The land of ice and snow: Sochi in a nutshell.
It has been a fortnight of high expectations, hilarious Russian toilet issues and controversial political uprisings but still, Sochi 2014 has been a somewhat, surprising success. Unless you’re from Kazakhstan that is. Jagshemash!
The oddities began quite aptly at the opening ceremony with the highly yakked Ring-gate affair where one of the famous Olympic rings failed to appear instead taking the form of a snowflake – ironic still due to the fact that Sochi itself featured man-made snow.
Then there was the venue of Sochi itself, or rather Adler Р45 minutes away from Sochi. Yes, you read right Рthe Winter Olympics werenִ actually in Sochi.
There was the infamous Twitter trend #sochiproblems whereby media officials posted hilarious pictures of the various failings at the games such as two toilets per cubicle, yellow water, bathroom rules forbidding fishing in the toilets (how dare they) and even event workers spray painting brown grass green.
But itֳ all too easy to criticise isnִ it? For the inter-railing backpacker a jauntily coiffed curtain rail may perhaps not be such a thorn in the foot but at Sochi, with its impressive $50bn spent on infrastructure, the least you can expect is clean water, isn’t Vlad?
Then there was Russia’s tongue in cheek finger to the unfaithful as they replicated the opening ceremony faux-pas, mocking themselves in the process. For a country so hell bent on national pride in the opening ceremony this show of humour and humility may be a nod to the perception that Putin wants to achieve for his New Russia.
During her Bronze medal win, Russiaֳ Olga Graf decided to show the world her beer belly, or rather, lack thereof. Apparently her skin tight wasn’t revealing enough and so the Russian Speed Skater unzipped her onesie to show the world her birthday suit.
Though we’re pretty sure she was just flaunting her abs.
The multitude of unfinished hotels, stray dogs wandering aimlessly everywhere and of course, the socio-political debates all tarred Sochi from the outset. Yet, with all of the seemingly preposterous mistakes and ridiculous financial spending Sochi was undoubtedly a huge athletic success. The host nation tore away in the medals tally with an impressive 33, seven more than Norway who came a close second place ahead of Canada in third and their southern rivals Mmmurica in fourth.
With a total of four medals, we of the good shores of Blighty managed to put behind the past heart ache of Alain Baxter circa 2002 and screamed, or rather tweeted for joy when Jenny Jones collected our first (official) medal off the ice. Skeleton ace and TeamGB flag flier Lizzy Yarnold, blitzed down the track to reclaim Britainֳ Gold a full second ahead of her nearest rival as the Women’s Curling Team won a tense match against Switzerland to claim a solid Bronze medal.
Our national athletic heartache was purely personified by Elise Christie who was disqualified from not one, but two events for causing a crash and averting off track by merely millimetres and the Menֳ Curling Team were outclassed by the Maple Syrup guzzling squad from over the pond in the curling final. But as a whole, TeamGB not only surpassed the three medal expectation set before the games as but tied with the previous record of four medals at the Winter Olympics – our best since 1924.
With Captain Coe throwing the word inspiration around like a dog toy, the nation has once more rallied to arms for the more free-spirited athletes of the mountains showing truly what Olympic spirit is all about. Even the hilarious commentary antics during the snowboard competition went largely forgiven by our often bashful nation and though replicating the success of London was never the over arching motif in Sochi, TeamGB can once more hold their collective heads high for another job well done. With a record tying medals tally and a team of what can only be described as characters, Olympic funding is once again set to see an added financial boost as the Fridge Kids inspired whipper-snappers nationwide.