Some parting thoughts on the Russian winter spectacle: The 2014 Winter Olympics from Sochi

The Sochi Olympics are over.   Or are they?

Without a doubt the games were ones for the ages.

Putin reportedly spent well over $50 Billion dollars on them with cost overruns running into the billions.

And his nation ran off with most number of gold medals number at 33, followed by Norway at 26 and Canada at 25.

Yes, we heard all the scuttlebutt: wild dogs roaming the streets on the eve of the big event, hotel accommodations were in short supply and those that were 'ready' for occupancy were deficient in plumbing and bathroom privacy in many cases.

The enormous Russian Troika is here symbolized by its being pulled by three horses. 

(compare the size of the digitized icons to the minuscule live spectators seen at center bottom)

The opening ceremonies on the first Friday evening (no words can fully describe them--I have seen them many times and highly recommend 'catching up' with them) were over the top with its idealized tribute to Russian history and its digitized creation of enormous free floating images (seen above and below) created by nearly 75 projectors.

My DVR recorded dozens of hours of exciting competition and I am now reviewing the last two
recordings. Here is a tribute to some of the athletes before I delete these 'tapes.'

Dave Wise of Reno, Nevada is seen below bringing home the gold in the freestyle skating event in the men's half pipe. With heavy snow falling,  he is performing all kinds of aerobatic flips, twists and turns that are a marvel to behold.

Dave Wise's Golden performance 

from http://www.fis-ski.com

Mickaela Shiffrin, of  Colorado, the 2013 reigning world champ in slalom, comes in fifth place in her Olympic debut. Her parents, we learn, are very supportive of her career with her mom touring the world with her daughter every step of the way.

Mickaela Shiffrin competing on the  ladies' slalom course  at Sochi

from www.ksbw.com

 The Shiffrin family mantra is not about results--it's all about practice. The family does not believe in chasing lots of events around the country.

The highlight of the last tape is the ladies' four minute free skating event. Kudos to the 17 year old Russian skater Adelina Sotnikova the gold medal winner. She showed amazing flexibility in her spins and was all about the athletic element in the program.

Of course, kudos also to Yuna Kim of South Korea, who took the silver. She is the reigning world  queen of women's figure skating from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics. Her skating was flawless and came in just behind Sotnikova.

Much controversy was stirred by Sotnikova's 'surprise' victory over a more accomplished and flawless performance by her rival.  Many feel that the judging process was skewered and thus biased in this event. 
(click to open the story)

The best TV commercial, in my judgment, goes to Visa for its  Everywhere you want to be video, with Morgan Freeman doing the voice over. Click here and judge for yourself.

Finally, Kudos to the NBC Olympic team composed of executives, technicians and broadcasters for their excellent two week coverage.

This was certainly an Olympics for the ages!

Thank you, Mr. Premier Putin!

The real question now looming  is just how far Vladimir Putin intends to push his sphere of influence in the Ukraine and other independent republics which once had been an integral part of the former Soviet Union.