At London's Daily Mail, "Shambles in Sochi: Russian TV fakes Olympic rings failing to light as 'scare bear' mastcot is mocked and torchbearers include Putin's 'lover' and Obama-mocking 'racist'. No wonder Vlad looks grumpy."
And at the New York Times, "Russia Opens Sochi Games With Pageantry and Pride":
“@USOlympic: #OpeningCeremony is at 20:14 Sochi time & #TeamUSA is ready... #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/B1P6CnjtQG” I would kill for a sweater
— Kelly Dearborn (@kelly_my_dear) February 7, 2014SOCHI, Russia — With an outsize extravaganza that reached deep into the repertoire of classical music and ballet, traversed the sights and sounds of the world’s largest geopolitical expanse, soared into outer space, and swept across 400 years of history in a celebration of everything from Czarist military might to Soviet Monumentalism, a swaggering, resurgent Russia turned its Olympic aspirations into reality on Friday night.More at that top link.
After seven years of building to this moment — the opening of what is reputed to be the most expensive Games in the history of global sport — the message of the over-the-top ceremony was simply this: In a big way, Russia is back.
As if there was any doubt.
(Where Russia may be headed — amid an economic slowdown, continuing rights abuses and suppression of political dissent that have drawn sharp criticism, especially in the West — was a question for another day.)
The 18-chapter, 2.5-hour performance began at the symbolic moment of 8:14 p.m. — 20:14, as time is counted here — and provided a majestic spectacle that included a glowing troika of horses streaking through a snowbound sky, the multicolor onion domes of St. Basil’s Cathedral bobbing in the air; literary references to Gogol, Tolstoy and Nabokov; images of behemoth post-Revolutionary skyscrapers and space capsules; as well as performances by Russia’s storied ballerinas, musicians and singers.
Plus, at Twitchy, "‘Big salute to communism’: Hammer & sickle appear at Sochi opening ceremony [pics]."
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