Anton Shipulin (RUS) nears the finish line in the men’s 4×7.5km relay during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center.

Despite all the negative, sensational news stories you’ve probably read about Sochi (and despite there being some truth to a few of them), there’s one thing that can’t be argued with about Russia: The citizens here have an immense amount of pride in their country, and are extremely proud to be hosting the Winter Olympics.

This can be felt everywhere from the cafeteria at the Gorki Press Center, when the chef asks you to wait a few moments longer so you can have a fresher serving of food, on up to all the Russian volunteers who greet us each day at the venues with a smile, a wave, and a hello. You won’t go a day here without a Russian citizen reminding you, in some way, that they’re happy you’re here.

This pride is most evident, however, from Russian spectators at events, who make up the majority of those in attendance here. Whenever a Russian athlete is in the lead, the cheers from the stands are defining. I’m going to hear chants of, “Russ-eee-uh! Russ-eee-uh!,” in my sleep for weeks to come.

Tonight, I covered the men’s 4×7.5km biathlon relay, where Russia would go on to take the gold medal. The energy in the stadium was electric as Anton Shipulin crossed the finish line. During the medals ceremony that followed, even the volunteers keeping us photographers in the right place couldn’t hold back their tears of pride.

A general view of the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center during the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

Skiers on course in the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

Skiers transition into the shooting range area. When I first covered biathlon, I didn’t understand what shooting guns at targets had anything to do with skiing. Then, it was explained to me that these athletes have just cross country skied for over a kilometer (no easy task), and must instantly transition to calm breathing to be able to shoot at tiny targets correctly! Once I understood how difficult this was, the event became much more impressive to me.

Skiers practice their marksmanship prior to the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

Lowell Bailey (USA) competes in the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

The sun sets behind the grandstands at the Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center during the men’s 4×7.5km relay.

Austrian team member Dominik Landertinger pushes towards his last lap.

Russian team members (from left to right) Alexey Volkov, Evgeny Ustyugov, Dmitry Malyshko, and Anton Shipulin celebrate on the gold medal podium after the men’s 4×7.5km relay during the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games at Laura Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Center.

Photo assistant Kseniya Artemyeva of Russia is overcome with emotion during the medals ceremony.

Austrian team members (from left to right) Simon Eder and Dominik Landertinger check out their bronze hardware.

Even the flower presenters could barely hold back their tears.

Detail view of the Russian team holding their new gold medals.

This is how tonight (and most of my events) ended for me, with my cameras plugged into a network cable sending my photos off to our USA Today Sports editors. A special button on the camera allows us to select which photos we want to send. If you’re in a shooting position that has a network cable ran to it, this can be done in real time as the event is going on. If you choose to roam around the course like I did, however, you have to go find a cable “drop” and send your photos all at once, which can take a while. This system is known as the “VLAN” (pronounced Vee-Lan), which in computer talk, stands for Virtual Local Area Network. Everyone that participates in the VLAN here has a unique color of network cable (ours is pink).

Guy’s Russian Word of the Day is, “??????,” pronounced, “Zooletuh,” meaning, “Gold,” as in, “The Russians were proud of their countrymen who took the ?????? medal tonight.”