Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Overview

The 2014 Winter Olympics (XXII Olympic Winter Games) is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to be held in Sochi, Russia from February 7th to February 23rd, 2014. The 2014 Winter Paralympics, a similar competitive event for athletes with physical disabilities, will begin on March 7th and continue to March 16, 2014.

Background

Sochi was elected as the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics on July 4th, 2007, beating out other competing cities like Salzburg in Austria and PyeongChang in South Korea.^[14] The venues for the games will divided into two main sections-the Coastal Cluster and the Mountain Cluster. With a total budget of $51 billion, the 2014 Sochi games is expected to be the most expensive Olympics event ever organized and it will be the first time Russia hosts the game since the Soviet Union was dissolved. Over the course of sixteen days, more than 2,500 athletes from 88 nations will participate in 98^[15] events over 15 disciplines in seven winter sports: skating, skiing, bobsleigh, biathlon, curling, ice hockey and luge.

FCKH8 Coloring Book Campaign

On October 30th, 2013, FCKH8 announced a new campaign on its official Tumblr blog^[2] pledging to deliver 10,000 copies of pro-gay coloring books to Russian children via mail during the Olympics, if the post receives more than 100,000 likes. In the press release, the group explained the direct mail campaign as a way to protest against the Russian government’s enforcement of its controversial anti-gay propaganda laws, and secondly, to inform kids in Russia that being gay is okay.

Jamacian Bobsleed Team Fundrasier

On January 19th, 2014, an Indiegogo^[1] page was created by members of the Jamaican Bobsled Team to fund their trip to Sochi. On the same day, a fundraiser was launched by the Dogecoin Foundation^[2] for the bobsled team, which gathered $35,000 in donations in the first 24 hours.^[3]

Twin Toilets

On January 20th, 2014, BBC reporter Steve Rosenberg tweeted a picture of two toilets he found in one stall in a bathroom in Sochi’s cross-country skiing and biathlon center with the caption “Seeing double in the Gentlemen’s Loo at the Olympic Biathlon Centre #Sochi .”^[9][10]

Russians on social media were quick to point out the double toilet wasn’t common but not unheard of in Russia, and on January 21st, Rosenberg tweeted a picture BBC photographer Max Lomakin took in 2013 of four toilets in one stall-less room at Russian Kazan University. On February 1st, the Associated Press took a picture of a second double toilet in Sochi, this pair found in a women’s rest room in the Main Media Center.^[11]

McDonald’s #CheersToSochi

On January 21st, 2014, fast food restaurant chain McDonalds launched a Twitter hashtag #CheersToSochi, encouraging their followers to send well wishes to the athletes competing in the Olympic games.^[7] The campaign was met with a lot of criticism because of Russia’s anti-LGBT policies and sentiment at the games, and the Twitter hashtag was taken over by people who wanted McDonalds to know they were against their corporate sponsorship of the Olympics.^[12] On January 24th McDonalds responded to the backlash by tweeting:

#CheersToSochi is about sending Olympians messages of good luck. We support human rights & all athletes. Learn more: http://mcd.md/sVoy7

— McDonalds Corps.@McDonaldsCorps) January 24, 2014

As of February 4th, McDonalds was still tweeting encouraging followers to send their cheers to Sochi, though they have abandoned the hashtag.^[13]

Travis Gerrits’ Vine

On January 27th, 2014, Canadian skier Travis Gerrits posted a Vine shot in Sochi that featured Australia skier Lydia Lassila.^[4] Through forced perspective, it was created to appear as if Gerrits was eating Lassila after a ski jump. Gerrits’ Vine was tweeted more than 6,100 times in just over a week and reported on by The Huffington Post^[5] and Yahoo Sports.^[6]

External References