Instead, her countrymen have dominated the proceedings through four days of competition, leading the event with 15 medals, including six golds.

With the cross-country skiers accounting for seven medals and the biathletes the rest, she attributed Russia's success to a changing attitude toward disabled people in her country over the past 20 years.

"We train a lot of people with disabilities. They train just as much as able-bodied athletes, not less than them at least. They can be as good," said Gromova.

Her diverse charges include Valery Darovskikh, a former soldier shot during the Afghan war, to Kirill Mikhaylov, a two-time gold medalist at these Games.

Gromova, a former cross-country skier, initially got into coaching as a hobby through her husband, a former ski jumper who broke his neck diving in 1982.

Learning about disabled sport through a visiting German team, she became involved as a team leader trying to find people with disabilities to participate.

In 2005, the country's minister of sport recognized her efforts and offered her a paid position as coach. Her efforts bore fruit almost immediately as Russia won 33 medals at the Torino 2006 Paralympic Winter Games.

With Sochi hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, Gromova said she hopes her countrymen can build off their past Games success to star on home snow.

"It is so exciting because we will host those Games. We don't want to be a disgrace," she said. "We want to be first. We expect and hope the financial (support for Russian Paralympians) will be better for Sochi."

Russia has already won 23 medals at this Games, nearly double Germany who are second on the tally with 11.

tags: olympic, paralympics, russia, biathlon, cross, country, medal, domination, sochi, torino

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