The opening ceremonies of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi are tonight, but the media and athletes alike are experiencing major issues, which has led to popular tags across social media such as #SochiProblems and #SochiFails. We here at SportSmasher.com have been closely monitoring the situation in Sochi, and have kept a running blog of the problems and issues at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, and here it is:
Updated Opening Day Of The 2014 Winter Olympics At Sochi 02/06/2014
1 ) The Hotels Are Not Ready Due To Construction Delays:
CNN Four days before the opening of the Winter Games, some of the hotels being built for the Olympics are reporting construction delays that could affect the tens of thousands of visitors expected to descend on the region. The Sochi 2014 organizing committee announced that at least one of the hotels built to accommodate visiting journalists would not be ready. “Dear Media,” the committee wrote, “this is to inform you that the official opening of the hotel Gorki Grand has been postponed due to technical reasons.” In a subsequent phone conversation, Anna Efimchenko, a Sochi 2014 spokeswoman, explained to CNN that the Gorki Grand Hotel was “having some troubles with the water.” The committee said it would temporarily accommodate guests in another hotel. In the seven years since Russia won its bid to host the 2014 Olympics, authorities have built a highway, a high-speed train line, electric power stations and an entire series of resort villages in the Caucasus Mountains, where the alpine sport events will take place. The massive project is estimated to have cost more than $50 billion. But on Monday, construction crews were still hard at work in Gorki Gorod, a cluster of six- and seven-story buildings on the banks of the Mzymta River, a short distance from the Olympic ski jump. Road crews were hammering in paving stones on a sidewalk, while yellow cranes stretched up to buildings where the interior was clearly still under construction. The delays appear to have affected at least one international hotelier. In an interview with the Reuters news agency, the manager of Swissotel Sochi said his hotel would accept its first customers on the eve of the opening of the Olympics, rather than in January as had originally been planned. “It was slightly delayed, we actually planned to open already last month,” Swissotel’s Oliver Kuhn told Reuters. “Certainly I have worked in areas where the construction speed was a bit faster than here, but at the end of the day we have reached our target to be ready for the Games.” The International Olympic Committee is downplaying concerns. “There are still some issues to be solved as it is always just before the Games, but also in this respect we are in contact with the organizing committee and we hope the situation will be solved in the next couple of days,” IOC president Thomas Bach told journalists. Athletes have been arriving to this Black Sea resort in recent days. The Winter Olympics are set to open Friday. As for the Gorki Grand Hotel, it continues to advertise on its website “the elegance of hotel’s 194 rooms and suites,” and it still offers online reservations for February, next to the announcement “Opening Soon.”
2 ) They Are Warning Reporters Not To Drink The Water, Which Is Brown:
Water restored, sorta. On the bright side, I now know what very dangerous face water looks like. #Sochi #unfiltered pic.twitter.com/sQWM0vYtyz
— Stacy St. Clair (@StacyStClair) February 4, 2014
3) The Olympics Have Already Cost Over $50 Billion Dollars And Are Plagued By Corruption And Organized Crime:
Vanity Fair At $50 billion and counting, the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Sochi, will be the most expensive Olympic Games ever. Intended to showcase the power of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, they may instead highlight its problems: organized crime, state corruption, and the terrorist threat within its borders
4) They Are Killing Thousands Of Stray Dogs In The Streets Of Sochi:
NY Daily News A pest control company which has been killing stray dogs in Sochi for years told The Associated Press on Monday that it has a contract to exterminate more of the animals throughout the Olympics. Alexei Sorokin, director general of pest control firm Basya Services, said his company is involved in what he described as the “catching and disposing” of dogs. Sorokin refused to specify whether they shoot or poison dogs or say where they take the carcasses. Thousands of stray dogs are roaming the streets of Sochi, Sorokin said, and some of them are “biting children.” Sorokin said he attended a rehearsal of the Olympic opening ceremony last week and saw a stray dog walking in on the performers. “A dog ran into the Fisht Stadium, we took it away,” he said. “God forbid something like this happens at the actual opening ceremony. This will be a disgrace for the whole country.” Stray dogs are not uncommon in Sochi and the surrounding area, and many tend to gather near construction sites where they are likely to get food and shelter from workers. They have even been able to get inside the Olympic Park. Sorokin’s company operates in the Krasnodar region, which encompasses Sochi and the neighboring area. Sorokin refused to say how many dogs they kill a year, calling it “a commercial secret.” Sergei Krivonosov, a lawmaker from the Krasnodar region, last year supported the dog culling. Krivonosov said taking the dogs off the street was Russia’s “responsibility to the international community and that their elimination is the quickest way to solve this problem.” He conceded, however, that this is “not the most humane way” of dealing with the problem and said that authorities should encourage dog shelters. Sochi city hall last year announced a contract “to catch and dispose” of stray dogs in Sochi but animal activists vehemently protested the move. Authorities pledged to give up the practice and build animal shelters for stray dogs instead. Activists say there is no evidence that a shelter has been built. The city hall would not immediately respond to the AP’s calls and emails seeking comment. Shooting stray dogs has been common practice in many Russian regions despite activists’ efforts to push authorities for more humane ways of dealing with the issue.
5 ) Homophobia Is Rampant: Homosexuals Are Being Assaulted In Russia:
6) The Bathrooms Are Strange. Very Strange:
Gruesome Twosome
Do Shit or piss sitting down. Don’t piss spray, vomit, leave an upper decker, toilet fish or whatever the hell that last thing is.
Front Row Seats For The Competitive Shitting Judges
Sochi is going to stink. Quickly.
7 ) The Hotel Rooms The NHL Players Are Staying In Are A Little Tight:
8 ) The Sports Illustrated Hotel Has No Wi-Fi, Televisions, Clocks, Shower Curtains, And The Front Door Does Not Work:
Sports Illustrated The Coastal Cluster hotel where SI is staying is among the lucky (i.e. finished) ones. However, it’s not without its problems: the Wi-Fi is not operational, the TVs don’t work, there are wires laying on the floor (surely they must connect to something?), the rooms are without clocks and shower curtains, reception areas are unstaffed and this morning the main entrance was locked from the inside, leading to a rather clumsy exit outside a first-floor window.
9 ) The Power Outlets Are In Unreachable Locations:
10 ) They Are Painting The Grass Green In Sochi
10 ) ABC Reporter Matt Gutman Found A Bug In His Breakfast Honey:
Bees in your honey, beer colored water, no flush toilets and the buzz abt #Sochi yuck factor today on @GMA pic.twitter.com/CvztMrEHRE
— Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanABC) February 5, 2014
11) Sochi Is Out Of Pillows, Volunteers Asked To Give Up Their Pillows So Athletes Can Have Pillows:
Newsweek:
ATTENTION, DEAR COLLEAGUES!
Due to an extreme shortage of pillows for athletes who unexpectedly arrived to Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pillows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014. Please be understanding. We have to help the athletes out of this bind.
12) The Sidewalks Of Sochi Are Full Of Hazards:
Watch your step @Sochi2014 — I’ve noticed on walkway and on sidewalks that not all man holes are always covered. pic.twitter.com/a5Nv4wu5iA
— Jo-Ann Barnas (@JoAnnBarnas) February 1, 2014
13 ) The Urinals Have No Pipes Or Plumbing While The Toilets Have No Flushers:
14 ) They Are Trying To Serve You Food And Drinks In The Ass:
16 ) Bathrooms At Media Center Have Sinks Without Faucets:
17 ) Sochi Has Stray Dogs On The Olympic Cross Country Skiing Trail (And Everywhere Else):
18 ) Bob Costas Has Pink Eye, Unclear If He Had This Issue Going Into Sochi, Drank The Dirty Water, Or Is Allergic To Stray Dogs:
19 ) The Sochi Security Guards Have Earned A Break, Why Not Kick Back With A Few Cold Ones On he Job?
20 ) The Snow Clearing In Sochi Is Progressing Well: Vice
21 ) The “Sochi Problems” Twitter Account Has 175,000 Twitter Followers, More Than The Official Sochi Olympics Account