election process of the Indian Olympic Association. On 11 February, the Indian Olympic Association was reinstated and India's athletes were allowed the option to compete under their own flag from that time onward. Although Shiva Keshavan competed as an Independent athlete and is recorded as such, he was permitted to walk under the flag of India at the Closing Ceremony. National houses During the Games some countries had a national house, a meeting place for supporters, athletes and other followers. Houses could be either free for visitors to access or have limited access by invitation only. Sports The 2014 Winter Olympics featured 98 events over 15 disciplines in 7 sports. A total of twelve new events were contested, making it the largest Winter Olympics to date. Biathlon Bobsleigh Curling Ice hockey Luge Skating Skiing Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of medal events contested in each separate discipline. New events On 6 April 2011, the IOC accepted a number of events that were submitted by their respective sports federations to be considered for inclusion into the official program of these Olympic Games. The events included a Figure skating team event, Women's ski jumping, Mixed relay biathlon, Ski half-pipe, and Team relay luge. On 4 July 2011, the IOC announced that three events would be added to the program. These events, which were officially declared by Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on 4 July 2011, were: Ski slopestyle, Snowboard slopestyle, Snowboard parallel special slalom. Team alpine skiing was also presented as a candidate for inclusion in the Olympic program but the Executive board of the IOC rejected this proposal. The International Ski Federation persisted with the nomination and this was considered. There were reports of bandy possibly being added to the sports program, but the IOC rejected this request. Subsequently, the international governing body, Federation of International Bandy, decided that Irkutsk and Shelekhov in Russia would host the 2014 Bandy World Championship just before the Olympics. On 28 November 2006, the Executive Board of the IOC decided not to include ski mountaineering, ski-orienteering, or winter triathlon in the review process of the program. Closing ceremony The closing ceremony was held on 23 February 2014 between 20:14 MSK (UTC+4) and 22:25 MSK (UTC+4) at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi. The ceremony was dedicated to Russian culture featuring world-renowned Russian stars like conductor and violinist Yuri Bashmet, conductor Valery Gergiev, pianist Denis