Kravtsov was running against his eventual successor in an ugly electoral conference in which both sides accused the other of malpractice.

The congress was held at the Megasport Sport Palace in Moscow and saw Calgary 1988 1,000 metres speed skating champion Gulyayev win by 34 votes to 21.

Vadim Morozov was the only other candidate and amassed two votes.

It was originally supposed to take place in the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) headquarters but was moved at Kravtsov's request.

Kravtsov made no secret of the fact that the decision to move the venue was to aid him as Gulyayev is a member of the ROC executive committee.

Gulyayev's camp believe the venue change was an attempt to prevent a number of delegates from voting.

"I was ready for any outcome," Kravtsov said, as reported by Russian state-run news agency TASS.

"To put it mildly, the other side was conducting an active electoral PR campaign, there were questions about why some people interfere in the elections.

"The outcome was clear when I suggested holding a secret ballot, but people refused to keep the pressure.

"Serious pressure was exerted, which is why we moved the meeting from the Russian Olympic Committee here so that we could protect the delegates from outsiders here.

"Nevertheless, I wish Nikolai Gulyayev success in his new field and see no reason to dispute the results."

Before the start of the congress, several representatives of regional federations claimed that they were not allowed into the meeting room due to the absence of their names from the agreed list, but the situation was resolved after an intervention from Gulyayev's lawyers.

Kravtsov was offered the post of honorary President but turned it down following his defeat.