Sochi 2014

[DrLeftover]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IizWc4cJwbw

...

Lighting of Olympic flame sparks start of Sochi 2014 Olympic Torch Relay

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/

 

[DrLeftover]

Read about how the Sochi games came to be:

Sochi is the Florida of Russia, but cheaper. It is famous for its subtropical vegetation, hotels and sanatoria. People from all over the Soviet Union associate the coastal city with beach holidays and first loves. The smell of sunscreen, sweat, alcohol and roasting meat pervades the air. Nothing happens here in the winter. But that's about to change. The Winter Games are coming to town.

...
Suddenly there are palm trees, a calm, rippling sea plays with the pebble beach and sanatoria rise above the railway track that runs right next to the coast. And here, in this small piece Russia Russia Caucasus of subtropical Russia where no snow falls in the winter, the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held.

http://www.thesochiproject.org

 

[Nebulous]

Nice nice. Are you into the olympics doc?

 

[DrLeftover]

"Into" may be too strong of a word for it.

I have something more than a passing interest in them, but I wouldn't say I was "into it."

But, every couple of years, they do seem to catch my eye more than at other times.

 

[Nebulous]

"Into" may be too strong of a word for it.

I have something more than a passing interest in them, but I wouldn't say I was "into it."

But, every couple of years, they do seem to catch my eye more than at other times.

Yeah same here, I don't really care either way but I'll watch if I am flipping through the channels.

 

[DrLeftover]

Yeah same here, I don't really care either way but I'll watch if I am flipping through the channels....

...he meant to continue to say...

.... and see something like this....

 

[Nebulous]

I never got that "sport"

 

[DrLeftover]

I never got that "sport"

You watch the hot girl throw the rock at a target and hope she scores.

 

[Crusader]

I'm actually more interested/excited about the Formula 1 circuit being built around it.

 

[DrLeftover]

I believe their first race is coming up in October.

We'll see how it goes as that will be another target for the Muslim terrorists that are now doing a pretty good job of turning the Olympics into an armed camp.

 

[DrLeftover]

Sochi 2014: Shaun White withdraws from slopestyle event

5 February 2014

Shaun White has withdrawn from the slopestyle at Sochi because of concerns about risk of injury on the course.

The American snowboarder will instead focus solely on winning a third straight gold medal on the halfpipe.

White, 27, said the course was "a little intimidating" and needed further changes after Norwegian Torstein Horgmo broke his collarbone on Monday.

He told USA Today: "The potential risk of injury is a bit too much for me to gamble my other Olympic goals on."

White, who won halfpipe gold medals in 2006 and 2010, hurt his left wrist during slopestyle practice on Tuesday.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/winter-olympics/26044564

 

[DrLeftover]

and don't even TOUCH the water:

CHICAGO (CBS) — We all know how the old saying goes when you travel: “Don’t drink the water.”

Well in Sochi, Russia, you had better not TOUCH the water, either.

When Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair, who is covering the Winter Olympics for the newspaper, arrived at her hotel, she was informed that there was a problem with the water and it had been shut off.

Then hotel staff delivered an ominous warning: “Do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.”

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/02/04/in-sochi-russia-dont-touch-the-water/

 

[DrLeftover]

More hotel horrors

Amid continued debate over whether or not Sochi is prepared to host the 2014 Olympics (here are 15 alarming signs that Russia might not be ready) reporters from around the world are starting to check into local hotels — to their apparent grief. Some journalists arriving in Sochi are describing appalling conditions in the housing there, where only six of nine media hotels are ready for guests. Hotels are still under construction. Water, if it’s running, isn’t drinkable. One German photographer told the AP over the weekend that his hotel still had stray dogs and construction workers wandering in and out of rooms.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/02/04/journalists-at-sochi-are-live-tweeting-their-hilarious-and-gross-hotel-experiences/

 

[DrLeftover]

NBC News Web Extra

Skilled computer hackers, combined with weak law enforcement and a strong criminal underworld, creates a big problem in Russia.

Video:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sochi-olympics/richard-engel-sochi-open-hunting-season-hackers-n22346

 

[Nebulous]

NBC News Web Extra

Skilled computer hackers, combined with weak law enforcement and a strong criminal underworld, creates a big problem in Russia.

Video:
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/sochi-olympics/richard-engel-sochi-open-hunting-season-hackers-n22346

But.. the show will go on!

 

[DrLeftover]

It's already going.

Competition started this morning with various qualifying events.

 

[DrLeftover]

And now the big question:

SOCHI SCENE: Welcome, world _ where are you?
Feb 6

SOCHI, Russia (AP) -- Olympic fans of the world, where are you?

Sochi is (more or less) ready for you to come to its Winter Games. Thousands of athletes, soldiers, journalists and herds of smiley volunteers are in place, eager to help.

So far, though, it seems like the only spectators milling about are Russian.

Dina Kobolenko is waiting for you at her tourist information stand near the Sochi train station, armed with maps of this subtropical resort on the Black Sea. She says that as of two days before the Games, she'd seen only a single foreigner - a South Korean. They couldn't understand each other, though, so had to communicate in sign language.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLY_SOCHI_SCENE_FANS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-02-06-03-42-18

 

[DrLeftover]

PS.

They are NINE hours ahead of the Eastern US.

When it is 1800 (6 PM) EST it is 0300 (3 AM) in Sochi.

 

[DrLeftover]

The opening ceremony hasn't happened yet.

It is just the preliminaries of the figure skating.

And somebody you have never heard of has already thrown a quad into the mix

Japan's Yuzuru Hanyu (and team Japan) who stole the show with a dazzling quadruple toe loop. Hanyu made this really, really difficult jump look ridiculously easy

http://www.thewire.com/culture/2014/02/meet-yuzuru-hanyu-your-first-figure-skating-olympic-star/357808/

 

[DrLeftover]

Zdeno Chara is a tall man. At 6-foot-9, he's the tallest player to ever play in the National Hockey League.

Such measurements require certain accommodations for the Boston Bruins' captain. Bigger sticks. Modified equipment. Hotel beds with extensions.

The latter is the most recent accommodation for Chara, who arrived in Sochi in time to carry Slovakia's flag during the Opening Ceremony on Friday. His room in the athletes' village isn't like the others, as it features a mattress with an extension to fit his long frame.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/zdeno-chara-s-bed-in-sochi-needed-a-special-extension--photos-210156323.html