Thursday, February 6, 2014

Winter Olympics

As many are aware, the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics are beginning tomorrow, and there has been much talk about the city's unpreparedness for the games.  Unfinished hotel rooms, poor plumbing, brown sink water, and many other issues have led many journalists and visitors to wonder if Sochi is even prepared for the 2014 winter games.  Additionally, the Washington Post reported that only six of the nine media hotels are ready at this time, leaving many journalists to scramble to find a place to stay.

Interestingly, it has been speculated, though not very plausible, that Putin himself has created this "tailor-made" situation in order to distract everyone from the recent gay-rights and freedom and safety issues. In any event, however, it seems to be premature to deem the Russians as inhospitable, as they have already spent $51 billion in preparing for the winter games.  Will this year's winter Olympics be a disaster? Or will Russia be able to pull it all together in time?

1 comment:

  1. Wow, this is an interesting point! I had been skeptical of all of these reports because I'm not sure if there's enough evidence that this is a common occurrence. It could be, I just haven't seen the numbers on this. However, I hadn't thought of this perspective. It makes sense to me.

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