Hello Bonnyville, this week I'll be taking a look at a topic that has really irked me over the past couple of weeks – the conditions at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Leading up to the big kick off – the games' extravagant opening ceremony on Friday, social media sites blew up with tweets, pictures and all kinds of other evidence highlighting the horrendous conditions they've experienced upon arriving in the coastal Russian city.
Athletes were led to what has been described as “very basic, very ordinary” rooms by members of the representing Canadian Olympic team, but the thought process at the moment has been ‘well, at least we have semi-acceptable accommodation,' unlike thousands of fans who spent thousands of their hard earned dollars to support their country.
Reports last week suggested that as many as 2,000 people, including visitors and disgruntled media members from across the globe, were being forced to stay in dingy, grotty, unfinished hotel rooms as several of the grandiose complexes Russian officials promised would be completed on time are yet to be finished.
Horror stories have emerged focusing on the less-than-private public washrooms, most of which include an open room with roughly ten toilets fitted without a stall or privacy walls. People wanting to wash or enjoy a drink of water were shocked to find a colourful stream of yellow liquid fall from taps in the washroom and kitchen.
Others were left without running water at all, while some reporters have tweeted saying their hotel's heating wasn't working.
I don't have a problem with the International Olympic Committee wanting to branch out and hold games in different parts of the world, in fact I encourage it! But the fact remains the host has a job to do to ensure that the event, wherever it is being held, is run smoothly. This includes making sure those traveling have suitable accommodation waiting for them once they step off whatever long, grueling international flight they came in on.
The 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver ran nearly flawlessly, as did the 2012 Summer Olympics in London but whoever has been in charge of making Sochi 2014 everything it has been so far has an awful lot to answer to. Sure, the facilities for the events may be pretty nice, but if you're forcing those who have taken the time and expense to attend the event to live in sometimes squalid conditions; you're doing something wrong.
I think a lot of people will think twice before they commit to an Olympic holiday in future, especially if the hosting city has had to construct all of its facilities, hotels, restaurants and other necessities just for the purpose of hosting the games. The IOC may need to consider how it selects its hosting cities more carefully in the future.
