Originally held in Chamonix, France in 1924, the Winter Olympic Games is an international celebration of sports held every four years. From Salt Lake City, Utah to Turin, Italy to Vancouver, Canada, the Winter Olympics are held all over the globe. Depending on the location, some areas are more dangerous than others. The upcoming Winter Olympics is being held in Sochi, Russia. Unfortunately, Sochi is undergoing issues regarding the location and if it is suitable for the event. After the games started on Friday, Feb. 7, people started to realize that Sochi was not ready for opening day.

  Over the past few weeks, Sochi ran into all kinds of trouble involving security, infrastructure, competition conditions, and more. Recently, Islamic separatists have been relentlessly threatening Sochi with terrorists attacks. Social Studies teacher Mrs. Kira Hoilman is a consistent Olympic spectator.

  “This is the biggest undertaking that the Russian federation has ever had to deal with. They don’t have the experience that America or the UK would have in a major event like this,” said Hoilman. However, threats of terrorism are prevalent with all Olympic Games. With such differences in Western and Eastern Culture, perhaps Western media could be playing a role in the negativity.

  “There is always going to be terrorists threats for major events like the Olympics. [The security threats are] being exaggerated by Western media because of our existing relationship with Russia,” said Hoilman.

  Another issue Sochi has faced is incomplete infrastructure. There are instances of spectators showing up to check in to roofless hotels that they paid for months ahead of time. Senior Zack Patrick has been following the reports.

  “It’s ruining the Olympics. The conditions are already terrible enough, at least have the hotels taken care of,” said Patrick. Not only that, but recent reports are stating that there is no plumbing in some of the facilities resulting in people throwing away their waste.

  Famous snowboarder Shaun White has announced his withdrawal from one of the competitions after injuring his wrist due to poor course conditions. Sophomore Billy Martin snowboards every winter and knows how much of a role conditions play when it comes to the sport.

  “In order to snowboard the best you can, the conditions have to be perfect. If the snow is not in good condition, it makes it hard to make sharp turns and it’s easier to fall.” said Martin.

  With all of the negativity, there is still hope for the Sochi Winter Olympics. Back in 2010, Delhi, India hosted the Commonwealth Games, which were slammed with negative media revolving around security and infrastructure prior to the games. However, Delhi turned out to be praised as a great event. Could this possibly be the case for Sochi? For senior Tori Caldwell, this is not the case.

  “It’s going to be a complete disaster. The fact that athletes are already hurting themselves and backing out [because of poor course conditions] is already bad enough. Just everything in general is not developed,” said Caldwell.