With almost 3,000 athletes from 88 countries competing in a total of 98 different events, you could certainly see why Sochi, Russia was one of the largest, most extravagant and most money-guzzling games in Olympic history.
Russia bypassed the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics by spending the most amount of money on the complex and surrounding region, a whopping $54 billion in comparison to US dollars. However, the Russian’s piggy banks without question made the games look stunning, from the lighting of the torch to the closing ceremonies.
In the events, the US team came in second in the medal count with 28, five behind Russia with their home-field advantage. In third came Norway with 26.
The US team shined throughout the entire 2 week stretch, winning gold medals in alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, figure skating, and snowboarding and silver and bronze in numerous other events. Stars such as Sage Kotsenberg shredded to the gold in men’s slopestyle, while Jamie Anderson landed the gold in women’s. Duo Meryl Davis and Charlie White dominated the figure skating competition and ended up winning the gold with an outstanding routine. Joss Christensen, Nick Goepper, and Gus Kenworthy seized all three spots on the podium after their sweeping performance in slopestyle skiing.
Although men’s and women’s ice hockey failed to get past both Canadian powerhouses, the American players showed determination. In the heart wrenching final against Canada, the women took home silver, while the highlight of the men’s team was winning a riveting battle against rival Russia early in the tournament, with the aid of T.J. Oshie’s game winning penalty shot.
Various other gold medals were achieved by Kaitlyn Farrington in the snowboarding halfpipe and David Wise and Maddie Bowman in the skiing halfpipe.
All in all, the games went well. Sochi put millions into defense and security for the games, and luckily, they came out unscathed in their fear of terrorist plots. Little went wrong with any of the events or ceremonies; however, the opening ceremony was presented with a trivial malfunction when the fifth Olympic ring failed to open and complete the five ring pattern. But the Russians showed their sense of humor in the closing ceremonies when they purposefully stalled the opening of the fifth ring, getting wild cheers from the crowd when they opened it seconds later.
The Olympics, like any other sporting event, were made for pure athleticism and friendly competition, but also to bring nations together to forget about politics and rivalries and to battle it out on the rink, track, or course. Sochi was success, not only for the athletes, but for the whole world watching.