By: Denise N. Fyffe.
Copyright © 2014, Denise N. Fyffe

I am an avid fan of the Olympics, specifically the Summer Olympics. Seeing as I have a few more years to wait until the next Summer Olympics, I decided to check out the Winter Olympics. Man was I in for a huge disappointment for the  Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics held in Russia. Mind you, there were no shortage of articles about the tragedies and things going wrong, but there was a definitely a shortage of places I could go to view the games, especially here in Jamaica, in my own little online world.

Yahoo has been my email site of choice for over a decade and I am quite thankful for their initiatives to remind their users about the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics event. I choose the wallpaper option they gave and soon, I was counting down to the big event. On Day 1, I visited many websites searching for any information about the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony held in Russia and all I got were bad news articles; one after the other.

Initially I found these articles amusing, but after the fifth one, I thought Russia and Putin totally mishandled and messed up the games. Basically, everything from hotels, to streets, to stray dogs, to the skaters pipeline were in a shambles. How could Russia have this so wrong after numerous years given for preparation?

Here are some of the articles about what was happening at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics:

1. Sochi 2014: world authors join protest against Putin
2. Scandal in Sochi: The Most Expensive Winter Olympic Games Eve
3. Sochi 2014: Russia’s Winter Olympics spark controversy in social …
4. Journalists at Sochi are live-tweeting their hilarious and gross hotel
5. Winter Olympics: On top of poor water and double-toilets, Russian government admits spying on showers

These are also just a few twitter comments from journalists and athletes about their own experiences:

1. Harry Reekie @HarryCNN – CNN booked 11 rooms in one @Sochi2014 media hotel five months ago. We have been here for a day and only one room is available. #cnnsochi
2. Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7– Still waiting for “preparations” on hotel room to finish. Hoping they’re origami-folding toilet roll, rather than, say, putting the roof on.
3. Shaun Walker @shaunwalker7  – I have a room! No heating or internet, but it has a (single) bed at least…
4. Rosa Hwang @RosaHwangCTV – Water main break means no water at our hotel in #Sochi. Could take awhile to fix. #CTVSochi
5. Wayne Chow @wayne_chow – @bruce_arthur Hotel issues have been happening to a lot of people. Left out on the street, you risk being poisoned or trapped like the dogs.
6. Mark MacKinnon        ✔ @markmackinnon – For those of you asking, when there’s no lobby in your hotel, you go to the owner’s bedroom to check in. #Sochi2014
7. Stacy St. Clair @StacyStClair – My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, “do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.” #Sochi2014
8. Ryan Stanzel @rstanzel –Congrats to @Dave_Schwartz only media personality who’s arrived in Sochi with a hotel room that’s ready, with doorknob that doesn’t fall off
9. Jo-Ann Barnas @JoAnnBarnas Follow – Watch your step @Sochi2014 — I’ve noticed on walkway and on sidewalks that not all man holes are always covered.