2014 Olympics go to Russia

[sceptique]

Sochi has been picked as 2014 Winter Olympics host city.

[Lark]

Sochi has been picked as 2014 Winter Olympics host city.

I have never heard of Sochi.
And how does Russia afford to sponsor an Olympics when they cannot even produce decent toliet paper?

[sceptique]

And how does Russia afford to sponsor an Olympics when they cannot even produce decent toliet paper?

Cut the budget for their space exploration programme?

[Sessy]

Sochi is the Riviera of Russia. Even president Putin has a beachhouse there. I'm a little surprised they'd put it up for winter games, considering the palm trees there freeze when it's just below freezing point. However, it's got excellent infrastructure and plenty of hotels and sanatoriums, so they'd not have to build that anymore.

Russia produces mostly recycled 1-layer toiletpaper because that's what people buy, you can get decent toiletpaper in supermarkets but it doesn't really sell... When I was a kid, everybody just wrubbed newspapers together till they were soft and wiped with that. Lots of old folks still refuse to accept anything softer than that, and 25% of the Russian population is retirement age or higher so...

Oh yeah maybe fun to know: Evgeni Plushenko was on the committee that advocated Sochi for the olympic games. He's apparently even taken lots of English lessons to be able to speak up about it more fluently. He says the plans are like sports Mecca, that neither of the two olympics he's been to had plans as good as this - apparently, in Salt Lake City it took the skaters almost an hour single trip to get to the rink, in Sochi it will be 10 minutes, 20 minutes tops for other disciplines.

[Sessy]

Cut the budget for their space exploration programme?

Hmmm if it weren't for the Russian space exploration programme, the International Space Station would've come crashing back on earth. The American engineers apparently didn't account for the rules of physics being a little different in space when they installed the new solar panels, which messed with the computer in several segments. It's the Russians who figured out what the problem was after the Americans said they wanted to evacuate, LOL!

I dunno... Sochi 2014 might actually be bad for Russia. Don't get me wrong here but not a lot of cities have managed to really make money out of the olympic games after the games left... You know, to keep the economy going.

[sceptique]

Hmmm if it weren't for the Russian space exploration programme....

Sessy, I was being ironic. Don't see a point in wasting pixels on aruments with kinds of folks who won't even bother to google out some background info on the next Olympic host city. Ignorance may be a bliss, but certainly not a merit....

[Lark]

Sessy, I was being ironic. Don't see a point in wasting pixels on aruments with kinds of folks who won't even bother to google out some background info on the next Olympic host city. Ignorance may be a bliss, but certainly not a merit....
Some people do not live for the Games.

[dooobedooo]

Thanks for the news, Sceptique. I'd never heard of Sochi before this, it looks like a lively place.

For those who haven't Googled it yet, Sochi is a multi-cultural resort city, situated on the Black Sea just north of the southern Russian border. North are the Caucasus Mountains. At 147 km (91 mi), Greater Sochi is the 5th longest city in Europe or the world. The resort has a warm climate, averaging +7 °C (44.6 °F) in January and February, and boasts many sanatoria and mineral baths. There are also tea plantations, the most northerly in Europe. Each summer, the city is home to the annual film festival "Kinotavr" and the vacation place of Russian leaders. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, sprawls just north from the city. (Wikipedia).

Palm trees, mountains, film festivals ...8-) Sounds a bit like the South of France ... has anybody been there?

[Sessy]

Some jokes from a Russian site about the olympics:

- Hooray! Putin is now the lord of THE RINGS!

- Of course Sochi won. Just imagine the members of the Olympic committee: "I want to vote vor Pchen... Phin... Pfoo... Nevermind, I'm voting for Sochi!"

- The winter games will be held in Sochi. The summer games will be held in Antarctica?

- Sochi 2014! The true path to peace with the Chechen rebels! All the Chechens are now too busy buying skis and practicing, in the hopes of winning the biathlon event at the 2014 olympics...

:lol:

[Sessy]

Palm trees, mountains, film festivals ...8-) Sounds a bit like the South of France ... has anybody been there?

I have, sorta - in a smaller town nearby. The mud baths are pretty fancy, but other than that it's exactly like southern france, with a somewhat colder and dirtier sea water. More organised activities though like excursions and stuff. Less interesting for diving (even without any equipment) than southern France is (especially near the Spanish border). Lots of people photographing you with monkeys/parrots/owls/etc for ridiculous prices.

The town where I was had a sand beach but apparently there's some pebble coast beaches in the vicinity as well.

A few years ago they were warming the palm trees in winter so they wouldn't freeze to death. :lol: