Fifty Billion Dollars Worth of Olympic Issues

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The 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, housed a multitude of issues for travelers, viewers and Olympians. And although it’s over now, people all over the world are remembering Russia for its multitude of issues at the Olympic games.

The games themselves had many issues. According to the Washington Post, the Olympic flame went out forty-four times, the weather was nearly too hot to host the games, and competitions such as the biathlon and snowboarding were postponed because of thick fog.

The Olympians also had issues with the games. A Norwegian skier deemed a course too steep and unsafe to be used in the Olympic games, and Olympic figure skater Ashley Wagner felt that there was a biased opinion in the judges process.

To add to the list, viewers had problems with the games as well.

“I would only watch the future summer Olympic games if it’s not being held in Russia,” said Aliza Osborne.

“It was too much trouble to go through,” said viewer Tea Kendrick, when asked if the games should have been held in Russia.

The country itself also created problems for its visitors. Travelers staying in the hotels of Sochi found toilets and light fixtures didn’t work, door handles were missing, beds were too small and the walls were completely plain, according to The Wire.

When visitors left their hotels, they found stray dogs roaming the streets. Russia’s solution was to poison the animals in order to kill them, according to CNN.

Water was also undrinkable and turned yellow. The reason for this was never specified and the only information released was “it contains something very dangerous.”  Some say it was due to faulty plumbing but no one knows for sure. This is the water coming from hotel faucets according to the Daily Meal: Water Image.

Travelers began to create twitter accounts and hash-tags, such as @Sochiproblems, devoted to showing the malfunctions.

The 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil certainly has an easy act to follow.