The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, were a scam from the very start. Sochi is a resort city with mild weather that had nothing close to the infrastructure necessary to host the Olympics, yet the initial budget was only $12 billion dollars. In comparison, the budget for the 2010 Winter Olympics—held in the much…
The Sochi accommodations are equal opportunity nuisances. The Paralympics kick off tomorrow, and already Team USA sled hockey goalie Steve Cash has received the traditional Sochi welcome:
Heavy fog in the mountains above Sochi caused postponements of men's biathlon and snowboard cross races today. Visibilities were near zero at times, making the shooting portion of biathlon impossible, and snowboarding downright dangerous. But let no one say organizers didn't try everything in their power to get the…
Many accommodations in the Sochi area simply weren't ready for the thousands of visitors and journalists who arrived earlier this month. It sounds like it could have been even worse, if not for the IOC forcing the Russians to kick things into overdrive last fall.
The U.S. has sucked something fierce in speed skating so far at Sochi. Through more than half of its races, Team USA still hasn't medaled. This is astonishing, because speed skating is traditionally one of the U.S.'s strongest winter sports. One explanation for the dip? As the Wall Street Journal first reported, it…
Slate had the great idea to overlay the colorful calls of figure skating announcer Scott Hamilton over all kinds of other sports. Jim Ross now has a competitor. [Slate]
["And sliding down the runway now comes Torger Nergaard of Norway, showing off a fetching pair of houndstooth pants. Sorry, rock and broom not included." Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty]
[Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov getting an assist from the night with his all black everything ensemble. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty]
[Dale Begg-Smith, an Australian by way of Canada, looks cool while twisting and spinning way up in the air in the men's mogul event. Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty]
Some security experts have suggested that with the eyes of the world on the Winter Games, terrorist elements could leave Sochi under siege. Indeed, with its location near contested Chechen territory, it's possible the world's athletes could be competing on deadly ground. With that in mind, the U.S. affiliate of cable…
We're nearly past the Opening Ceremony, so it's time to get serious: Who's going to win the Winter Olympics? Based on an analysis of economic and geographic data from participating countries through Winter Olympic history, Dan and Tim Graettinger have built out a model for medal performance at the games, and it looks…
The majority of news regarding the stray dogs roaming around Sochi has been dismal. A company was hired to cull them, but it hasn't done that well, and now these dogs are just chilling everywhere as the Olympics start. Not exactly the most uplifting situation. But there's refuge for some of them!
Over at the Washington Post, Darla Cameron, Cristina Rivero and Gene Thorp have created an excellent graphic comparing the latitude, host city altitude, and skiing venue altitude of every Winter Olympics since 1960. Squaw Valley, Ca. was the highest host city and Salt Lake City was the highest ski venue, because the…
Greetings, comrade! And welcome to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia! Thank God that Vladimir Putin has restored Russia to its rightful place as America's enemy and foil. (Russia: We Don't Even Pretend We're A Democracy Anymore!™) Russians are white and live inside a distinct national border and you can…
Yes, it means an assortment. Shut up.
In an inspired piece of goofy scaling, the NY Times graphics department has plopped several Winter Olympic venues into various parts of Manhattan, just to give you a better sense of how absolutely enormous they are. Pictured above is the ski jump course, towering over the New York Public Library and Bryant Park. Those…
Remember when Olympic officials said they weren't going to murder stray animals in Sochi? Well, turns out they are definitely murdering stray dogs now.
Canadian snowboarder Sebastien Toutant is in Sochi for the Olympics and tweeted an image of what appears to be the meddlesome arm of Big Red Brother reaching all the way into the john. No fishing for poop? No self-administering opiates on the bathroom floor because you have a gruesome broken leg? No, thank you.
