At a total cost of $51bn the Sochi Winter Olympics has been dubbed Լi>The most expensive games in historyՠ- Kozachok dancing away with a financial investment more than 3 times that of London 2012. Still, accepted financial abjection aside the unquestioned precedent has served up a familiar cocktail: Accusations of bribes, government kickbacks and dubiously matey construction contracts.
In the UK, we intensely watch the Olympics – but in Russia, the Olympics intensely watches you! With a massive 40,000 troops on the ground guarding Sochi like a Gulag, UAVֳ circling its airspace, a joint American/Russian military presence in the Black Sea and an extra 70,000 troops at the Georgian border the quiet resort town is set to transform into a full scale military operation in the next few weeks.
Even sword wielding Cossacks are involved with security in the Olympic park Рand you wouldnִ want to mess/dance/drink with them.
As one Olympic ring failed to open in the opening ceremony, Putinֳ mind must have read ӫillӠand the viral story that the man responsible had been found dead left nobody all that shocked. Thankfully however it was a hoax.
The irony, given the political climate, of faux-lesbian act t.A.T.u performing at the opening ceremony wasnִ lost on many, and though Vlad and his pals failed to muster a smile we werenִ exactly expecting them to get up and throw any shapes.
TeamGB so farɼ/b>On Sunday; Brizzle native Jenny Jones became the first Briton to win a medal on the snow in the ninety year history of the games after Alain Baxter lost out in 2002 due to a controversial doping allegation (he was using Vicks spray for a cold). Jones, a former cardboard factory worker from Downend, Bristol who was the oldest contestant in the event by six years said after the event; “hopefully I’ll be in a few pub quizzes now.”[1]ʼ/b>Modesty is a South-West trait – babz.
Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholls, who both missed out on medals had a hucking (industry term) good go in the finals but neither managed to make the podium. Still, considering Nicholls trains on dry slope in Halifax and not Val d’Isere, 6th place isn’t exactly a bad result.
The Contenders: With the inclusion of freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding Britain has more chance than ever to take home a number of medals on the slopes this year. From the aforementioned Jones, who as we know is already a national treasure to young guns in the Freestyle Skiing; Katie Summerhayes and James Woods and Mr Ice Kristan Bromley on the Skeleton the nation is set to cause quite a stir in this yearֳ games after the Team budget was cranked to ñ4 million after the success of London 2012.
PhysioRoom.com will be eagerly perched on the edge of our collective seats over the next few weeks to bring you all the news from TeamGB – after all, it has to be better than the cricket.
Author: Toby Cryne
[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-olympics/26109628