Sochi Winter Olympic Games

The Winter Olympics Games opened in Sochi on February 7th. Greenpeace activists began the spectacular opening by lowering themselves out of helicopters into survival pods in a re-enactment of their 2013 Arctic drilling rig protest. The crowd cuddled rescued stray dogs as Pussy Riot opened the music concert. Sochi’s Muslim population worshipped at their first-ever mosque, constructed to fulfill religious requirements for competitors. Two of the Scottish curling team married in a same-sex ceremony, and Vladimir Putin toasted the newly-weds with a bottle from Ellon brewers BrewDog – a special ‘not-for-gays’ beer.

The crowd cuddled rescued stray dogs as Pussy Riot opened the music concert. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/sochi-killing-stray-dogs-in-preparation-for-the-winter-olympics-9105046.html

'Putin calls Sochi, site of the Winter Olympics, "the biggest construction site on the planet," and for good reason. Since being awarded the games in 2007, the sub-tropical Black Sea city has built 442 miles of fibre-optic cables, 200 miles of roads, 55 bridges, 13 train stations, nine hotels for media outlets, six post offices, five schools, a new airport, a $265 million ski jump, a bobsled track, a ski course, two Olympic villages, and a floating archipelago of 815-acres. However one item on local residents' wish list was met with a pocket veto—a request to build a mosque for Sochi's 20,000 Muslim residents, many of whom migrated to the city over the last decade to take jobs building the Olympic facilities. The city's Muslims still hold religious ceremonies in cramped basements.’ http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/why-sochi-has-no-mosques

Two of the Scottish curling team married in a same-sex ceremony, and Vladimir Putin toasted the newly-weds with a bottle from Ellon brewers BrewDog – a special ‘not-for-gays’ beer. BrewDog had sent a case of the beer to Putin. The limited edition was released as a satirical way to ensure that “the sick legislation that discriminates against millions of Russian citizens” are not overshadowed by the Games. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/olympics-fourth-place-medal/olympic-protest-beer--brewdog-releases-vladimir-putin--not-for-gays--brew-for-sochi-2014-103519739.html

'Vlad shoots the breeze with a hardened motorcycle gang during an unannounced visit to a biker convention. He races Formula 1 cars, rides horses and stalks animals in the Russian wilderness. He shoots whales, yet cuddles cute dogs. He flies planes. He crushes frying pans with his bare hands. A sure gold medallist in judo, figure skating, bobsleigh, and anything else he puts his mind to'. http://deadspin.com/vladimir-putin-would-win-all-the-gold-at-sochi-if-he-wa-1515979263

It's the taking part that's really important.. Its proper name is the Clashindarroch forest. In Huntly, they just call it the Clash. This corner of North-East Scotland has become one of Britain's more improbable Olympic breeding grounds.There has not been much snow this winter to cover the Clash, but on Tuesday 11th February, no one at the Huntly Ski Club cared much - their focus was fixed on the Psekhako Ridge high in the mountains above Sochi.  http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/olympics/winter-olympics-2014-sochi-calling-for-clash-quartet-with-andrew-musgrave-ready-to-take-centre-stage-9117129.html

http://aberdeen.stv.tv/articles/263535-huntly-nordic-ski-club-have-produced-a-string-of-top-skiers-for-team-gb/?fromstreampost=72448

The Winter Olympics closed on February 23rd.