Two sides of the same coin.
The facade…
…and the reality.
And what did they mean for park skiers?
Nice moustache on the faux security…
…and less entertaining accessories on the real security.
The ends do not justify the means.
Two weeks ago I arrived in Sochi to report on the Games for Newschoolers.
Immediately I was introduced to the concept of “the Sochi bubble.”
Although I got the stamp in my passport, I was never really in “Russia.”
American capitalism alive and well in Russia.
This is the Team Shop in the USA House.
Want to buy one of those ugly Opening Ceremony cardigans for grandma?
Check the price tag first.
Some local flavor in the Mountain Cluster…
More local flavor: Russian Subway!
An athlete favorite in the Mountain Cluster: Baskin Robbins!
The valley of the Myzmta River, home to the Olympic Mountain Cluster, is a full-fledged environmental catastrophe.
Gorky Village was still half-finished when the Games began.
Nice views from the Mountain Cluster hotels.
A different perspective of Rosa Khutor and the halfpipe venue.
In the mountain cluster the Sochi 2014 facade was particularly thin.
The hotels that were completed on time stand next to abandoned lots scattered with rubble.
These Games were held together by spit and the Russian equivalent of duct tape: brute force.
These blocks, however, were placed directly onto the mud of the hillside.
Every day they sank into the earth, creating depressions in the plaza.
Rebuilding the plaza for the fifth time.
Rebuilding the plaza for the eighth time.
I fear that everything else in this valley was built in exactly the same manner.
The answer is simple: it will collapse.
I would do heinous things to ski a big storm here.
Serious alpine terrain at Rosa Khutor.
Which line would you ski?
Sochi is already well-known in Russia as a summer vacation destination, but only for the well-heeled.
I would highly recommend this place to any freerider.
This is truly astonishing considering the manner in which so many of the foreign visitors behaved towards the locals.
Don’t expect things to work the way they do at home.
It’s you who are the idiot who expects them to.
In my mind, that’s their own damn fault.
The men and women of freeskiing had their ups and downs at the Games.
Some tasted victory, and others the agony of defeat.
Some complained about the venues, others sent it without a second look.
The Olympics have never seen anything like this before…
…or like this.
No fucks given by Matt Margetts.
Still, people didn’t quite know what do with park skiers.
Just look at the focus on Henrik’s pants instead of on his skiing.
Athletes chilling together at the top of the course?
These guys are supposed to be as good of friends as Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan.
David Wise was an unstoppable force in the halfpipe last week.
That’s not to say that this won’t change.
Beau-James Wells with a “little” safety tweak.
In the end, whether you think that’s a good thing or not is really up to you.
