SOCHI SCENE: Skating party

SOCHI, Russia – After the Olympic speedskating competition ended, the party began at Adler Arena.

A few hundred volunteers took over the infield on Saturday night, posing for photos, dancing to loud music, and taking to the ice for a few spins around the oval.

Speedskaters from Russia and Kazakhstan doing practice laps skillfully weaved among the amateurs. One volunteer wearing skates and shorts pushed a wooden bench ridden by two women. Small children wearing shoes toddled carefully on the ice. Women wearing figure skates twirled in circles on the racing surface. Others skated backward. Some lay on the ice for pictures or did their best impersonations of a speedskater's bent over stance.

All the while workers began dismantling the equipment around the oval. The volunteers wound down the celebration with chants of "Spasibo," Russian for thank you.

— By Beth Harris — Twitter http://twitter.com/bethharrisap

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Associated Press reporters are filing dispatches about happenings in and around Sochi during the 2014 Winter Games. Follow AP journalists covering the Olympics on Twitter: http://apne.ws/1c3WMiu