Chinese bid chiefs insisted Saturday that "they would present a compelling case to host the country's first ever Winter Games in 2022 even though it would be the third consecutive Olympics in east Asia." Five cities "are in the running to host the event in eight years' time" -- Almaty in Kazakhstan, Beijing, Poland's Krakow, Lviv in Ukraine and Oslo (AFP, 2/9). ... French Minister of Sports Valérie Fourneyron on Friday claimed that "the spotlight that the games shine on Russia mean they could be a good thing for human rights in the country." Fourneyron: "We can clearly see that when cameras from around the world are turned on a country, things change. I have no doubt that the recent release of Pussy Riot members, politicians like Mikhail Khodorkovsky or Greenpeace activists thanks to the December 2013 amnesty are just a beginning" (RFI, 2/8). ... LGBT activist Scott Wooledge "has launched a parody version of McDonald's Cheers to Sochi website in frustration of the Olympic sponsors not condemning Russia's anti-gay laws." The website is hosted at www.cheertosochi.com and "aims to act as a resource for people to confront the Sochi Olympic sponsors about their concern for LGBT rights in Russia" (BRAND REPUBLIC, 2/7). ... The Sochi Winter Olympics "saw what could be the first protest by an athlete Thursday when a Russian snowboarder competed with a design on his board apparently resembling a member of the opposition punk group Pussy Riot." Slopestyle rider Alexei Sobolev "was the first Russian to compete at the Sochi Games, finishing tenth in a qualifying heat, riding a board displaying a female figure in a balaclava wielding a knife" (R-SPORT, 2/6). ... Austria's Daniela Iraschko-Stolz, an openly gay woman in contention for ski jumping Gold at the Sochi Olympics, said protests at the Games are not worth pursuing because "no one cares" and that it would be better to wait for Russian attitudes to change. Iraschko-Stolz, who married her wife, Isabel Stolz, last year, said, “I don't think it's a good idea to make protests here, no one cares. I am here as a sportswoman. To jump pretty good is also a statement. ... I know Russia will go and make the right steps in the future and we should give them time" (R-SPORT, 2/9).
