Russian athletes performed well at the Beijing Olympics, but the country's potential in sports has not been displayed to the full, said senior members of the State Duma, lower house of the parliament.

Russia "faced the well-trained Chinese squad and Americans who were traditionally strong in summer Olympic Games" at the Beijing Games, Sergei Kolesnikov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Health Protection Committee, was quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency as saying.

Russia's third place on the medal tally is a success, he said. "Honestly speaking, I did not even expect that the Russian team will leave Beijing with this result."

Pavel Medvedev, a member of the Financial Market Committee, said he is satisfied with the performance of Russian athletes at the Beijing Olympics.

"We witness improvement in all spheres, including mass sport, and this would not have been possible without serious financial inputs in this sphere," said the legislator, who described the government's move to raise prize money for medal winners at the Olympics as "timely and correct."

However, Medvedev said Russia's "potential is far from exhausted," and expressed his belief that it will be shown at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in the country's Black Sea resort of Sochi.

Igor Barinov, first deputy chairman of the Defense Committee, believed that Russia ranked third after China and the United States largely due to objective reasons.

"Incidentally, our expectations were more optimistic, but the result is logical," Barinov said, adding that Russia is now confidently making up for the loss in recent years - the state allocates more funds for sports.

"We yielded in a tense struggle, but in future, I hope, we shall finish with flying colors," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2008)