic figure skating golds.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kim Yuna.

 Instead they were left shocked and angry, and by early afternoon on Friday more than 800,000 people had signed an online petition demanding an inquiry into Kim's loss.

Mainstream newspaper Dong-a Ilbo thundered that the judging, which has been questioned by other athletes in Sochi, was "the home turf score plus Putin's score", referring to Russia's president who has made the games a testament to his rule.

Kim has battled injury to sustain her career and had a long term duel with Japan's Mao Asada that saw her win gold in Vancouver four years ago.

Many South Koreans said they believed the outcome would have been different had their country been larger and more powerful.

"Why did you invite all of us if you were going to have Putin's little sports meeting?" Bae Sung-jae, a commentator for broadcaster SBS, said on his Twitter feed.

The anger at Russia was matched by sympathy for Kim as South Korean television showed endless reruns of her performance on Sochi's ice through Friday morning along with footage of her rise to fame from her initial steps on ice as a young girl.

"Yuna was still so beautiful," said 32-year-old fan Kim Young-min in Seoul.

Despite the loss in Sochi, the phrase "Thank you, Yuna" topped the most searched keyword on the nation's biggest Internet portals Naver and Daum throughout Friday morning.

The skater thanked her fans after her loss.

"What mattered was that I was here to compete," she said.

After 17 years as a skater that saw her rise from a six-year-old kid who dabbled in figure skating for fun to the Olympic and world champion, Kim is preparing for the next chapter of her life.

Although she has not announced any specific plans yet, she has said she will not leave the sport completely.

"She is and will be our gold medallist forever and we will be rooting for her next phase of life," said 31-year-old Kim Byoung-in.