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GamesBids' Sochi 2014 Closing Ceremony Live Chat


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The mascots were amazing - just nice to have a break from all the high culture for a bit of cheesy fun. Not sure I'd go as far as "best games ever" but organisation and venue wise they were pretty much faultless (at $50bn you expect nothing less!) and the sport was top notch - though IMO it missed the final piece of the puzzle.

And ironically the Sochi games have probably done more to highlight gay rights around the world than any Amnesty International report or gay right campaign group could ever dream of.

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I thought it was a great ceremony- I enjoyed it far more than the opening in fact! Seemed to have a lot more energy and precision, whereas to me the opening seemed slightly cold and looked a little uncoordinated in parts. I thought the final sequence with the mascots was actually extremely well thought out, with a nice reference to 1980, even using the same music!

Speaking of the mascots, whether you found them creepy or not, you've got to admit they're a fantastic piece of engineering. Does anyone have any links/images/video etc. on how they were made or how they work? Would love to find out more about them.

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Speaking of the mascots, whether you found them creepy or not, you've got to admit they're a fantastic piece of engineering. Does anyone have any links/images/video etc. on how they were made or how they work? Would love to find out more about them.

I know from watching that Russian-made/language nearly 1-hr documentary on the Making of the Opening Ceremony, these 3 characters were made in Australia (I think the same place that made those giant dolls which appeared at the Sydney Closing) at a cost of nearly $1.6 million. They were then disassembled and shipped by air to Sochi. Where they will go after 2014, who knows? I wonder if they will open at Olympic Museum in Sochi using all these props from the Ceremonies?

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Anyone else getting a really bad vibe from Bach? He seems really passive-aggressive.

For sure different from Rogge. One thing I noticed is that when the head of state would walk in with the president, Rogge would face the head of state and clap for him/her. Bach just waves to the crowd as if they're cheering for him.

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Anyone else getting a really bad vibe from Bach? He seems really passive-aggressive.

I don't know, not everyone is a natural speaker, far more important is how he leads the IOC.

His speech was fine in sentiment until he started talking about a "New Russia". Apart from that the sentiment of dialogue and understanding and tolerance was one which is hard to disagree with.

He's only been in the job five minutes, let's see how he goes.

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We talk about Misha 30 years on. Did anyone find out if Sochi's mascots had names? Or are we going to be calling this the Sochi Olympic bear in years to come?

They don't have names- they're just called "Leopard", "White Bear" and "Hare". The BBC anchor mistakenly called the bear Mischa!

Anyone else getting a really bad vibe from Bach? He seems really passive-aggressive.

Quite the opposite- I think it took balls to use the moment to address the issues and he chose to do so rather than ignore it, and did it in a very classy way. He has to be passive in the sense he's supposed to be neutral!

I know from watching that Russian-made/language nearly 1-hr documentary on the Making of the Opening Ceremony, these 3 characters were made in Australia (I think the same place that made those giant dolls which appeared at the Sydney Closing) at a cost of nearly $1.6 million. They were then disassembled and shipped by air to Sochi. Where they will go after 2014, who knows? I wonder if they will open at Olympic Museum in Sochi using all these props from the Ceremonies?

Is that documentary on You Tube?

That's a good point- what happens to all the huge set pieces after these ceremonies? It seems with the exception of the cauldron a lot of them are dismantled- but it seems a crying shame for such beautiful pieces not to be preserved in some way.

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Is that documentary on You Tube?

That's a good point- what happens to all the huge set pieces after these ceremonies? It seems with the exception of the cauldron a lot of them are dismantled- but it seems a crying shame for such beautiful pieces not to be preserved in some way.

Here ya go:

I just emailed the only contact I could get in Sochi to pass the word on to Chernyenko to consider the idea of opening a museum. WIll try another tact.

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WTF...I don't speak Russian, why does the Clifton bridge in Bristol come up @ 6:38? I had to do a double take... :wacko:

I told ya it's in RUssian. It shows that they commissioned a lot of props to be made in other countries. So StageOne in Harrogate must've manufactured something. Haven't figured out yet what StageOne did for 2014.

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That's a good point- what happens to all the huge set pieces after these ceremonies? It seems with the exception of the cauldron a lot of them are dismantled- but it seems a crying shame for such beautiful pieces not to be preserved in some way.

OK, just heard from my UK-Sochi contact. Apparently the idea of a Museum devoted to 2014 has the ear and attention of Putin. So I think (or I hope) that's where a number of the Ceremony pieces should go.

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OK, just heard from my UK-Sochi contact. Apparently the idea of a Museum devoted to 2014 has the ear and attention of Putin. So I think (or I hope) that's where a number of the Ceremony pieces should go.

That would be a great way to remember the ceremonies- isn't the giant Mischa balloon in a museum somewhere?

I wish more of these things would be preserved- it would be amazing to see some of them up close rather than on TV or from a distance at a stadium- for example that beautiful tree from the London opening. Wonder what became of that.

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Yeah, so much work & time must go into the props that they (well, many of them) should be preserved. Is there a ceremonies area in the main Olympic museum at Lausanne?

There might be a few ceremonial piece at Lausanne but I think that one is devoted to Sports memorabilia and the torches more than anything else. It's the local sports museums that get the Ceremonial stuff like Albertville, Barcelona, Lillehammer, Salt Lake.

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The good point for Bach is that he has non controversial hosts ahead of him for the rest of his tenure: Brasil, South Korea, Japan, Norway or Poland. Barring some major geopolitical surprise, or an odd choice for 2024, this is a smooth ride.

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For a fencer that's probably good (did you know he won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1976?)

Yes, because they have insisted on reminding everyone every time he enters the room at Sochi. Part of me suspects this is on his own insistence. :lol:

Hope this isn't an ongoing thing.

Quite the opposite- I think it took balls to use the moment to address the issues and he chose to do so rather than ignore it, and did it in a very classy way. He has to be passive in the sense he's supposed to be neutral!

But thats just it - in my opinion he has been anything but neutral. He has gone out of his way on several occasions now to criticise groups who have (rightly) taken issue with Russia's domestic issues, and other issues that relate directly to the management of these Olympics themselves. That whole b/s about the "Olympics and Politics" not mixing is a load of bollocks. The Olympic Games IS politics - unless he is forgetting Beijing, Salt Lake, Atlanta, Seoul, Los Angeles, Moscow, Montreal, Munich, Mexico City, Melbourne and Berlin --- just a few Olympic Games that have been heavily shaded by politics.

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Anyone else getting a really bad vibe from Bach? He seems really passive-aggressive.

why does he insist on saying that he won fencing. seb coe does not announce that his the logoc chairman and an olympic gold medalist.

WTF...I don't speak Russian, why does the Clifton bridge in Bristol come up @ 6:38? I had to do a double take... :wacko:

I told ya it's in RUssian. It shows that they commissioned a lot of props to be made in other countries. So StageOne in Harrogate must've manufactured something. Haven't figured out yet what StageOne did for 2014.

i think they did the now famous rings

That would be a great way to remember the ceremonies- isn't the giant Mischa balloon in a museum somewhere?

I wish more of these things would be preserved- it would be amazing to see some of them up close rather than on TV or from a distance at a stadium- for example that beautiful tree from the London opening. Wonder what became of that.

some of the pieces are in storage. the bell is in the park and i think will be strapped on the observation deck of the chav tower.

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