You thought Sochi was bad? Just you wait...

     In case you haven't seen the update trending on Facebook today, preparations in Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games are behind schedule.  Like, really behind schedule.  Like, this is what their main Olympic Park looks like right now:

     Meanwhile, this is what it's supposed to look like finished, just over 2 years from now:

     Seriously, they're that far behind schedule.  John Coates of the IOC was even quoted after his sixth trip to Rio as saying that their preparations are "the worst I've ever experienced" and even worse off than the Greeks leading up to the 2004 Athens Games.  And the IOC isn't the only International Sporting Body on Brasil's case either.  FIFA is expressing exasperation over the country's last-minute scramble to ready everything for the 2014 World Cup.  There are problems with water pollution, the 8-sport Deodoro complex hasn't even broken ground yet, and the Olympic Golf Course has no grass.

     But even with all of the handicaps, Coates has reiterated that the IOC is holstering no plans to pull a last-minute switch, saying "...there is no plan B.  We are going to Rio."  Things may look bleak now, but if Squaw Valley could pull it off 50+ years ago, Rio should be able to do it.  If not, we just might be headed for a second consecutive tin-can Olympics.  I can just see the hashtags now.

Reflections: Sochi Closing Ceremony

     After more than 2 weeks of spirited competition, the time finally came to lower the curtain on the 2014 Winter Olympics.  However,  before the curtain fully fell, it was time to end the show with a bang in the Closing Ceremony.  To start things off, the same girl who played a part in the Opening Ceremony came back out to start off the Closing Ceremony.  After that, several dancers came together to form the Olympic Rings(well, 4 rings and one dot in deference to the Opening Ceremony's mishap).

     Then all of Russia's Gold winners marched into the stadium holding the Russian flag, at which point Russia's National Anthem was played.  After the raising of the Russian flag, the athletes marched in all together, and then the final two medals of the Games were awarded(Women's 30k Cross Country and Men's 50k Cross Country)  Then there were several performances on the main floor which served to illustrate more of Russian history, including the art of Chagall, the music of Mariinsky, and even a tribute to the Circus.

     After that was the handover ceremony, where the Games were officially handed off to Pyongchang for 2018.  After a brief display of South Korean culture, the time came to officially end the Sochi Games.  One of the Olympic Mascots, the Polar Bear blew out the Olympic flame, which is particularly meaningful as the same thing happened at the close of the 1980 Summer Olympics.  And then IOC President Thomas Bach called upon the athletes of the world to reconvene in 2018 in Pyongchang, the cauldron went dark, and the floor of Fisht Stadium became a giant dance party.  Overall, not a bad way to end the 22nd Winter Olympic Games.

A Marathon on Skis and the Final Slide: Sochi Day 18

     Well, we've finally hit it.  The final day of competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics.  All the effort, all the drive, all the glory, it all comes down to this.  The first event of the day took us to the Laura Complex in Krasnaya Polyana for the Men's 50k Freestyle.  This race is just what it sounds like, and has the athletes going 50 Kilometers(just over 31 Miles) on skis.  This is the longest event in the Games, with the skiers taking well over an hour and a half to cross the finish line.  Some of the skiers in the heat had been heard of before in these games, such as Dario Cologna, who after winning the 15k race, stuck around to congratulate the last place finisher, a true display of the Olympic Spirit.  Other skiers had come to Sochi specifically for this event and had not competed at all in the past 2 weeks.  Either way, the race presented a strong field, which made it all the more compelling.  After the first 90 minutes of racing, the athletes started to pick up speed as they entered the final stretch.  The competition became hotter and hotter, and the home crowd was on its feet cheering on Alexander Legkov as he captured the Gold.  And then 2 more Russians finished behind him, setting up a Russian sweep on the Final day of the Games.

     Leaving the Russian victory at Laura behind, we take one final trip to the Sanki Sliding Center for the final event of the Games: 4-Man Bobsled.  After Saturday's heats, Team USA stood in 3rd Place, with the Russians on top, poised to win their first ever 4-Man Gold.  As the heats started going, the times started getting faster.  Team USA and Russia both completed their 3rd runs, and then all the sleds took their final run.  At one point, the Canada 3 team took their turn.  This was all the more remarkable since their sled had just been in a rough crash the day before.  But they walked away from the crash, and they were able to give it one more go.  After Canada's valiant effort, the focus returned to the chase for Gold.  The USA turned in a solid performance on their final run, but then Russia came in and bested it.  When it was all over, the team lead by Aleksander Zubkov had succeeded in winning Russia's first ever Olympic Gold in 4-Man Bobsled.  What a way to wrap up the Games, winning the Gold on home turf.

Showtime at the Iceberg, Kostelic's Minefield, Dutch Dominance, and Juicin' while Shootin': Sochi Day 17

     After all the drama, suspense, and wonder that we were treated to at the Iceberg Skating Palace, we came back one more time on Saturday for the Ice Skating Exhibition Gala.  This is where the contestants from the competition come back onto the ice one final time and skate another program in exhibition.  This exhibition set is more showy than the competitive one, with the skaters adding props to their performances.  Additionally, there aren't as many technical pieces(i.e. jumps) in this as there are in the competitive performances.  Adding to the showiness, Tara Lipnski and Johnny Weir were calling the festivities, and they were wearing their typical coordinated decorations, which this time were matching flowers.

     Moving away from the Iceberg and to another venue we'll be seeing for the last time, the Men's Slalom Finals were being held at Rosa Khutor.  Ted Ligety was fresh off of Gold in the Giant Slalom, and so eyes were on him to have a repeat performance in the Slalom. However, that was not to be, as Mario Matt of Austria finished with the Gold in that race. Irrespective of any competitive highlights, the real star of the Final wasn't even an Olympian.  Instead, it was a man by the name of Ante Kostelic, who served as the course setter for the Slalom Finals. His job is to craft the course so as to make it interesting and challenging.  And boy did he ever. Over the 2 runs, 13 skiers either fell or skied off of the course at various points.  If you've got that many people going off course, I would say that the setter did well.  So while Mario Matt may have technically won this, I would say that the big winner of this one was Ante Kostelic.

     Meanwhile Speed Skating officially wrapped up, and the Dutch added to their trophy case.  They won both the Men's and Women's Team Pursuit, giving them a total of 23 Medals in Speed Skating.  Another fact of note from Saturday came from the Biathlon Women's Mass Start, when it was announced today that one of the German competitors had tested positive for a banned substance, which led to Germany being stripped of its 4th-place result.  As it was only 4th, this did not effect any Medal counts.  Check back later for the exciting conclusion to these Games!

An Alpine Phenom, Speed Skating, and a Denial of Gold: Sochi Day 16

     Okay everybody, our first stop in Sochi are the mountains of Rosa Khutor, where we spend our final day out on the slopes taking in the Women's Slalom heat.  There were many athletes demanding our attention on the slopes, but the one with the most hype coming in was 18-year old American Mikaela Shiffrin, who was in Sochi for her first Olympics.  However, the field was quite deep, and Shiffrin wouldn't be facing a walk in the park on the run-throughs.  The first big contender was Maria Hofl-Riesch, coming in defense of her Vancouver Gold in the Slalom, as well as coming off of a Gold in the Super Combined in Sochi.  Not just that, but the field also contained the formidable Tina Maze, who was coming off of several dominant performances in the Games.  After the heats had all been run, Shiffrin came away the winner of the event, giving all of us a tantalizing taste of Olympic skill that we should see for years to come.

     Moving on to Speed Skating, we started off with the Men's Team Pursuit.  The Quarterfinal round of this sport saw the Dutch taking on the French, in a contest that wasn't even close from the start.  The Dutch ended finishing 8.6 seconds ahead of the French, in a victory so dominant that the Dutch nearly ran a whole lap ahead of the French by the end of the race, proving once again that the Dutch are unstoppable.  Needless to say, the Dutch wound up winning the event.  Going back to the Iceberg for the Short Track Events, we saw the Men's 5,000 Meter Relay.  This sport is something else, as it has teams of 5 from each country in a relay format.  How it works is that one of the skaters goes around the track while the other skaters warm up on the inside track.  Then after a certain number of laps, the next guy up skates up behind the returning skater and gives him a push on the back to send him on his way.  When you actually look at it, it can get quite chaotic.
     The final highlight of the day was the big hockey game between USA and Canada.  We were out for blood after our loss in the 2010 Final, and we fought the good fight.  Alas, we ended up losing, but never fear, we'll be back in 2018.

Skiing and Sliding, Women's Skipipe, and the Ladies Final: Sochi Day 15

     We may be rounding the final stretches at Sochi, but there's still plenty of thrills and spills left to be had.  To start them off, we're heading to Rosa Khutor and the Men's Ski Cross heat.  Much like the Snowboard Cross we've seen the past few days except with skis, this event is just as unpredictable and provides just as much heart-stopping drama as its board-bound cousin.  The heat starts off with some preliminary runs to seed for the finals, and that is where we run into the first character of the heat, Slovenia's Flip Flisar.  He comes up to the line sporting a respectable handlebar mustache, which earns him the title of "most interesting 'stache in Sochi"  Flisar makes it through the first couple of rounds, before ultimately getting eliminated in the semifinals.  One of the other heats had two competitors fall down at the very last second and slide across the finish line, with the first one across taking the qualifying spot in a photo finish.  The medal round came down to 3 Frenchmen and a Canadian.  After a fall in the home stretch scrubbed the Canadian, the French came away with the second medal sweep in freestyle skiing at Sochi(after the Americans swept the podium in Ski Slopestyle).

     Afterwards, we took a trip over to the halfpipe for one final time in these Games to contest the Women's Halfpipe ski contest.  The event is one of several added to the Olympics new this year, due in no small part to Canadian skier Sarah Burke, whose ardent campaigning led the IOC to add this event to the Winter Games in April of 2011. The newness of this event bodes well for the Americans, owing to our demonstrated prowess in new events.  One of the highlights of the heat was seeing Canadian skier Rosalind Groenewoud, and her red lipstick, which is a personal calling card of hers.  After several heats, the winner was finally announced to be Maddie Bowman, the 20-year old American with a Grandma who you don't want to mess with.

     And then it was off to the Iceberg again, this time to wrap up the competitions in Figure Skating with the Ladies Free Skate.  After Wednesday's short program, the leader was South Korea's Yuna Kim.  This time, there weren't as many spills on the ice, with most everybody skating a clean program.  And then, we started seeing performance after performance, and they were all fantastic.  However, the Gold Medal was ultimately awarded to Russia's Adelina Sotnikova, giving the world the first Gold winner out of the former USSR since Oksana Baiul in 1994(the year we all learned what the price of gold really was).  All told, the Figure Skating competitions at these Games were filled with suspense and wonder, and they won't be soon forgotten.

One Badass Grandma

     Last night at the Women's Skipipe competition, the big winner was American Maddie Bowman.  She took the Gold Medal, and continued Team USA's domination of the new events to Sochi.  But Bowman was almost surpassed in the blogosphere by her grandmother Lorna Perpall.  After Bowman won the Gold, Perpall opened up her overcoat to reveal this:

     Yup, that sweater does indeed say "Badass Grandma".  Maybe she and Boris Shnapir could start up a new fashion cartel.  As they say, only at the Olympics.