Starting out with controversies right from the beginning, the 2014 Winter Olympics held in Sochi, Russia has been in the news for various reasons other than sports news ever since. LGBT rights were under scrutiny considering Russia’s legal policies; there were allegations of corruption and many criticised Vladmir Putin, the Russian President for mismanagement of funds. Several environmental and geological hazards were under consideration along with human safety and security, political conflicts etc.

Some other unknown facts about Sochi Olympics are:

Sochi, where the Olympics were held this year happens to be one of the longest cities in Europe and is a resort city. It is approximately 148 kms lengthwise. Temperatures in Sochi do not go below 12 degrees Celsius and climate is relatively warm sub-tropical.

Sochi also happens to be the warmest city ever to be conducting the winter Olympics so far.

The first Winter Olympic was held way back in 1924 at Chamonix in France while the Summer Olympics began in 1896 in Athens.
After the Summer Olympic games held in 1980 in Moscow Sochi is the first winter Olympics held in the Soviet Union.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup shall be held in Sochi.

Russia won 13 gold medals and a total of 33 medals in the Sochi Winter Olympics while USA won a total of 28 medals and runner-up Norway, 11 gold medals.

Sochi Games has been the most expensive games ever held. It broke records including that of the Beijing Summer Olympics with a price estimate of $51 billion.

The once all male sport, the ski-jumping has been a new addition as an event in the winter Olympics.

The Olympic torch for the Sochi Olympics was carried by 14000 bearers by different means including by foot, air, bus, etc. The distance covered was a total of 65000 kilometres that spanned over 123 days that covered around 2900 cities and villages.

A nuclear powered ice breaker was used to send the torch to the North Pole for the first time and also sent to outer space using the Soyuz rocket.

Curling, speed skating, figuring skating and ice hockey are the 4 indoor winter games at the Sochi Olympics.

12 new winter sports made their debut in the Winter Olympics this year at Sochi. A total of 98 events were conducted.

The half-pipe snowboarding event was 22 feet high and supposedly used for the first time in the Sochi Games this year.

Bjorn Dahlie is the winter athlete who has the maximum number of medals comprising of 8 Gold and 4 Silver. He is a native of Norway.

Approximately 1300 medals have been made for the 2014 winter Olympics, each engraved with the official name of the Games in Russian, French and English at the rim.

The next 2018 Winter Olympics shall be held in South Korea in a city named Peyong Chang. In 1988, South Korea had hosted the Summer Olympics.