What's your Sochi takeaway?

[maxsolomon]

I watched a lot of the Olympics - I like winter sports. I think the things I'll remember boil down to only 3, one positive, one neutral, and one very negative:

1. The Caucasus Mountains are incredibly beautiful, and much more rugged and high than I'd thought previously.

2. Putin is expressionless, charmless, and that very lack of emotion makes him very scary. An iron fist hidden in a gray bureaucrat. His grip on Russia isn't going anywhere.

3. The ugly face of Russian Social Conservatism, specifically the Cossacks beating Pussy Riot as they tried to film a protest Video in Sochi. The Cossacks accused the women of Pussy Riot of being "American Whores", which I found pretty telling about their opinion of the US - they were willing to do that on-camera, unprompted. They also berated the media with Nationalist sentiment - you just got here and you act like you own my country, etc. You don't have to scratch very hard at the glossy sheen of "Modern Russia" for its ugly face to show through. They remind me of our own social conservatives: bitter, fearful, & angry.

Here's the Pussy Riot video, but not the one with "American Whores" in it - that's been deleted.

[Democracyinkind]

1. Mine: Cossacks are actually still in use.

It seems so 19th-centurish. But it is a catchy name.

[maxsolomon]

5. I was surprised as well.

But apparently it serves the Russia Govt, as it does in Iran (the Basij), to have a paramilitary force that "can do things the police can't".

Like deploying them to horsewhip women on-camera. It is the kind of choice you make when you don't care what the IOOC thinks anymore.

[yeoman6987]

37. Nothing

I watched last night's closing ceremony and then they made fun of the olympic circle and turned it over to Downton Abbey….it was not on yet so I went and made a snack and by the time I arrived Downton was ready to go. Other then that, I did not watch a second of it. But I normally don't anyway. I watched that skating sport in 1994 with the whole Nancy and Tanya episode and that was a hoot! Never thought that the Olympics could up that drama and so far from what I have heard, nothing has matched that.

[redwitch]

45. Well there was Munich. n/t

[yeoman6987]

46. Well that is true

However, I was about 3 years old during that time. However, I did see the movie.

[stopbush]

62. I visited the Olympic Village in Munich.

My high school band was one of 15 US bands that toured Holland & Germany in the run-up to the 72 Olympics. We performed in Munich and elsewhere. I believe we returned to the US a few days before the games actually started, probably 10 days before the terrorist siege began.

[big_dog]

52. watched NASCAR instead

http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/hhYemCIBw11kDFiZZDuyGQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/

[quinnox]

2. I didn't watch it

not a fan of the winter games. Regarding Putin, maybe an iron fist is required to hold things together there. I'd rather have that than chaos and some nut rise to power with nukes at his fingertips.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Our ice hockey team fuckin' sucks

[Aldo Leopold]

6. +1

Watching the 1980 team with my dad was the pinnacle.

[stopbush]

42. That was a different time. The wonder of 1980 was that the American AMATEUR team beat a Russian team

that was a professional team in every respect except being called the same.

These days, it's pros against pros in sports like hockey & basketball.

Dream teams? Guess again. Snooze teams.

[Baclava]

49. I was rooting for Finland

Tuukka Tuukka Tuukka!

OLLI MAD DOG MAATTA!




Shove that Bronze in Bylsmas's face when he tells you you're back on the 4th line in Pittsburgh

[pokerfan]

91. The bronze medal game was pathetic

If our boys are going to lay down if they can't play for gold then send the amateurs.

[BainsBane]

4. Slope style is awesome!

and people really shouldn't use skis on the half pipe. It's far too dangerous. Also Yuna Kim's short program, which was magical.

[laundry_queen]

73. Yeah, that was my favorite these games! nt

[Bluenorthwest]

7. My take away is that Straights who say they care about human rights don't.

After Sochi, Francis, Uganda, Nigeria and Arizona, the message is pretty damn clear. Oh, also Farakahn, Kansas, Conyers.....fuck it, there is no reason to even try anymore.

[A HERETIC I AM]

14. Don't give up.

I think the things you mentioned are basically pushback.

Don't worry....Humanity will advance. It wasn't too long ago that the current President of Uganda could have been bought and sold in an open market. - as Louis CK said, "it's only been 140 years since slavery was done away with in the US - that's 2 70 year old grandmothers back-to-back".

I understand your sentiment, believe me. It is frustrating to see such backward thinking in this century.

But think of all the advancements too. Don't forget those. I'll be 55 in May and when I was younger, it was simply unheard of for a public figure to announce to the world he or she was homosexual.

Sooner or later those 11th century thinkers will be relegated to the dustbin of history.

[maxsolomon]

16. I see all that as the final thrashing about of a dying mindset

there's plenty of reason to keep up the pressure and fight, esp. in KS and AZ, where these unconstitutional "tolerate my intolerance" measures will go down in flames in the courts.

to expect social conservatives to not behave as if it's THEM that is being attacked is too much to ask. if they didn't try to retrench or regress, they wouldn't be conservatives. self-centered fear is the core of their being.

they're going to lose, but it won't happen overnight in places like Africa or Russia.

[bravenak]

33. This is how it happens when bigotry is in it's death throes. They start trying to ramp things up.

They fight like cornered rats, because they are. Back in the day, there would not even be mention of homophobia, because homophobia was assumed, it was normal. Now it's a bad thing. We teach our children that it's normal to be who you are. You are winning, don't stop.

We need to keep kicking ass and taking names at all times.
I couldn't even watch the Olympics this time and I love curling. I just wasn't into it this time.

[MADem]

34. Now, now--put away that broad brush.

Use the "some" word and I'll agree with you. Some people put their enthusiasm for sport ahead of the human rights record of the Russian government (not the people,, universally, the government).

The only part of the Olympics that I really liked was our delegation representing Obama (what a plain stick in the eye), the fact that Obama was conspicuous by his absence, and the German rainbow uniforms.

Oh, and the fact that Putin spent fifty billion on something that rang very hollow.

[yeoman6987]

39. Are you serious?

You thought the entire World was going to change in a year. Goodness you will continue to see advances but to think it was going to change over night is naive to be honest. I am gay and THRILLED with the changes I have witnessed in a very short time.

[Bluenorthwest]

85. But that's not what I said. At all.

At least base your attack on what I wrote.

[stopbush]

8. The "extreme" sports are boring and suck. Get rid of them.

Seriously, it's embarrassingly obvious that those sports are only in there so the Americans can win a few medals and not embarrass themselves.

[quinnox]

9. lol

[BainsBane]

25. I love them.

I bet I'm not the only one either. Some of them barely had an American competitors. There were no Americans in snowboard parallel slalom, and not many in some of the free style ski events either. Ski cross had no Americans in the final.

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

48. I agree.

Davis/White, Ligety, and Shiffrin are the only US gold medalists that count IMO. The other 6 can return to the X games, or dew n' doritos tour.

[stopbush]

56. Do those x-treme "athletes" even exercise outside of sliding down a hill?

I imagine the ice dancers normal work out would just about kill them.

Lifting 12-oz weights. That's about it for the Dew n Doritos stoners.

[BainsBane]

76. Are you kidding?

Do you see what they do?

[Moses2SandyKoufax]

89. The worst part is when one of these brain-stems inevitably wins gold.

1) This means that their name and image gets put on the same level as Olympic athletes who've actually competed in, and won real events. No, Shaun White is NOT one of the greatest US Olympians of all time! He's not, and will never be on the same level as Bonnie Blair, Dan Jansen, Eric Heiden, Bode Miller, Picaboo Street, Shani Davis, Brian Boitano, Tommy Moe, Bill Johnson ect... (And no, the fact that Shaun White is the first and only boarder to ever land a REVERSE DIPSEYDOODLE 720!1111111!!!! in Olympic competition doesn't matter to anyone important).

2) The awkward and uncomfortable in studio interview with Bob Costas. I feel sorry for Bob. He's a great broadcaster, who is the face of the NBC sports empire. He's covered almost every notable sporting event in the world over the last 30+ years, he's delivered eulogies at the funerals of Mickey Mantle, and Stan Musial, he landed the first interview with Jerry Sandusky, and he could easily make the transition into hard news. But every forth February he's forced to pretend to give a damn about the idiotic activities of these vapid, brain dead dipshits.

Good call on the baggy clothes. Between that and the nose rings, dirty hair, and bad grooming habits it's 1994 all over again!

[malaise]

68. Thread win

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. There were olympics?

Sorry, could not help

As to those Cossacks, the message was NOT just for Pussy Riot, or the West. And the locals got it, and did not appreciate it.

[maxsolomon]

19. can you elaborate?

I don't think I understand - the Ukrainians? or the local Rus in Sochi?

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. The local people at Sochi in the Caucasus

the Kosacks were used by the Tsar to take the area, and committed a horrific ethnic cleansing in the 19th century. They expelled a lot of the local residents, as they were (and still are) muslims. The problems that the modern Russian proto empire is having in the area is also about religion, and orthodox Russian church, versus the muslims.

A lot of what Putin is doing these days is modeled on what the Tsar did. It goes all the way to the use of the Imperial Eagle in Russian uniforms (such as the Hockey uniforms) and the Navy.

[pangaia]

58. You know, when I first saw the video of that,

my first thought was, "there is something.. out of kilter here." I didn't know what it was. I even posted something briefly on DU. Something did not look..natural, real.
Could not put my finger on it.
After what you said,,,, it now starts to become clearer... that the 'Cossack' thing was all a put up.

[nadinbrzezinski]

63. Putin is just following an ancient model

and that includes the use of a secret police. He is in line all the way to Katherine the Great and Peter The Great. History for Americans is not something we mostly get. In older nations people know it, internalize it, and get the messages implied. Deploying those Cossacks was not an accident.

The equivalent here in the US, and many would miss it still, would be American police dressed in seventh cavalry uniforms in the Black Hills for tourists to enjoy as a cute thing if we had Olympics, or other major sporting event there. Trust me, the local Siux would get it.

[pangaia]

67. Good analogy.

Of course, considering what happened June 25, 1876, maybe the 7th Cav might not be the best choice.. :&gt ))

I always enjoy your posts and your well-thought out take.

[nadinbrzezinski]

69. Yeah but it was the same unit that was present at Wounded Knee

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre

And thank you

[pangaia]

83. Yes, I know.

And the Washita...

[TBF]

11. I couldn't get past the dog killing -

and did not watch.

[GoneOffShore]

12. Wish it had never happened.

But then I've never been a fan of the Olympics.

An excuse for huge boondoggles and nationalist chest thumping masquerading as "sport".

[KittyWampus]

13. Ralph Lauren has jumped the shark.

[louis-t]

15. Man, they spent a lot of money on the closing ceremony.

Un..freakin'....believable.

[maxsolomon]

18. did you watch the opening ceremony?

it cost more.

don't do the Olympics if you can't do it right!

[BainsBane]

27. No one will ever match Beijing

Might as well not even try and just go for their own thing.

[A HERETIC I AM]

17. Mine is this;

The IOC needs to get past the idea that every country that gets snow should be eligible to host the Winter Olympics. It's bullshit and stupid.

They need to pick 4 or 5 permanent facilities in FIRST WORLD COUNTRIES (not those posing as such) that have hosted them in the past and have the infrastructure already in place (Salt Lake is a perfect example) and just rotate the games between those venues.

When Russia and Putin can make a decent D-cell battery and a fucking ball point pen that holds up as good as the cheapest Bic, plus has figured out how to design a toilet and a hotel room suitable for the international clientele...THEN they can hold an Olympics. (OK...that list needs to be a LOT longer, but I digress)

Till then, go back to and rotate between Vancouver, SLC, Sapporo, Innsbruck, Lillehammer, Lake Placid etc.

[BainsBane]

23. That's harsh

[A HERETIC I AM]

28. It's practical.

I'm betting if you were to ask the competitors where they would rather go, the last places they would suggest would be Sochi, Russia or Pyeongchang South Korea.

That's part of the problem, in my opinion; The participants have absolutely no say at all.

They should.

[BainsBane]

32. The thing is it's global

and developing nation's should have a chance. I agree Russia should not have been selected given their authoritarian nature and oppression of LGBT citizens. But why shouldn't NICs like Brazil have a host at hosting? (summer). While not "First World" it is one of the biggest economies on earth. Geopolitics and economic status aren't fixed in stone.

[A HERETIC I AM]

38. If the city of Rio de Janeiro can pull it off.....

Then fine. Sure, Brazil is a major player. But I think comparing venues for the Winter and Summer games is truly apples and oranges.

" Geopolitics and economic status aren't fixed in stone. "

No, they aren't. But they need to be taken into account when putting on such an event.

"The Games" are structured in a way familiar to any High Schooler who has ever been to a track meet or a swim meet etc. That's all they are - a collection of "meets". When I was going to swim meets as a kid, they didn't go to the crappiest pools they could find. Likewise, Inter-collegiate track meet facilities (if I understand the NCAA correctly) must meet certain standards.

But it goes beyond the materials used in the surface of the 440 or the height of the starting platforms at the pool. It has to do with welcoming the world.

If you can't even get the mat by the door in time.........

[maxsolomon]

43. I'm pretty sure they'd pick Pyeongchang over Sochi

SK is a wealthy modern democracy with amazing food.

I don't reject your idea out of hand, though. They're running out of new places to put the winter games, so a repeat seems likely sooner or later, and the bribery costs for the IOCC alone are out of control.

I'd like to see Seattle take a shot, but we're too miserly to go for it. At least we have enough snow, though.

[A HERETIC I AM]

47. You're probably right.

And FWIW re: Seattle...I've driven the Snowqualmie pass in the winter.....


No shit on the snow!

[MADem]

92. They'd probably want to go back to Lillehammer! nt

[MADem]

36. Dubai could probably do a better job at most of the venues!!

I am kidding....but only just!

[A HERETIC I AM]

41. LOL...yeah..pretty hard to do an Olympic Downhill event in a stainless steel tube!

Just watch though...I'll bet they get a Summer games sooner or later. I also bet they'll have to hold it in February because the summers are so fucking hot!

[MADem]

50. Ya never know--they have money to burn!

They could go out in the desert, dig a BIG ASS hole...slap up some concrete all round...and then KEEP DIGGING! More concrete...dig some more!!! Picture it...a massive downhill venue going down, down, down into the earth!! The deeper they go, the cooler it gets--and the desert at night is very cool indeed, there are opportunities for heat exchange there as well.

How to generate power for the snowmaking, lights, fans etc? Well, they could put solar panels all over the desert! They'd certainly augment any traditional power sources, and they'd provide a handy back up in the event of power failure. They could even put a giant glass bowl over the top of part of the thing, to get some sunshine on the proceedings, or even those fancy tube things with the glass at the top and mirrors reflecting the light all the way down that we see in some of these "earthen" homes, providing the glass has good reflective properties and wouldn't concentrate heat inside the venue.

One thing I gotta say for some of the crazy construction abroad--they aren't at all afraid to take risks. If the visionaries of Dubai got it in their head to do this, they'd do it and they'd probably find someone very clever to make it work for them!

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

20. No terrorist attacks, aside from the Cossacks

I guess the predictions of venues being blown up was overblown.

[A HERETIC I AM]

30. Either that or they did a good job of thwarting. n/t

[DFW]

22. Mine is:

Мне всё равно (It's all the same to me).

i.e. nothing happened that I didn't expect (I'm sad to say--I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised).

[bigwillq]

24. The competition and sport were great!

I like watching the Olympics. I am a big sports fan.

[ozone_man]

79. Weren't they!

Some people, for example NBC, try to make them anything but the amazing athletic contest that it is. Personally, I like the ice skating and Nordic skiing most, but even curling is fun to watch at least once.

[bigwillq]

81. My buddies and I invented a curling-type game

at the house the other night with a broom and a Frisbee, but then we realized it was more shuffleboard than curling! LOL

[jberryhill]

26. Johnny Weir Being Fabulous!

[pangaia]

55. Agreed. He was THE highlight....

[City Lights]

59. He was fantastic.

And teaming him up with Tara was a great move. The two of them were really good together.

[GoCubsGo]

70. I read that we'll be seeing more of them in the future.

I guess they're going to going to do some red carpet work for the Oscars or some other big awards show. Looking forward to it!

[City Lights]

71. That is great to hear!

Thanks for the info. I'll be watching for them.

[JVS]

29. NBC's coverage was shitty. The Olympics should use the internet to go around networks unless...

the networks actually agree to cover a lot of the events.

[A HERETIC I AM]

35. It's always been that way.

There is too much going on and they have to pick and choose that which will get the most eyes.

In the 90's I lived in Detroit and as such, had 3 Winter Olympics to see. Living in Detroit, one can easily get the CBC in Windsor and was included in all the cable TV packages I had.

The differences in coverage were remarkable. It was cool though to have at least 2 channels to pick from for coverage, particularly when they are from different countries.

[Bluenorthwest]

86. Hilarious! Olympics is a TV show, NBC is contracted until 2020

4.38 billion to air them until 2020. Would you 'go around' 4 and half billion? IOC sure wouldn't. That's what it's all about, ads, TV, branding, logos, money.....

[joeybee12]

31. My takeaway...there's a reason people only watch figure skating every 4 years...

Because they realize how freaking rigged it is!

[Baclava]

40. My favorite story..."Vic Wild's gold ring leads to two gold medals as a Russian"

Three years ago, the professional alpine snowboarder left his Washington state home for Moscow. He married a Russian girl. He became a Russian citizen.

On Saturday, the 27-year-old became the first snowboarder to win two medals in the same Olympics, taking gold in the Olympic debut of parallel slalom. The crowd in the packed stadium erupted as Wild delivered for his new country. His second gold helped Russia take the total medal lead over the U.S., 29-27. As he whipped through the gates, thousands chanted "Russ-See-Uh! Russ-See-Uh!"

He is the first American to win a medal for Russia in an Olympic Games, according to Olympic historian Bill Mallon

Afterward, facing a phalanx of reporters, it was time to set the record straight. Wild said he didn't go country shopping when he moved to Russia, became a citizen and began training with the support he never had while racing in the U.S.

After a frustrating career in the U.S., traveling with random teams to World Cup events and fighting for financial scraps to support his training after the dissolution of the U.S. alpine snowboard team, he was ready to quit the sport. He started thinking about college. Maybe studying architecture.

Then opportunity knocked. It was Russia.



In Moscow, he was fully funded to train year-round. Coaches pushed him. He had the best equipment. Doctors from the hockey team helped him through an injury. An osteopath from the figure skating team assisted. He has a tech who sharpened and waxed his board. Administrators arranged his World Cup travel so he could focus on snowboarding.

He finally had the team behind him that allowed him to fulfill his potential. He had support in the U.S., but nothing like he has now. And, when he traveled, he was on his own.

"When I was on the road, I didn't have anything. I traveled with the Japanese team, actually," he said.

Much will be made about how Russia unleashed Wild's greatness. But friends and family say there was a larger factor in his sudden rise from the middle of the pack to twice-golden Olympic superstar.

His wife, Alena Zavarzina, certainly played a major role. She won bronze alongside her husband's gold in Wednesday's parallel giant slalom.

Wild's brother, Michael, concurs.

"She's the reason he's doing so well," he said

http://www.denverpost.com/olympics/ci_25207732/vic-wilds-gold-ring-leads-two-gold-medals

[LittleBlue]

44. Sotnikova stepping up and the men figure skaters falling

I don't think I'll ever forget Hanyu and Chan trying to choke away the gold to each other. Figure skating is the event I like most at the winter games.

[laundry_queen]

74. C'mon now

falling their way to silver is a Great Canadian tradition for Men's figure skating!

[hrmjustin]

51. Putin is an evil bigot who hates dissent.

[CFLDem]

53. America

needs to get much, much better at ice-skating events.

[Jamastiene]

54. A lot of people care more about sports than they do human rights. n/t

[Skidmore]

61. This and

that the world would be better served to cancel future Olympic games until the a way to stamp out the corruption around it is found.

[polly7]

66. I haven't seen that at all.

I've seen people speak up against broad-brushing whole nations because of horrific acts and laws enabled by their lawmakers and leaders, I've seen people express the opinion that bringing the world and cultures together is beneficial for very many reasons, that homophobia in Russia has been exposed to many more people than who would never otherwise have known just how bad it was, that 120+million people of all genders, sexual orientation and race ... many who live in much greater poverty and hardship than we do in the west, deserve a world event as much as anyone else. To be called a bigot and homophobic for expressing these sentiments taught me something ... that people who say they care about all of humanity, really don't.

And that's what I took away from Sochi, from here.

[madamesilverspurs]

57. Biggest surprise

was that my mother's favorite, the ice dancing, has been replaced by slopestyle. She absolutely fell in love with that event and those kids, couldn't watch it enough. Did I mention that she's 94?

[Polly Hennessey]

64. Me, too.

Dear Madamesilverspurs,

Tell your mom I agree with her. I fell in love with slopestyle and the kids. Just pure joy at what they were doing and winning any medal - gold, silver or bronze - was OK with them. They were having the time of their lives. Fell in love with Sage K. and David W. Most of all with Gus and his adoption of the Sochi dogs.

Polly

[stopbush]

65. Slopestyle - boring! I can't see where there's room for growth in that activity.

I really dislike the extreme sports. The only ones that I found enjoyable at all were those parallel races on the snow boards, but that was sort of like NASCAR - everyone wants to see a crash. Moguls? God, it's awful!

The ice dancing this time around was really good. That sport is improving and becoming more interesting.

I tend to watch the sports one doesn't often see, the endurance sports like cross-country skiing and biathalon. Those things are like running a marathon and then being asked to jump hurdles at mile 22. Those sports aren't really made for typical TV coverage, though. A 30-mile cross country ski race? I can't imagine how hard that is.

I also got more into speed skating this time. The Dutchmen were unbelievable. And, I've liked the bobsleds since I was a kid.

Slopestyle? Any "sport" where you don't break a sweat is questionable to me. And they need to get over the baggy fashion style from 15 years ago. It's dated.

[laundry_queen]

75. That's a matter of opinion

My brother thinks the dance element in figure skating is 'bullshit' and shouldn't be a sport.

Have you ever downhill skied or snowboarded?

[maxsolomon]

82. I've been a boarder for 15+ years

but I can see not liking the slopestyle events. I think those kids are phenomenal athletes, but I also worry they're going to get killed.

because that happens.

and pull up those pants, you whippersnappers!

[laundry_queen]

90. I think so too

that they are phenomenal athletes. I've never snowboarded but I skied for many years...we used to go to the mountains several times a year. I wasn't much for jumps and tricks - it was too hard! I did like to go fast though, but when you are going straight down and have to round a corner, the g-force on your legs is insane. And my legs haven't ached so much as when I would spend the entire day on moguls. There's no way anyone in those sports in the Olympics aren't athletes.

I hope no one gets killed, but it's inevitable...the woman who is partially responsible to getting the ski half pipe in the Olympics herself died from a head injury suffered in training. And the Canadian boarder who won bronze in slopestyle was competing with a broken rib from 2 weeks before. It's not an easy sport, that's for sure.

[tavernier]

72. I have to agree with grannie!

Both the boarders and the skiers who do the sky acrobatics just took away my breath. I didn't think those gravity defying loop-de-loops were even possible without green screen or trick photography.

I wouldn't be surprised if a pairing of these athletes produced offspring with wings.

[Iggo]

60. None.

I boycotted.

[FreeJoe]

77. No more Bob Costas

1) It is about 3 Olympics past time from getting rid of Bob Costas. I will back any network, even Fox, getting the Olympics in the future unless NBC agrees to keep him away.

2) With the plethora of bandwidth and channels available, they should have two broadcasts - one for people that want to watch the events and one for people that want to watch sappy stories.

3) The winter Olympics should be held in places that are cold.

4) They should toggle between East and West because having an Olympics way out of your time zone significantly diminishes the enjoyment.

5) I never used to watch the snowboarding events, but having been snowboarding a couple of times now, I found them very enjoyable. Maybe someday I'll try curling and that will become interesting. Maybe.

6) It would probably be best to have a couple of winter host cities and couple of summer host cities and just switch back and forth between them. Hosting the games in different cities every four years is leading to a huge waste in development of white elephant facilities.

6) Silje Norendal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know that it is sexist to become a fan of an athlete just because she is cute, but she's sooooo cute.

[FreeJoe]

78. Oh, and show it or let us watch it

Any event that isn't broadcast within 12 hours of it occurring should be freely available via streaming.

[riqster]

80. Sic semper tyrannus

[GRACIEBIRD]

84. bottom line

fantastic spectacle... beautiful event and great venue. Probably needed 6 more months of prep time but it was one of the better done Winter Olympics ever.

Oh and btw there were a lot of right wing a$$holes who were salivating over the prospect of a terrorist attack citing such terrible security... so to you:

Hahahahahha!!! Go away. And funny how we saw 4-5 bathroom pics and 1-2 yellow water pics of the thousands of visitors. Apparently posted by hacks for the right wing USA chest beating party.

[Lost_Count]

87. Anyone can bobsled...

[dembotoz]

88. should have boycotted

[moondust]

93. 51 billion dollars?

Really?

And now what? I have doubts that Sochi will move up very far on the list of most desirable vacation destinations as long as the separatists/terrorists next door are not granted the independence they demand. I could be wrong.

There are probably plenty of things in Russia that could have really used that money.

Putin may be emboldened by the positive reviews of the olympics and figure he can be more aggressive toward Ukraine.

Russia steps up Ukraine rhetoric