Olympiad in Sochi

Triumph in front of the tragedy

In February 2014, Russia hosted the Olympic Games for the first time in its post-Soviet history. Bottom line: 33 medals, of which 13 are gold, and the first place in the team event. In Sochi-2014, Russia broke not only its own record for the total number of medals, but also all records of the USSR era-before Sochi, 29 medals won by Soviet athletes in 1988 at the Kalgary Olympics (Canada) were the best result in the history of our sport.

However, the unconditional success of the games was reflected not only in rewards. The incidents and errors seemed to be an electronic Olympic ring during a bright opening ceremony or hastily tiles in hotel rooms, they did not spoil the general impression: all 11 built Olympic objects were ready on time and fully complyed with global standards. The organization of the games took part in 25 thousand volunteers who did not skimp on smiles and even learned to release the audience from stadiums without queues: 1.322 million people visited the games. Russia added points in international ratings. But the February triumph was followed by the March failure - the annexation of Crimea. Then the war in the Donbass began. And the Sochi rose faded in the eyes of many.