A win for Sochi, a ruse for Putin
Infusion of new sports gives Winter Games fresh energy
Olympics often begin with controversy. And so it was with the just-completed Winter Games in Sochi, which unfolded amid terror threats, protests over Russia’s homophobic laws and complaints over unfinished hotel rooms.
But none of the worst fears came to pass. The games went off with few glitches and played out, like most before, mostly as a thrilling and eye-opening spectacle of sport.
They gave us a stunning and controversial upset of the great South Korean figure skater Yuna Kim by an unheralded Russian, Adelina Sotnikova; a new mostdecorated Winter Olympian in Norwegian bi-athlete Ole Einar Bjoerndalen; and a Ukrainian team that won its first winter gold medal in 20 years even as its nation teetered on the edge of chaos.
The results were, to be sure, disappointing from an American perspective because U.S. athletes won nine fewer medals than in Vancouver four years ago despite having 12 new events.
But the spectacle was another matter. It was captivating, in large part because of those new events.
The Olympics, summer and winter, have been adding events with almost every cycle. At the Sochi Olympics, they reached critical mass, transforming the games with brand new slopestyle events that find athletes doing ridiculous midair flips as they fly down mountain sides on skis or snowboards, sometimes moving backward. Building on previous additions, such as short-track skating, they ensure that the Olympics will remain relevant to new generations of fans.
These games even brought a new twist to the most staid and traditional winter Olympic sport — team figure skating event, which meant that skating competitions were held during virtually the entire two-week stretch of the games.
The Olympics are not without their shortcomings — judging scandals and doping, to name a couple. But they would have to be ranked as one of the world’s great institutions — a collective global pause from the grim events that normally dominate international news.
They have presented some of the greatest moments in sports, such as the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” when a group of American college kids defeated a dominant Soviet machine in hockey, or the eight gold medals won by Michael Phelps during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
While nothing this time reached that level, these were still great games that are most likely to be remembered for compelling sports, and not for some unfortunate event.