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imm m Interrrafional Wednesday, February 12, 2014 • page 14 Sochi 2014^ Kaitlin Dunn International Editor The 2014 Olympic Games kicked off on Feb. 7 with a dazzling Opening Ceremony. The show began with a video of a little girl asleep in her bed. Her dreams guided the audience through thousands of years of Russian history. She flew through the air and then beckoned to five giant snowflakes, which opened to form the shape of the five Olympic Rings. The fifth ring malfunc tioned, and did not open. The Sretenslgr Monastery Choir then took to the floor and sang the Russian na tional anthem. Then came the parade of nations. Greece led the nations, who followed in alphabeti cal order according to the Russian alphabet. The Russian were the last to process in to much fanfare. The rest of the ceremony paid tribute to Russia’s history and culture, including mu sic by Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky, with se lections from “Swan Lake,” and “The Nut cracker.” The well-known Bolshoi Ballet Company performed a scene from Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” There were also tributes to Russia’s well- known inventors and scientists including Dimitri Mendeleev, who solidified the pe riodic table of elements, and aviator Igor Sikorsky. At the end of the three-hour ceremony, the Olympic cauldron was lit by hockey leg end Vladislav Tretiak and figure skater Irina R,pdnina. Other torchbearers included ten nis player Maria Sharapova, gymnast Alina Kabaeva, pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and wrestler Aleksander Karelin. There is some controversy surrounding several of the selected torchbearers. “Today Show” anchor Matt Lauer said about Ka- beava, “according to all reports, she’s in a re lationship with Russian president Vladimir Putin.” Another contested choice was Rod- nina, who tweeted a racist photo mocking President Barack Obama last September. #SochiProblems Since arriving in Sochi, many journalists and athletes have encountered bizarre and substandard living conditions, leading to the trending hashtag, “SochiProblems.” Many hotels are unfinished or in the process of being remodeled, sporting loose wires, falling plaster and contaminated wa ter. One journalist encountered live wires in his shower. Several people tweeted their confusion over the bathroom situations, including toilets right next to one another and fire hoses above sinks. American bobsledder Johnny Quinn’s tweet featuring a picture of his demol ished bathroom door that he had to punch through to escape went viral. The accompa nying tweet said; “...With no phone to call for help, I used my bobsled push training to break out. #SochiJailBreak.” On Feb. 10 Quinn got stuck again, this time in an elevator with fellow bobledders PHOTO COURTESY OF MCT CAMPUS Sage Kotensburg won the first gold medal of the 2014 Games in the slopestype snowboarding competition. Nick Cunningham and David Cripps and tweeted a picture of himself trying to get out. As reported by newsite Vocativ, a notice went out to Sochi volunteers at the begin ning of February that said: “‘Due to an ex treme shortage of pillows for athletes who unexpectedly arrived at Olympic Village in the mountains, there will be a transfer of pil lows from all apartments to the storehouse on 2 February 2014.” Pillow company MyPiUow attempted to ship 3,000 pillows to Sochi, but the shipment could not make it past Olympic Headquarters in Colorado due to Russian custom restrictions. Beyond the gripes about hotels, a pleth ora of tweets complain about the city itself Construction is still going on all over the city, despite the fact that the Games have already started. Pictures have documented uncovered manholes, crumbling streets and broken elevators. Journalist Emily Walker tweeted a photo of a worker spray painting the grass. “The grass isn’t greener on the other side, it’s green where you...paint it. #SochiProblems (®PHSCE.” US takes gold in slopestyle events PHOTO COURTESY OF MCT CAMPUS A trio of Russian horses known as the troika gallop across the sky in the Opening Ceremonies. On Feb. 8, 20-year-old American snow- boarder Sage Kotsenburg captured the first gold medal of the Sochi Games slopestyle with a trick he had never attempted before. One day later, 23-year-old American Jamie Anderson, a favorite in this event, took gold in the women’s slopestyle event Not only was this the first event of the Olympics, it was also the debut of the slopestyle event in the Olympics. Kotsenburg was not expected to medal. Before qualifying for the Olympics, he had not won a snowboarding competition since he was 11 old- “Corniing-bere and winning, I can’t even describe die. feeling,” he said. Anderson is si far more experienced com petitor. She is a four-time gold medalist at the X-Games and won her first medal at 15. Anderson’s entire family came to Sochi to support her. “To see my family today just brought tears to my eyes,” Anderson said. “It was such a special moment I’ll remem ber forever. “ Slopestyle involves snowboarding down a hill and features a mix of rails and jumps. Kotensburg earned his high score for a rare ly performed trick called a 1620 Japan Air Mute Grab. He performed four and a half revolutions while grabbing the board at the front of his feet and pulling it behind him. In the men’s competition, Staale Sand- bech of Norway took the silver while Mark McMorris of Canada won the bronze medal. McMorris was the favorite to win the competition before breaking a rib at the X-Games in January. In the women’s event, Enni Rukajarvi of Finland took silver, and Jenny Jones won bronze, making her the first to win a medal on snow for the United Kingdom.
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