Thank you, Russia!

[saintflannel]

Ok sorry.

No worries!

 

[FlyerFire]

Despite all the criticism your Country delivered an AWESOME winter games!

Only because Canada won gold in hockey, admit it

 

[Ilyeu]

Thanks for the sports memories.

 

[thebigbea]

I think like 8 billion. I don't care how Russia spends it's money though, that's their concern. The Olympics were good and they did a good job. I'm not paying the bill, they can spend all the money they want.

Other than false creek in vancouver, it was a success in vancouver.. Especially the canada line and upgrade on sea to sky hwy. was one of the most successful Olympics..

Great job by Russia but kinda expected with more than 50 billions spent..

 

[Beau Knows]

Great job by Russia but kinda expected with more than 50 billions spent..

The thing is though that 50 billion in Canada isn't the same as in Russia. There is a lot of corruption and a lot of venues that needed to be built from the ground up. It is what it is, they knew what they were getting into in that way. Good for them for putting their money where their mouth was. Vancouver was great and so was Sochi. Now it's Koreas turn to follow both countries example.

 

[Arne]

When thinking of the cost, it's important to note that not all of the money went towards the olympics, a lot of it was for improving the infrastructure of the city and area to serve as a holiday resort for years to come. Also there will be a Formula one race at Sochi starting from 2014 which needs good infrastructure around it.

Also there's been estimations that 1/3 went to corruption. The railroad from Adler to Krasnaya Polyana somehow ended up costing 3 times more, than the delivery and operation of the new generation of NASA Mars rovers. Anyway, impressive job all in all.

Some people said that they don't know what will happen to all the infrastructure when the Olympics are over, but I'd think they're going to maintain them in good condition, since there's that F1 and Sochi is one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

 

[Kap-the-Head]

People need to realize that most of that money went towards rebuilding the city. A huge chunk of it went to improving transportation, including the new highway into the mountains, along with the rail road, new airport facility, new power stations, recycling and water treatment facilities.

 

[ViD]

Thanks a lot for good comments. I was shocked by team Russia performance, but thanks to our other Olympians and almost smooth organization, I will remember this games as positive experience for the country

 

[Zirakzigil]

Agreed. Good job Russia.

 

[rduck1]

Very good work indeed. I hope they do get the KHL team there as well, those are some pretty sweet arenas.

 

[Canuck21t]

All athletes are pleased and that's what matters. Great success for Russia.

Yes, everyone, even Don Cherry, said everything was top notch and there was nothing to complain about.

The Russian team performed amazingly well by not only winning the most medals, but also ranking first by winning the most gold medals too. Too bad you don't get the cherry on top of your sundae with your hockey team failing miserably. Oh well, you can't have everything.

All in all, excellent job Russia!

 

[Vladiator]

After reading all the negative comments about the Olympics from the non-Russian media, I am quite shocked by all the positive opinions from the members of this forum! Great to see how people get see through all the media BS!

 

[HABS win CUPS*]

Thanks a lot for good comments. I was shocked by team Russia performance, but thanks to our other Olympians and almost smooth organization, I will remember this games as positive experience for the country

10/10 would medal again

 

[KlonkLLL]

After reading all the negative comments about the Olympics from the non-Russian media, I am quite shocked by all the positive opinions from the members of this forum! Great to see how people get see through all the media BS!

Some media had such a negative mindset going into the Olympics. Like that the volunteers were so friendly and helpful. Somehow they managed to twist it to something negativly.

 

[k0p1t4r slovenia]

People need to realize that most of that money went towards rebuilding the city. A huge chunk of it went to improving transportation, including the new highway into the mountains, along with the rail road, new airport facility, new power stations, recycling and water treatment facilities.

That's also what I was thinking as well.

It helps to listen to what people from Russia have to say about the Olympics because there has just been way too much anti-Russian propaganda leading up to the Olympics.

Good to know the money went to rebuilding the city, and what a beautiful city it has become.

 

[OttawaRoughRiderFan*]

Well done. Thank you for the safety most of all.

 

[General Zodd]

I still feel Vancouver was slightly better, but I'm bias. Congrats Russia on hosting an amazing Olympic Games!

Not going to get into a comparison as that is reserved for another thread but Vancouver hands down! ....Anyway I will say that Russia exceeded my expectations substantially. Looked like a beautiful spot with nice facilities. Weather really wasn't winter like but at least there was snow where it counted. Many good things about the show put on so they can be proud! Maybe it was the CBC mic setup but I found the atmosphere at the hockey games to be fairly subdued? Arena acoustics maybe?? Just my thoughts

 

[Diatomic]

Nice area, good infastructure, great opening/closing ceremonies (DJ was awesome), good olympics overall, 8.5/10.

 

[Hockeycast]

Maybe it was just me but I always look forward to the Winter Olympics much more so than the summer but this one was a letdown. Don't think its anything the Russians did. I just feel like overall the enthusiasm was not their like I would expect, the skiing and snowboarding was a big disappointment as it just seemed like none of them were every in real control for about 90% of the events. The hockey was ok but it was not the best I would have expected. Even watching the figure skating I just kind of felt it did not match up to past years. To add to that the fact that so many venues were just not close to being filled kinda sucks to see.

Spot on. Everything just seemed much more boring for some reason.
Don't get me wrong, Russia did everything well but for some reason I didn't feel as excited about these games, as usual.
But thanks to the organizers and all of the athletes!

 

[PG Canuck]

It was a good Olympics.

 

[LeeIs]

Excellent Olympics! Beautifully managed! Well done.

 

[Sam Spade]

Nice area, good infastructure, great opening/closing ceremonies (DJ was awesome), good olympics overall, 8.5/10.

The DJ's were great.

I would go 9.5/10, but only because as others have stated some of the events were not full of people.

And to all the pre-Sochi naysayers

p.s. This doesn't take away from the fact that Russia is one archaic place when it comes to human rights.

 

[Big Phil]

They did a great job. I remember downplaying any chance of a terrorist attack during the Olympics on here and as usual there was paranoia in the air.

I can't remember a Winter Olympics where I said I wouldn't "miss" them. Vancouver of course is right up there, even Turin, heck we were heartless in hockey but the rest of the medal haul was great and the games itself were great too.

But I will certainly miss Sochi. For two weeks you are glued to your TV. You don't want to miss anything live if you can help it and you don't want to miss the replays at night if you haven't seen them.

 

[MikeK]

The atmosphere at the hockey games was bad. There were plenty of empty seats. Really took away from the viewing experience. Rest of the games were nice though.

Totally agree about the atmosphere that the hockey games. It was really bad. I also notice quite a lack of support at many events as well. We'll never know the actual attendance figures but I doubt they were that great throughout the games. All in all this was one of the worst games from my point of view. It didn't have that Olympic magic like many of the past ones did.

 

[RED ARMY EAST]

Kulemin: "if Russia wins gold in every event but not in hockey, the olympics will still be a failure"

Russia, you did just fine!
Most gold medals, despite the non-success of the hockey team.
This will go down as a great event and the Russian people should be praised for that!