Word: sochi
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...Russia. A month ago at the Vancouver Games, the Russian team had its worst showing ever at a Winter Olympics, leading the head of the country's Olympic Committee to resign in disgrace. Now Moscow's big chance to redeem itself - hosting the Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 - is shaping up to be an even bigger embarrassment. In the past few weeks, a number of problems have exposed the deep rot at the heart of Russia's Olympic foibles: a shortage of funds, mismanagement and widespread public discontent...
Still, the volunteers take much more abuse than they deserve. According to a manager of a group of volunteers, several IOC officials like to take late-night trips to Sochi House, where the Russians are partying hard and promoting the 2014 Olympics, which they will be hosting. Several suits have asked volunteer drivers to wait past midnight for a ride and then complained when the volunteers went home rather than stick around for the tipsy bigwigs. (In fairness, the manager did say that this same group of IOC officials gave away 50 event tickets to the volunteers...
...over blueprints with his Spanish architects, Saakashvili told me he likes buildings that are "original, crazy and brave." He said Batumi could be "the next Dubai." He then produced a set of plans for the drab 2014 Olympic Village that the Russians are building just down the coast in Sochi, so everyone could have a laugh at the dullness of his enemy's architects. (See pictures of the Georgia conflict aftermath...
...Oniani sought to re-establish himself in Moscow, he started encroaching on Usoyan's territory, and Usoyan's top lieutenants began turning up dead. One of them, Alek Minalyan, an Armenian allegedly in charge of extorting money from construction firms working on projects for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, was gunned down in western Moscow on Feb. 6. The bodies of two others, Andrei Golubev and an unidentified associate, were found riddled with bullets in eastern Moscow on May 22. (Read "The Sochi Olympics: A Win for Putin...
This move could indeed put Chicago over the top: eleventh-hour schmoozing by Tony Blair and Vladimir Putin helped secure wins for London and Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Games. So expect Republican griping that Obama can?t keep his priorities straight. But this flip-flop could land those rowers in Lake Michigan...