A little bit about Sochi

Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Kai in Russia. The city is located on the Black sea coast near the border between Russia and Georgia. It is one of very few Russian places that have warm summers and mild winters compared to most of Russia. In winters, the temperature drops below freezing only for one or two days. Therefore, Sochi has been a favourite getaway destination of Russians in summers. It is Russia’s largest resort city.

Sochi’s Preperation for Winter Olympics

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been the prime force in getting Olympics to the city of Sochi. He wanted the world to turn its attention to Russia. For the first time in Olympic history, an Olympic Park had been built for hosting a winter games. In the center of Olympic park is Medals Plaza. Around the plaza are indoor stadiums for skating, hockey and curling. The park also has famous Fisht Olympic Stadium which has a magnificent view on mountains in the north and the Black sea in the south.

Sochi Olympics 2014 opening

Start of Olympics is usually marked by a grand ceremony. The opening ceremony for Olympics 2014 was held at newly built Fisht Olympic Stadium on the evening of February 6. The ceremony was titled “Dreams of Russia”. It showed a little girl reciting Russian alphabets. Each alphabet was associated with a famous Russian person or a landmark. The Audience got a glimpse of Russia’s culture and history. While she slept and dreamt of holding a kite and flying away, breathtakingly beautiful Russian landscapes were created on stage.  All the participating nations walked in the Parade of Nations holding their countries flags. Following the Olympic custom, Greece led the parade while the host nation Russia walked in last. Also as customary, Olympic flame was lit and oaths were taken.

Sochi Winter Olympics mascots were a bear, a bunny and a leopard. The furry animals all found in Russia, and they represent strength, speed and agility. Sochi strays were a common sight all over Olympic park. Many of them were adopted and taken home by athletes, but all were not so lucky.

Sporting events at Sochi

There are 15 winter sport disciplines in any Winter Olympics. 12 new winter sports events were added by IOC at Sochi Olympics making it a total of 98 events that were held during the Games.

Winners and Losers

Norway’s Ole Einar Bjoerndalen took his medal tally to 13 by winning his 12th and 13th medals at the Sochi Games in biathlon. He now holds the record for the winter Olympian to have won the maximum number of medals ever. Outstanding!

18 year old Mikaela Shiffrin won the gold medal in women’s slalom. She became the youngest women to win gold in that event.

Viktor An, South Korean by birth who became Russian citizen in 2011, won three gold medals for Russia in three short-track speed skating event.

The women’s Canadian curling team were unbeaten in Sochi Olympics. They won all their 11 games. They became the first women’s curling team to achieve this feat. Unbelievable!

Italian luger Armin Zoeggeler, 40, won his first Olympics medal, a bronze, at Sochi. He became the first man ever a win a medal after trying in six straight Olympic Games in a single event. Talk about persistence!

U.S and Russian hockey teams had a dismal performance at Sochi games. They were the biggest losers at Sochi games.

Bye Bye Sochi.

Like every good thing comes to an end, Sochi Olympics came to an end on February 23, 2014. The host nation Russia won the maximum number of medals at Sochi. It took home 33 medals in all, including 13 gold medals. Norway came second to Russia by winning 26 medals overall and Canada came a close third and won 25 medals.

For Next action packed Winter Olympics in the city of Pyeongchang, South Korea, we will have to wait till 2018!