February 04, 2014

Our Sports Editor Arrives in Sochi


Our Sports Editor Arrives in Sochi
Sometimes you feel like an Arab sheikh in Abu-Dabi... That was my impression upon arriving in Sochi on Monday. So many new things have been built around with so much money – roads, complicated interchanges, trains along the highway...
 
But maybe it was so welcome because I was arriving in Sochi from frosty Moscow. When it's 2 degrees (35 Fahrenheit) in February, and cloudless, spotless, sunny and joyful, well, what's not to like?
 
Staffers form NTV+ and the local Olympic volunteers greeted me at the airport right, set me on a shuttle to the Alexandrovsky Sad (Alexander's Garden) hotel (which unlike its namesake garden alongside the Moscow Kremlin is snow free and bathing in the sun). I look out the window and see attractive youn speed skaters whizzing by on roller blades... It's hard to remember this is February.
 
Despite what the news was reporting about unfinished hotels, my room has all the modern amenities, including a separate (!) toilet (with a lavish supply of "myagki znak" toilet paper) and a huge shared bathroom down the hall.
 
A shuttle bus stops at the hotel every 10 minutes. I hop on a half-empty shuttle and it whisks me to the stadium-sized International Press Center – a high-tech, state-of-the art facility where Rostelecom (sponsors of the games) provides free internet access on one of their notebook computers.
 
I walk for three and a half hours, amazed at all the sites located in the Coastal Cluster: the Big Ice Stadium for hockey only (!) with a 7000 seats, the 12,000 capacity Iceberg Stadium exclusively for figure skating, the Shayba (Puck) stadium just for kerling, the separate speed skating center and then the Fisht Stadium, which seats 40,000 and will host only the opening and closing ceremonies.
 
All of this is located on 2-4 square km along the Black Sea coast. The hockey stadium is literally a stone's throw from the sea, with snowy mountains towering in the background. And then I watch planes landing and taking off before a splendid sun set...
 
Two caveats. I mistakenly called my shuttle sputnik a "Canadian" (his name was Daniel Grange, and grange is a French word, so I thought perhaps he was from Montreal), but he retorted "I am from the United States," politely adding, "but we like our Canadian neighbors." He is a member of a US TV crew assigned to cover ice hockey, so we chatted about Russia's chances to win that event.
 
Second, we talked about how McDonalds on the first floor of the Press Center was almost a welcome site, after having been ripped-off at the Food Court, where I paid R750 (over $20) for a not-so-good mushroom soup and potatoes, with just one sausage and one tiny blin (pancake) with cheese and ham (and plastic forks and spoons in lieu of silver wear).
 
Lest anyone forget, soldiers and reporters travel on their stomachs, so they are both prone to judge the "atmosphere" of a place by the availability and pricing of foodstuffs...
 
But not even lousy bliny could spoil this Olympic broth. The slogan we see everywhere for the games is "Zharky, zimniye, vashi" ("Hot, cool yours").
 
Tochno.
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of our Books

How Russia Got That Way
September 20, 2025

How Russia Got That Way

A fast-paced crash course in Russian history, from Norsemen to Navalny, that explores the ways the Kremlin uses history to achieve its ends.

The Moscow Eccentric
December 01, 2016

The Moscow Eccentric

Advance reviewers are calling this new translation "a coup" and "a remarkable achievement." This rediscovered gem of a novel by one of Russia's finest writers explores some of the thorniest issues of the early twentieth century.

At the Circus
January 01, 2013

At the Circus

This wonderful novella by Alexander Kuprin tells the story of the wrestler Arbuzov and his battle against a renowned American wrestler. Rich in detail and characterization, At the Circus brims with excitement and life. You can smell the sawdust in the big top, see the vivid and colorful characters, sense the tension build as Arbuzov readies to face off against the American.

The Latchkey Murders
July 01, 2015

The Latchkey Murders

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin is back on the case in this prequel to the popular mystery Murder at the Dacha, in which a serial killer is on the loose in Khrushchev’s Moscow...

93 Untranslatable Russian Words
December 01, 2008

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.

White Magic
June 01, 2021

White Magic

The thirteen tales in this volume – all written by Russian émigrés, writers who fled their native country in the early twentieth century – contain a fair dose of magic and mysticism, of terror and the supernatural. There are Petersburg revenants, grief-stricken avengers, Lithuanian vampires, flying skeletons, murders and duels, and even a ghostly Edgar Allen Poe.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955