They should really just quit giving the Olympics to places that don't already have a capable infrastructure. It isn't feasible to construct an entire city and the appropriate infrastructure, transport, venues, and so on, for a two-week sporting event. They're spending billions constructing something which will never receive that sort of use again. Brazil will have all of the same problems, added with the fact that they're even more incompetent. Some of the FIFA venues for this summer are completely screwed (one likely unable to complete in time), they botched their transport upgrades and will be using tents instead of terminals (as promised), one key rail line hasn't even been started, and there's already a massive shortage of acceptable hotels...how are they supposed to run an Olympics?

The IOC should only consider applicant cities with appropriate infrastructure already in place, especially with a sufficient number of hotel rooms already built. Building loads of new hotels that won't be used again is ridiculous. Sure, there can be leeway given when improvements or upgrades need to be made, but as in the case of Sochi where nearly all of the infrastructure had to be created for these games, it becomes far too difficult to complete on-time and becomes unsustainable when they'll be left to rot after the events.

But none of this will happen, because the IOC doesn't care when countries spend more and more to one-up the last, not to mention the IOC is as corrupt as the next couple of Olympics hosts. $50 billion to host a two-week event is shameful in countries like Russia or Brazil with such high poverty levels. It seems like the IOC thinks they're doing them a favor as charity cases, and they're generating investment in the infrastructure to improve the lives of the locals. Bollocks. Sochi is Putin's Berchdesgaden (where Eagle's Nest is) and the money spent on these improvements will not improve the lives of 99.7% of Russians -- the 0.3% being those who took their share of bribes/siphoned money from the budget, or the few people who happen to live in the area who aren't confined to Dagestan.

But I digress...

OMG.. they're having to put toilet paper in a bin?! :eek: How on earth will they survive?!

:rolleyes:

MY personal favorite, the toiletheater:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfkW-TWIEAABoJ2.jpg

While this is familiar to anyone who has traveled at all in the Soviet Union/Russia/CIS, the point is that the organizers had a chance to build everything from scratch so that the international visitors (and tourists after the Games) would flock to Sotchi in great numbers. If the plumbing in the hotel is not really up to the "international standard" (nebulous concept, I know, but this is the term used a lot in Russia, also sometimes "European standard"), it indicates to me that not enough thought went into designing the facilities. Which in turn is a symptom of many other problems...

The 2020 Olympics will be in Tokyo, with Washlets in every bathroom :)

Once you've used a Washlet, it's tough to go back...;)

Yikes! :eek::eek::eek:

Do they hold up score cards?

American Judge: 9
German Judge: 8
Bulgarian Judge: 6 (Yelling, you call that a plunge drop!)

I see some apologists for Sochi in some media. There is NO excuse for the Sochi plumbing not to handle toilet paper considering a lot of this has been built from scratch. The costs really do not differ much if preplanned. Problem is the corruption. I would not complain if this is a poor country making the best of its existing resources.
A lot of money has been spent and nothing to show for it.

Also, I don't care what local sewage systems are capable of. Even in the worst cases, I use one square on the initial wipe and dispose it in the toilet to be flushed and can then throw subsequent wipes in the trash, if one has to. That firsts square is what has most of the fecal matter anyway. same in Water based washing regions. I still use one square before going with the water option.

From the article:

* Sochi? Well, three of the nine mountain hotels have not been completed, and the IOC estimate that 97 per cent of the rooms are ready appears to ignore the little things. Almost every room is missing something: lightbulbs, TVs, lamps, chairs, curtains, wifi, heat, hot water. Shower curtains are a valuable piece of the future black market here. (One American photographer was simply told, “You will not get a shower curtain.”)

* The Detroit Free Press' Jo-Ann Barnas luckily spotted a manhole missing its cover before she fell through like a cartoon character suffering a very human injury:

* (dif journalist): My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, "do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous." :eek:

Well, this is just perfect:
http://gawker.com/russia-says-its-so...ium=socialflow

At least the webcams are up and running.

Bathroom spy cameras :eek:

If the IOC is cool with this, I'm guessing Pyongyang will get an Olympics before long.

Agree 100%

These global events in countries/cities that can't handle them are horrible for everyone except the politicians and businessmen that will profit off it.

It's also terrible for the environment to build so many things that will never be used again.

I feel like the IOC has learned from these mistakes though which is why 2018 is in South Korea and 2020 is in Japan. I trust both those countries to do things properly.

This is not a credible statement. Sorry.