Winter Olympics at Sochi end today. I don't care one bit about sports, really. But I love international events with geopolitical overtones, lots of flags and promotional artifacts...
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...so I get very excited about things like Olympic games and World Cups. So excited indeed that I just finished watching Sochi 2014's opening ceremony!
Yes, two weeks late. Yet still I want to comment and also air some questions.
These were "Putin's games". I wonder, will he be satisfied with how the Games ended up being? And what did he really wanted by hosting the games?
Was it about making Russia look important again? International goodwill? I don't think he will get that... I mean, at the same time Kiev streets were (literally) on fire because of Putin's imperialistic dreams.
Meanwhile, #SochiProblems made it look like the Olympics were held in Bolivia instead of a world power, and the games highlighted the lack of civil & political liberties in the country.
BUT... do people watching the games around the world even knew or cared about all that anyway?
Maybe it doesn't really matter. These games might have been more about domestic comsumption than as an international propaganda effort. Or at least as much.
And as that, they might have worked. Russia is at the top of the medal count, and there has been no great disruption, no big scandals or terrorist attacks (although seemingly reaching no medal in hockey is kind of a bummer).
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The automotive sponsor of Sochi 2014 was Volkswagen, sadly. It would have been cool to see the athletes of the Olympic Torch relay followed by new Ladas instead.
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| Who's that blonde, Putin's girlfriend? And the guy with the red star, was him from the Red Army? |
Was it about making Russia look important again? International goodwill? I don't think he will get that... I mean, at the same time Kiev streets were (literally) on fire because of Putin's imperialistic dreams.
Meanwhile, #SochiProblems made it look like the Olympics were held in Bolivia instead of a world power, and the games highlighted the lack of civil & political liberties in the country.
BUT... do people watching the games around the world even knew or cared about all that anyway?
Maybe it doesn't really matter. These games might have been more about domestic comsumption than as an international propaganda effort. Or at least as much.
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| This doesn't count as an scandal, does it? |
Back to the opening ceremony (which can be seen here -at least in Latin America-): I was a little surprised of all the effort put into linking the new Russia (unter Putin), with past "glory", from Peter the Great to Soviet times. I mean, I expected some references to great historic achivements, of course, but not hammer and sickles!
There were pioneers...
... and "hipsters"?! More important, check out those awesome cars!
Or what's left of them (these shells are of ZAZ-965 Zaporozhets)...
Here, GAZ-M20 Pobeda Convertible and GAZ-M21 Volga.
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| Pìcture from facebook.com/Gorkyclassic |
GAZ-M14 Chaika. Wow.
For more information on those cars, you must check this link on an awesome website, invalidnostcccp.kinja.com/the-cars-of-the-sochi-opening-ceremonies.
Upper Volta with rockets!
To the great Soviet motherland!
On the bright side, one of the Olympic flagbearers was no other than the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova! I'm glad she still looks so young and pretty, being 76 years old.
Finally, something I really don't like is the tight control of broadcasting rights. Why can't the Opening Ceremony be officially available on Youtube?