Russia kicks off Sochi Winter Games
SOCHI, Russia (AP) — A crowning achievement of Vladimir Putin’s Russia kicked off Friday with a celebration of its past greatness and hopes for future glory, most especially for a raucous group of Russian athletes who marched into the rollicking opening ceremony of the Sochi Olympics with a message.
To the best athletes in the world, who they’ve invited to the edge of the Black Sea to compete on ice and snow, amid concerns about terrorism and criticism of intolerance of gay people, they sang: you’re “not gonna get us”.
Just after the sun set over the Caucasus Mountains and along the seashore just outside Fisht Stadium in the wet-paint-fresh Olympic Park, Russian TV star Yana Churikova shouted to a crowd still taking their seats: “Welcome to the centre of the universe!”
For the next two weeks, it certainly is for the 3,000 athletes who will compete in 98 events, more people and contests than ever at the Winter Games.
It will be, too, for all those worried the games will be a target for terrorism, fears of which were stoked during the ceremony itself when a passenger aboard a flight bound for Istanbul said there was a bomb onboard and tried to divert the plane to Sochi. Authorities said the plane landed safely in Turkey.
The show opened with a hiccup, as the lighting of the five Olympic Rings overshadowed the singing of the Russian national anthem. Five stars on cables drifted together above the stadium, and four of them turned into Olympic rings — but the fifth never unfurled and they all failed to erupt into white flames as planned.
Missing from the show: Putin’s repression of dissent, those worries of terrorism and inconsistent security measures at the Olympics, which will take place just a few hundred miles (kilometres) away from sites of an insurgency and routine militant violence.
Also looked over: Tensions with the United States over neighbouring Ukraine; NSA leaker Edward Snowden; and Syria. And the poorly paid migrant workers who helped build up the Sochi site from scratch, the disregard for local residents, the environmental abuse during construction, the pressure on activists, and the huge amounts of Sochi construction money that disappeared to corruption.
Some world leaders purposely stayed away, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and dozens of others were in Sochi for the ceremony. Ban Ki-moon didn’t mention the very real anger over a Russian law banning gay “propaganda” aimed at minors that is being used to discriminate against gay people.
But IOC President Thomas Bach won cheers for addressing it Friday, telling the crowd it’s possible to hold Olympics “with tolerance and without any form of discrimination for whatever reason”.
For all the criticism, there was no shortage of pride at the ceremony in what Russia has achieved with these games. The head of the Sochi organising committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, captured the mood of many Russians present when he said, “We’re now at the heart of that dream that became reality.”
“The games in Sochi are our chance to show the whole world the best of what Russia is proud of,” he said. “Our hospitality, our achievements, our Russia!”
The ceremony was a celebration of Russia and presented Putin’s version: a country with a rich and complex history emerging confidently from a rocky two decades and now capable of putting on a major international sports event.
Putin was front and centre, accepting the invitation from Bach to open the games from his box high above the stadium floor.
As always, Greece — the birthplace of Olympic competition — came first in the parade of nations. Five new teams, all from warm weather climates, joined the Winter Olympics for the first time. Togo’s flag bearer looked dumbstruck with wonder, but the Bermudans had the style to arrive in shorts!
The smallest teams often earned the biggest cheers from the crowd of 40,000, with an enthusiastic three-person Venezuelan team winning roars of approval as flag bearer and alpine skier Antonio Pardo danced and jumped along to the electronic music.
Only neighbouring Ukraine, scene of a tense and ongoing stand-off between a pro-Russian president and Western-leaning protesters, could compete with those cheers.
That is, until the Russians arrived.
Walking in last to a thundering bassline that struggled to overcome the ovations from the hometown crowd, the Russians reveled in all the attention. Their feeling could perhaps best be summed up by Russian singers Tatu, whose hit ‘Not Gonna Get Us’ accompanied them to their seats.
These games are particularly important, as many Russians are still insecure about their place in the world after the end of the Cold War and the years since that have seen dominance of the United States and China.