2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Feb 07-23,2014

The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games, or the 22nd Winter Olympics are scheduled to take place from Feb 07-23,2014 in Sochi,Russia

98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines will be held

Some 3,000 athletes, a record for the Winter Olympics, will come for 98 events, including the new slopestyle extreme skiing competition that began Thursday. More women will compete than ever before.

Twelve new competitions are -

• biathlon mixed relay
• women's ski jumping
• figure skating mixed team
• luge mixed team
• ski lalf pipe (men’s and women’s)
• ski slopestyle (men’s and women’s)
• snowboard slopestyle (men’s and women’s) and
• snowboard parallel slalom (men’s and women’s)

Sochi 2014 will be the 12th straight Olympics to outlaw smoking; all Sochi venues, Olympic Park bars and restaurants and public areas will be smoke-free during the Games

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Mascot

• the Polar Bear (by Oleg Serdechniy,Sochi)
• the European Hare (by Silviya Petrova,Chuvashia) 
• the Amur Leopard (by Vadim Pak,Nakhodka) 

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics Schedule

Russian President Vladimir Putin Visits Sochi Olympic Village

Russian President Vladimir Putin, right, talks with International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, at a welcoming event for IOC members ahead of the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics at the Rus Hotel, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Olympic Village Mayor Elena Isinbaeva while visiting the Coastal Cluster Olympic Village ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Athletes Village on February 5, 2014 in Sochi,

Ladies Of Russian Olympics Team Strip Down For Controversial Pre-Games Pinup Shoots

Ahead of the Sochi Games, the women on the team donned lingerie and other barely-there clothing and posed for what turned out to be a set of controversial photos.

The provocative pinup presentations  included -

 

• curling's Anna Sidorova

• speed skater Tatiana Borodulina

•  figure skater Ekaterina Bobrova

• freestyle skier Ekaterina Stolyarova  and  

• ice hockey goalie Anna Prugova

 

Google quotes the Olympic Charter, posts a protest Winter Olympics doodle in gay pride colours

 

On the day the the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics (the 22nd Winter Olympics) in Russia begins, Google has posted a fundamental principle of the Olympic Charter on its home page along with a doodle showcasing six Winter Olympics disciplines presented in the colours of rainbow flag / pride flag, that represents gay pride.  

"The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play." 

The extract from the Olympic Charter and the doodle is Google's way of protesting against Russian President Vladimir Putin's scarcely veiled campaign against gays and there has also been much discussion on how Russia would deal with gay athletes during the Winter Games. 

Opening Ceremony Friday Feb 07,2014

The 22nd Winter Olympics opened with a spectacular ceremony in the Russian resort city of Sochi.

Athletes from 87 nations paraded before 40,000 people in the Fisht Stadium before president Vladimir Putin declared the Games open.
The Olympic flame was lit by Russian former triple gold medallists Vladislav Tretiak and Irina Rodnina as fireworks illuminated the night sky.
At a cost of £30bn, the Sochi Games is the most expensive Olympics in history.

2014 Sochi Winter Olympics by Numbers

• 30 - the cost in billions of staging Sochi 2014, more than all the previous 21 Winter Olympics combined.
• 40,000 - the distance in miles covered in the longest torch relay in Olympic history.
• 531 - the weight in grams of the gold medals, which are made up of 525 grams of silver and six grams of gold.
• 98 - the number of gold medals on offer across 15 disciplines.
• 2,900 - the number of athletes, from 87 countries, competing in Sochi
• 56 - the number of athletes in Great Britain's squad, the most since the 1988 Games in Calgary.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has staked his reputation on hosting a safe and successful Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where a three-hour spectacle before 40,000 spectators at the new Fisht Stadium will signal the start of the full sporting programme.

Some 37,000 security personnel are on high alert over threats by Islamist militant groups based in the nearby north Caucasus region

Opening Ceremony Friday Feb 07,2014

Fireworks exploded over the Olympic stadium in  Sochi as the 2014 Winter Olympics got under way

The mascots of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, a bear and a leopard, take part in the opening ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics

The ceremony featured a 200ft-long lit-up Troika, an 18th Century carriage pulled by three horses, as part of the story of Russia's history

Performers re-enacted the construction of Moscow's St Basil's Cathedral, so beautiful its architect was blinded afterwards so it would be unique

The Ministry of Internal Affairs choir sings 'Get Lucky' during the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at Fisht Olympic Stadium

Danila Korsuntsev and Svetlana Zakharova perform in the ceremony, which featured Russian classical music and a dramatisation of War and Peace

7 islands that represent the diversity of Russia float past during the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi Winter Olympics at the Fisht Olympic Stadium.The 7 floats each represented one specific area of Russia, and were moved around the Fisht Stadium with the help of four kilometres of rail on the roof

Sochi 2014 organisers said 66 leaders, including heads of state and international organisations, were due to make an appearance the ceremony, with the United Nations' secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the respective leaders of China and Japan joining Putin in the VIP box.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and IOC President Thomas Bach greet the audience during the Opening Ceremony

  Hockey great Vladislav Tretiak and three-time gold winner Irina Rodnina lit the cauldron to the sound of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, after the torch was brought into the stadium by Sochi-born tennis star Maria Sharapova and handed to President Putin's rumoured girlfriend of several years, ex-gymnast Alina Kabaeva

The Russian Olympic team came on in fur-style coats to the soundtrack of a remix between Not Gonna Get Us, by tATu, and We Will Rock You

Britain's flag-bearer Jon Eley leads the Team GB contingent onto the stadium during the opening ceremony

Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick of the United States Olympic team carried his country's flag as they became one of the last to emerge into the stadium

The German Olympic team entered the stadium in flamboyant fashion with costumes shining in bright red, yellow, green and blue