to add on to this, found this from mark sullivan's (former snowboarder) facebook:
Reading some of the content coming out across the internet, there is a lot of negative press surrounding
Sochi 2014 Winter Games. To me it is a bit crazy that journalists from the US and around the globe have made the story of Sochi about themselves and not the athletes. For a snowboarder that went to all the qualifying events - and saw firsthand the struggle just to make it to Sochi unfold - it is disrespectful - to the thousands of hours spent training, the injuries sustained learning new tricks, and the general blood, sweat and tears that every American athlete had to put in just to get this far. Tomorrow the games will begin. Actually, today is slopestyle qualifiers - and we will see a no holds barred attack on the massive, high quality Sochi slopestyle course. I hope some of our team makes it. If they don't, it will not be because the wifi was not working in their room, or their shower went cold - it will be because they are outridden. (Actually the athletes, from all accounts, have been well looked after.) To me, a lot of the complaints sound like they are coming from coddled, primaddona types who are used to swank hotel rooms, aged wines and a general sense of entitlement that comes from years of people looking after your needs and trying to curry your favor.
If I am going to feel bad for anyone around here - it will be the dogs.
I do not get it twisted - it is about the athletes, the games and the opportunity to have the world watch you at your best. It is the chance for recognition on a level that does not exist elsewhere in snowboarding - and for them - and their unbridled excitement and positive attitudes - I respect the effort all the more.
For me and hundreds of others each year, the ultimate form of snowboarding is camping out in a parking lot in remote Alaska for weeks on end - without the benefit of running water - or any showers, let alone hot ones. It is about the satisfaction you get from participation, friendship and forging meaningful life experiences - not about the speed of your internet connection or quality of your toilette paper.
Russia is a strange and foreign place, no doubt. It has also taken on the largest effort in the history of man to make a new destination for sports enthusiasts. And while there are teething pains, the mountains, passion of the participants, not to mention the brand new, world class resorts, speak for themselves.
So the question remains: would you like some cheese with your whine?
