7 interesting facts about the 2014 Winter Olympics
Courtesy of 2014 Winter Olympics
Symbol of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
December 14, 2013
In light of the 2014 Winter Olympics starting on on February 7 in Sochi, Russia, here are 7 interesting facts you may like to know while watching this year’s international contest:
- On November 7, 2013 the Baikonur cosmodrome, which is where Earth’s first artificial satellite was launched, took off with the Olympic Torch to outer space. The Torch spent over a hour on its journey in outer, it was unlit due to safety regulations.
- The 2014 Winter Olympics will have 15 sports, which are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, skiing, snowboarding, and speed skating.
- There will be a total of 98 different events which is a new record. 12 new events have been added to the 2014 Winter Olympics. Free skiing half pipe, free skiing slope style, snowboard slope style, snowboard parallel special slalom, biathlon mixed relay, women’s ski jumping, figure skating team event, and luge team relay.
- 2014 Winter Olympics are held in Sochi, Russia. Sochi is the longest city in Europe and has a population of approximately 400,000.
- This will be one of the most expensive Winter Olympics with the total cost coming to $50 billion.
- There have been and will be many protests due to the anti- gay propaganda law in Russia.
- This will be one of the most compact games. They will have 2 clusters, a coastal cluster and then a mountain cluster.
Amelia Winn • Jan 21, 2014 at 6:17 pm
I didn’t know there were 98 different events – that’s a lot! I love watching the Olympics, and can’t wait to see the Opening Ceremonies – I hope they’re fabulous since this is one of the most expensive Olympics yet. Great article, I really enjoyed reading it.
Sam DeAngelo • Jan 13, 2014 at 8:10 pm
I very much look forward to watching the Winter Olympics every 4 years. I can’t belive it cost $50 Billion to put on though! I also think it will be interesting watching the games in Russia considering I really haven’t studied or seen much of that part of the world.
Alexis Jefferson • Jan 6, 2014 at 5:58 pm
This was a good article full of interesting facts that I didn’t know. There are topics and vocab within the facts that would have been nice to have a definition of. Such as the different clusters and the anti-gay propaganda law.
Christian Pavlovich • Dec 14, 2013 at 3:45 pm
Shawn White will win if he competes.