8 Super Interesting Facts about the 2014 Winter Olympics
Every Olympic game promises to be more thrilling than the ones before. A major international sporting event, the Winter Olympic Games occur once in every four years. The first Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France in 1924. This year, Russia is holding the Winter Olympics for the first time. But, it is not the first time that this country is hosting the Olympics. The USSR had hosted the summer Olympic Games in 1980 in Moscow. Check out some more interesting facts about the 2014 Winter Olympics.
1. At a cost of around £40 billion, the 2014 Winter Olympics is the most expensive Olympics ever. It includes the cost of the infrastructure as well as that of organizing the event. The construction team comprised 60,000 workers and 5000 pieces of equipment were used for working.
2. Around 12 new events from 8 disciplines will mark their debut in the Winter Olympics. It includes biathlon mixed relay, ski slope style, the ski half pipe, snowboard slope style, women’s ski jumping, snowboard parallel slalom, figure skating and luge relay team.
3. The Olympic torch traveled 40,300 miles, which is its longest trip till now. The torch borne by 14,000 torchbearers is the first to go into space, when two cosmonauts took it to the international space station.
4. The Olympic officials stored 710,000 cubic meters of snow last winter to use it in the Sochi Olympic Games.
5. It took 18 hours to make each Sochi medal. There are 98 sets of metals to be competed for. This time, there are 12 sets more than what was there in Vancouver and 14 sets more than what was there in Turin in 2006. The medals use a combination of metal and glass that show the landscape of Sochi with its sandy beaches and snowy peaks. The patchwork design reflects the varied ethnicity and culture of the country.
6. The slogan for the games is “Hot. Cool. Yours” The official logo is the first ever to include a web address: ochi.ru.
7. Sochi, a subtropical resort town known as Russian Riviera, is a place where temperatures, even in winters, rarely drop below 12 degree celsius.
8. Russia has promised $122,000 to each of its gold medal winners.
