Then when the media started arriving, they found that Sochi and Russia had spent huge amounts of money on the venues and Olympic Villages, which were well-constructed, but the organizers had not found the time to really finish the hotels housing the media and spectators, which were in disrepair or half-finished states. There were even some calls for a boycott, but no governments gave them serious heed. There were some problems leading up to the start of the Olympics, one when Russia’s government passed a highly controversial anti-gay law, and the Western media seized on this to criticize Russia and the choice of Sochi as a host. The eventual cost skyrocketed to a widely publicized figure of $51 billion (US), far exceeding the cost of all previous Winter Olympics combined, and easily surpassing the highest ever for a Summer Olympics, the usually quoted $33 billion (US) for Beijing in 2008. It was a highly unusual choice as Sochi, in southern Russia on the Black Sea, was a summer resort, and had no winter sports facilities at the time of the bid, but Russian President Vladimir Putin made an impassioned plea to the IOC and he would come to dominate the 2014 Winter Olympics as had no non-athlete since Adolf Hitler at 1936 Berlin.īecause Sochi lacked winter sports facilities, everything had to be built from scratch, including all the venues, a winter ski resort in the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana in the Caucasus Mountains, and all the associated infrastructure, including roads between the two sets of venues (Coastal Cluster and Mountain Cluster), Olympic Villages for the athletes, and hotels for the media and spectators. Russia produced some surprisingly talented teens this season, after some mediocre rankings in recent years look for Yulia Lipnitskaya and Adelina Sotnikova to stun the judges with their jumps.Īnd finally, training-mates-from-different-countries Davis and White (U.S.) and Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir (Canada), who work with coach Marina Zoueva in Canton, Mich., may face off in the short and free programs in ice dance they are the reigning silver and gold medalists, respectively, from Vancouver.In July 2007 the IOC chose Sochi, Russia to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games over PyeongChang, Korea and the seemingly safe choice of Salzburg, Austria. Japan has Mao Asada, the reigning Olympic silver medalist, new national champion Kanako Murakami and Akiko Suzuki. team includes new national champion Gracie Gold, and Ashley Wagner, who came in third in this season’s Grand Prix Final, and newcomer Polina Edmunds. 9, will be a good opportunity for Russia, Japan and the U.S. qualified three teams in ice dance, including reigning world champions and Olympic silver medalists Meryl Davis and Charlie White, but only two in pairs. athletes have hinted that they would be eager to spread the wealth at the team event to maximize the number of athletes able to participate.Ĭanada is also strong in pairs and dance, with three teams each, while the U.S. Russia, which only qualified one male skater in the men’s event, 2006 Olympic gold medalist Evgeny Plushenko, will have to use him in both the short and free programs of the team competition, but has more play in the pairs and dance events, in which they have three teams each.Ĭoaches and skaters will have to balance the demands of competing in potentially four programs in the space of a week, and the U.S. The event stretches over three days of competition, beginning Thursday (the day before Opening Ceremonies) with the men’s and pairs short programs. As the 2013 world team trophy champs, the Americans have a good chance of grabbing gold seven of the eight members of that championship team are competing in Sochi. skaters have kept their strategy under wraps. Which US skaters will be chosen to compete? Each team is allowed two substitutions across all four disciplines one ladies’ skater may perform the short program, for example, while another performs the free, and one pairs team may compete in the short and another compete in the free, and that would exhaust that country’s substitutions.Įntries for each category (ladies, men, pairs and dance) must be submitted 24 hours before the scheduled event. Only the top five scoring teams will continue on to compete in the free skate.Įach country’s skating federation will determine which athletes will skate which events. First place receives 10 points, second place nine points, and so on down the line. Just like in the other skating events, each skater performs two routines-a short and a free program, for a total of eight scores per country.
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