50 Fun Facts About 2014 Winter Olympics (Sochi)

Which country ended up top of the Sochi 2014 gold medal table once doping rulings cut the hosts' tally?

Norway finished with 11 golds once the hosts' tally fell from 13 to 10 through doping cases. Russia still has the most medals overall, with 29.

At Sochi's 2014 opening ceremony, what went wrong as five giant snowflakes turned into the Olympic rings?

One stayed closed while the other four opened into rings. Organisers poked fun at the glitch in the closing ceremony, where a group of dancers 'failed' to expand on cue.

Extra medals minted for Sochi 2014's champions of 15 February held fragments of what, a year after it hit the Urals?

A meteorite exploded over Chelyabinsk on 15 February 2013. The region made medals from recovered pieces for the anniversary's winners, but the IOC kept them out of the podium ceremonies.

Which animals did Sochi hire a firm to exterminate days before the 2014 Olympics, drawing international condemnation?

Stray dogs drew rescuers as well as exterminators: volunteers hurried to rehome them, and a charity backed by billionaire Oleg Deripaska opened a shelter outside the city that week.

Which country won both ice hockey tournaments and both curling tournaments at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics?

Canada became the first country to win both Olympic curling golds at one Games, and its men's and women's hockey teams each went through their tournament unbeaten.

Which city lost the vote for the 2014 Winter Olympics to Sochi by four votes, then hosted the following Games?

Pyeongchang led after the first round but lost the run-off 51 to 47. It had also lost the 2010 Games to Vancouver by three votes, and finally won at its third attempt.

Which country's bobsleigh team reached Sochi 2014 after fans raised funds online, including about $30,000 in Dogecoin?

Jamaica had not sent a sled to the Olympics since 2002. The two-man crew of Winston Watts and Marvin Dixon lacked the money to travel until online donations came in.

Which classical violinist skied the giant slalom for Thailand at Sochi 2014 under her father's surname, Vanakorn?

Vanessa-Mae finished 67th, last of those who completed both runs. A ban over her qualifying races was later overturned, and the ski federation apologised to her.

Which peninsula did Russian forces begin seizing four days after the closing ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympics?

Crimea was taken by troops in unmarked uniforms, and Russia formally annexed it in March 2014, less than a month after the Sochi flame went out.

On the shore of which body of water was Sochi's Olympic Park, with all the 2014 Games' ice arenas, built?

The Black Sea coast held every indoor venue within walking distance of the others, while the snow events went up to the resort of Krasnaya Polyana.

Which country won 23 of its 24 medals at Sochi 2014 in speed skating, sweeping the podium in four events?

The Netherlands became the first country to sweep four podiums at one Winter Olympics, doubling the old record of two. Its only other medal came in short track.

Which country won five golds but no silver at Sochi 2014, three of them through biathlete Darya Domracheva?

Belarus enjoyed its most successful Winter Olympics in Sochi. Domracheva's wins in the pursuit, individual and mass start races earned her the Hero of Belarus medal.

Which country celebrated its first Winter Olympic gold at Sochi 2014 thanks to alpine skier Tina Maze?

Slovenia won eight medals in Sochi, more than at all its previous Winter Olympics combined. Maze took two of them, both gold.

Which country gained its first Winter Olympic gold when Russia's four-man bobsleigh crew lost its Sochi 2014 title?

Latvia's sled, piloted by Oskars Melbārdis, finished second on the day and was promoted years later, after the winning crew was disqualified for doping.

Which country's women's biathlon relay team won gold at Sochi 2014 days after deadly clashes in its capital?

Ukraine had not won a Winter gold since figure skater Oksana Baiul in 1994. After the race, Olena Pidhrushna asked for a minute's silence for those killed in Kyiv.

Luger Armin Zöggeler won a medal at his sixth straight Winter Olympics at Sochi 2014, competing for which country?

Italy's Zöggeler, a South Tyrol native nicknamed the Cannibal, was the first athlete to win medals in the same individual event at six Olympics in a row.

Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe, aged 55, was the sole athlete sent to the Sochi 2014 Olympics by which country?

Mexico is where the skiing prince was born, while his father ran a Volkswagen factory there. Sochi made him the second-oldest Winter Olympian ever, 30 years after his first Games.

Which country's athletes began Sochi 2014 under the Olympic flag because its national Olympic body was suspended?

India was reinstated by the IOC on 11 February, four days into the Games, so two of its three athletes went on to compete under their own flag.

Sochi 2014's reported cost of US$51 billion overtook which Summer Games as the most expensive Olympics in history?

Beijing 2008 had cost an estimated $44 billion while staging about three times as many events. Sochi was first budgeted at $12 billion.

Sochi 2014's alpine and Nordic skiing events were held at Krasnaya Polyana, a resort in which mountain range?

The Caucasus peaks behind the resort rise above 2,000 metres. A new railway was built to link the slopes with the airport and the Olympic Village down on the coast.

Which climate type made Sochi the warmest city to have hosted a Winter Olympics when the 2014 Games opened?

Humid subtropical Sochi lies on the same latitude as Nice, and palm trees grow along its seafront, so the snow events were held up in the mountains.

Which big cat joined a polar bear and a hare as the official mascots of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics?

The Leopard was picked with the other two in a national text-message vote shown live on television. Its backstory made it a mountain rescuer and an excellent snowboarder.

By what means did the Sochi 2014 torch relay carry the Olympic flame to the North Pole for the first time?

A nuclear icebreaker, the 50 Let Pobedy, delivered the torch in October 2013. The same relay sent an unlit torch on a spacewalk and took one to the depths of Lake Baikal.

Fisht Olympic Stadium, which staged Sochi 2014's ceremonies, lost its roof to host matches at which later tournament?

The FIFA World Cup came to Russia in 2018, and its rules demanded an open-air ground. No Olympic event was ever held in the stadium, which was built only for the ceremonies.

Which motorsport series began racing in October 2014 on a circuit laid out around Sochi's Olympic Park?

Formula One held its first Russian Grand Prix there months after the Games, ending a campaign for a race in the country that went back to 1983.

Which tennis star, who lived in Sochi as a child, carried the torch into the stadium at the 2014 opening ceremony?

Maria Sharapova moved to Sochi with her family at the age of three. She passed the flame to pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva in a relay of Russian sporting greats.

Which Soviet ice hockey goaltending great lit the Sochi 2014 cauldron together with figure skater Irina Rodnina?

Vladislav Tretiak took the torch from Rodnina inside the stadium, and the pair jogged outside to light the cauldron together to the music of Stravinsky's Firebird.

Sochi 2014 was the first Olympics under which IOC president, a former fencing gold medallist from Germany?

Thomas Bach won team foil gold in 1976 and was the first Olympic champion ever elected to lead the IOC. He held the post until 2025.

Members of which punk protest group were beaten by Cossack patrols while filming in Sochi during the 2014 Olympics?

Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and a bandmate had been freed from prison by an amnesty weeks earlier. In 2023 a European court ordered Russia to pay damages for the attack.

Which openly gay tennis great did Barack Obama name to the US delegation for Sochi 2014 amid a row over Russian law?

Billie Jean King had to pull out when her mother fell ill; her mother died on the day of the opening ceremony. The choice was read as a signal on gay rights.

Which Japanese teenager won the men's figure skating at Sochi 2014, the first Asian man to take that Olympic title?

Yuzuru Hanyu, then 19, also became the first skater to score more than 100 points in a short program, posting 101.45 in Sochi.

Which defending champion's silver behind Adelina Sotnikova at Sochi 2014 prompted allegations of unfair judging?

Yuna Kim led by 0.28 points after the short program, but the home skater overtook her in the free skate. Journalists and skating experts argued the winner's scores were inflated.

Which 15-year-old skated to the Schindler's List theme as Russia won Sochi 2014's new figure skating team event?

Yulia Lipnitskaya played the girl in the red coat so memorably that the film's director, Steven Spielberg, wrote to praise her. She is Russia's youngest Winter Olympic champion.

Which four-time Olympic medallist withdrew from Sochi 2014's men's figure skating minutes before his short program?

Evgeni Plushenko had already skated both segments to help Russia win the team event days earlier. His exit left the host nation with no man in the singles.

Meryl Davis and Charlie White won the first American Olympic gold in which figure skating discipline at Sochi 2014?

Ice dance gold came four years after Davis and White had taken silver in Vancouver. They also won a bronze in Sochi's new team competition.

Shaun White finished fourth at Sochi 2014 in which snowboard event he had won at the two previous Olympics?

Halfpipe gold went instead to Switzerland's Iouri Podladtchikov, with 15-year-old Ayumu Hirano of Japan taking the silver.

Sage Kotsenburg won the first gold medal of Sochi 2014 in which snowboard event making its Olympic debut?

Slopestyle gold went to Kotsenburg thanks to a trick he had never tried before and a grab of his own invention, the Holy Crail. It was also the first US medal of the Games.

Sisters Justine and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe finished first and second at Sochi 2014 in which freestyle skiing event?

Moguls gave the family a gold for Justine, a silver for Chloé and 12th place for a third sister, Maxime, who skied in the same event.

Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin shared gold at Sochi 2014 in the first tie for an Olympic alpine title, in which event?

Downhill racer Maze started 21st and led at every split, yet finished on exactly the same time as Gisin. Two golds were awarded and no silver.

In which sport did women compete at the Olympics for the first time at Sochi 2014, with Carina Vogt taking gold?

Ski jumping had been open only to men at every earlier Winter Olympics. Germany's Vogt took the title 11 months before she won her first World Cup event.

Which biathlete won two golds at Sochi 2014 aged 40 to pass Bjørn Dæhlie's record of 12 Winter Olympic medals?

Ole Einar Bjørndalen tied the record by winning the sprint, then broke it with gold in the new mixed relay. A bronze statue of him already stood in his home village.

Which short track skater won three golds for Russia at Sochi 2014, eight years after winning three for South Korea?

Viktor Ahn, born Ahn Hyun-soo, became a Russian citizen in 2011 after a slow recovery from injury and the loss of his club team. His Sochi wins caused public uproar in the country he had left.

Which forward scored on four of six shootout attempts as the United States beat hosts Russia in Sochi 2014 ice hockey?

T. J. Oshie had been picked for the roster largely for his shootout record, and coach Dan Bylsma sent him out five times in a row to settle the game.

Which speed skater won two golds and three silvers to become the most decorated athlete of the Sochi 2014 Games?

Ireen Wüst went on to win gold at five consecutive Winter Olympics, something no athlete before her had done in individual events.

Which American-born snowboarder won two golds for Russia at Sochi 2014 after marrying Russian rider Alena Zavarzina?

Vic Wild switched flags after US officials shut down their alpine snowboarding programme. His two parallel titles made him the first snowboarder to win two golds at one Winter Games.

Which 43-year-old Finland captain was named most valuable player of the Sochi 2014 men's ice hockey tournament?

Teemu Selänne scored twice in the bronze-medal win over the United States at his sixth Olympics. He retired as the top scorer in the history of the men's Olympic tournament.

Which forward scored both the late tying goal and the overtime winner in Sochi 2014's women's ice hockey final?

Marie-Philip Poulin tied the final with 54.6 seconds left in regulation, then won it on a power play in overtime. She had also scored both goals of the 2010 final.

Which bobsleigh pilot carried Russia's flag at Sochi 2014's opening and later lost both his golds for doping?

Alexandr Zubkov was decorated by Vladimir Putin after winning the two-man and four-man titles on home ice. In November 2017 he was found guilty of doping and stripped of both.

Which sportswear brand made the Mach 39 suits that US speed skaters abandoned midway through a medal-less Sochi 2014?

Under Armour's new suit was dropped during the Games, but the skaters kept losing in their old ones. It was the first Winter Olympics since 1984 with no medal for the US long track team.

Which Oscar-winning Netflix documentary followed lab chief Grigory Rodchenkov as he exposed doping at Sochi 2014?

Icarus began as amateur cyclist Bryan Fogel's experiment in doping himself without getting caught. His adviser, Rodchenkov, then fled Russia and turned whistleblower.