Days before the Opening Ceremony, Sochi is a "bit of a five-ring circus," with widespread accommodation complaints from numerous members of the int'l press, according to Larry McShane of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Some journalists "found this advice in their bathrooms: 'Please do not flush toilet paper down the toilet! Put it in the bin provided.'" Others were "greeted with a diagram offering the proper use of the bathroom facilities." Chicago Tribune reporter Stacy St. Clair tweeted, "My hotel has no water. If restored, the front desk says, ‘do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.'" CNN Sports Producer Harry Reekie "weighed in with a picture of his sad-looking accommodation: A broken curtain rod and dangling curtains." On Twitter, the hashtag #SochiProblems "was picking up ... and a satiric @sochiproblems account was already operating" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/5). In N.Y., Natalie O'Neill writes under the header, "The Gross Hotels For Sochi Visitors." People arriving in Sochi have been "frustrated by cold and cramped conditions" and have alleged that hotel sinks "spit toxic yellow water, toilets barely flush and half-built hotel lobbies have lured mangy packs of stray dogs" (N.Y. POST, 2/5). The GUARDIAN's Shaun Walker reports an American photographer at one of the media hotels was "given a room where the heating worked overtime and could not be turned off." Workers "attached towel racks and lightbulbs as the guests unpacked their suitcases" (GUARDIAN, 2/5). The CHICAGO TRIBUNE's St. Clair writes, "Welcome to Sochi 2014, the dystopian-like Games where a simple shower poses a threat to your face, fire alarms ring constantly and several hotels remain unfinished" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/5). Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel today tweeted, "To anyone in Sochi: I am now in possession of three light bulbs. Will trade for a door handle. This offer is real" (TWITTER.com, 2/5).
BAD PR TO START GAMES: ESPN's Jeremy Schaap noted $51B was spent on the Games, but SOCOG officials right now are "getting a lot of bad publicity, and justifiably so.” Schaap: "People pay a lot of money to come to these Games. People give deposits -- actually, full payments -- on these rooms for three weeks, and they show up and there is no room. So you're going to have grouchy writers and reporters, and that’s a bad way to start things off.” The Wall Street Journal's Brian Costa said, "It just looks like the construction of the hotel, in particular, was something that was just sort of scrambled at the last minute” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 2/5). USA Today's Christine Brennan said, "To have dozens and dozens of rooms not ready for journalists or whoever is just absolutely an embarrassment" ("World News," ABC, 2/4). ESPN's Michael Wilbon said, "This is like squalor. You can't have this." However, he added, "If it doesn't affect the luge run, if it doesn't affect the skating rink ... then it's not going to be important." ESPN's Tony Kornheiser said, "If it affects the athletes, that's a different deal. Because nobody cares about the press. But I wonder if it affects the NBC reporters who are over. ... If it affects them, we're going to hear about this on a regular basis and it's going to matter" ("PTI," ESPN, 2/4).
RACE TO THE FINISH: In Boston, Shira Springer writes every Olympic host faces a "mad dash to finish construction," but it appears Sochi is "in more of a mad dash than most." That would explain why "construction workers were busy pulling apart a speed bump on the only road to Fisht Stadium as volunteers, visitors, and media flooded to the arena for the dress rehearsal." Meanwhile, the area "immediately surrounding the athletes’ housing is neatly manicured, an impressive improvement from when many competitors last visited the area for test events" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/5). In Toronto, Kerry Gillespie writes Sochi "feels like a place that is desperate to impress but just can’t quite get the details right, no matter that $51 billion was somehow spread around to make it happen" (TORONTO STAR, 2/5).
TAKE IT ALL IN STRIDE: In N.Y., Wayne Coffey writes the "last-minute scramble to finish is a longstanding tradition of the modern Games, so nobody should get too worked up that there’s still construction." The athletic venues "are said to be in fine form, gleaming showplaces for the world’s premier cold-weather athletes." Coffey: "After all, that is the point of all this, isn’t it?" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 2/5). NBC Sports Producer Billy Matthews said, "I've seen other Olympics that were in much worse shape at this point and you are wondering how they could ever pull it together. Sure, it seems like it's a little behind schedule but there is time. In Athens, they were still building while [we] were on the air" (DENVER POST, 2/5).
