Sochi

Report: Russia Led a State-Run Doping Program for the 2014 Sochi Olympics

The New York Times published a blistering exposé today, detailing how Russian Olympians engaged in a state-run doping program in order to win as many gold medals as possible during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. At least 15 medal winners were reportedly involved. Grigory Rodchenkov, who was head of the country’s antidoping laboratory at…

Just Six Months After the Olympics, Sochi Looks Like a Ghost Town

It’s been almost exactly six months since the Sochi Olympics wrapped up and the world promptly moved on to speculating about the Rio 2016. Since then, the area has been left holding the proverbial bag—which as Russian photographer Alexander Belenkiy shows us, is full of too many buildings and not enough people to occupy them.…

World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens—and you can jump off it

The longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world has opened in Russia, with a 1,800-foot span. It offers breathtaking views of the Sochi landscape but it isn’t really designed for your daily commute—it is part of a skypark and you can bungee jump off it for a 650-foot drop, as shown in this video. Eight…

The Inside Story of How Olympic Timekeeping Is So Amazingly Precise

Three one-thousandths of a second is less than 1/10th of a blink, less than 1/100th of a heartbeat. But if you’re a speedskater, 0.003 seconds can be the difference between gold and silver. So how are Olympics timekeepers able to get such ridiculous precision and accuracy? For the inside scoop, we talked to Omega’s Peter…

Ice-Climbing Structures Are Mind-Blowing Experimental Architecture

The design and fabrication of artificial ice-climbing structures is an incredibly creative yet widely overlooked form of experimental architecture. The resulting constructions are often astonishing: ice-covered loops, ledges, branches, and towers reminiscent of the playful 1960s experiments of Archigram, yet serving as some of the most spatially interesting athletic venues in all of today’s professional…

Did a Cat Destroy the Ceiling at a Sochi Olympic Arena?

By now it’s hard to tell what’s true when it comes to reports about the infrastructural failings at the Olympics in Sochi. But what we’ve got here, folks, appears to be security footage of a cat falling through the ceiling of the Adler Arena Skating Center. Oh my. https://gizmodo.com/can-sochi-get-its-shit-together-1514828222 This unverified video shows a cat…

The Inside Story of How Olympic Photographers Get Such Stunning Images

Every single moment of the Sochi Olympics is documented in minute detail. Here’s how the AP and Getty Images, two of the biggest photo agencies on the scene, get their incredible photos from the Olympics to the United States, faster than you can microwave a bag of popcorn. This past Tuesday in Sochi, American snowboarder…

What it looks like to go down a luge track at a blazing 80mph

Bumpy. Dangerously fast as hell. And it looks like the luger will careen off the course at any given moment.Doubles luger Matthew Mortenson put on a helmet cam on a ride down the luge track in Sochi to show us what it’s like to go zooming down sloping slick ice on your back and while…

Under Armour’s Suits May Actually Be Slowing U.S. Speedskaters Down

Heralded as “the world’s fastest speed skating suit,” Under Armour’s all-in-one was hoped to give U.S. athletes the edge in Sochi. Now, though, it appears it could in fact be slowing them down. https://gizmodo.com/under-armour-will-debut-the-worlds-fastest-speedskatin-1502673088 The Wall Street Journal reports that, according to three people familiar with the U.S. team, the suit has a major design…

Snapped from the International Space Station 230 miles above all the events, this photo of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, clearly reveals the massive new facilities including Fisht Stadium where the opening ceremonies were held. And if you look closely at the full-res image, you can even see the Olympic flame burning. [NASA]

The Winter Olympics are a lot more fun when you add Star Wars lasers

I’d watch more Winter Olympics sports if they had Imperial AT-AT walkers firing lasers at the athletes. Non-lethal lasers, that is. Or lethal. I’d watch anyway. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

You can see the Olympic Flame from space

Astronauts on board the International Space Station have been able to photograph Sochi at night, completely free of clouds. The result is this 600mm straight-down image that shows the Fisht Stadium—the bright white circle. That yellow dot is the Olympic Flame. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome stuff. Join us on Facebook

Sochi’s Giant Pinscreen Wall Is Hypnotic in Action

British architect Asif Khan’s MegaFace art installation was teased well before the athletes had even arrived in Sochi. But now that the Winter Olympics are well under way, we’ve finally got footage of the giant automated pinscreen in action—and it’s even more awesome than we’d hoped. Over 10,000 colored pistons move in and out by…

Subtle Snowy Camo Pattern Helps US Skiers Hide Bumpy Moguls Runs

We’ve already seen (or haven’t) the nearly invisible waterproof zippers that Columbia introduced on its sportswear designed for various Olympians competing at Sochi. But the uniforms designed specifically for the US moguls ski team have another hard-to-spot feature that could give them a small advantage in competition. Despite the hilly terrain they have to tackle,…

Winter Olympics Host Cities Look Amazing From Space

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has released a fresh collection of stunning satellite images to celebrate the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. Thanks to them you can view most of the cities and countries that have hosted the Winter Olympics, through the eyes of NASA. Each one is more stunning than the last. The Winter Olympics…

A Guide to the Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony Insanity

Whether you’re watching for the noble pageantry or to mock the outlandish getups forced upon the athletes, the Opening Ceremonies are always the best part of the Olympics. Here’s what you should watch out for today—besides the bathrooms. Whatever goes down in Sochi’s Fisht Stadium tomorrow, it’s going to set the tone of the rest…

This is what $425,659.59 in camera gear looks like

These are all the cameras and lenses that the Getty Images photographers have brought to the Sochi Winter Games. Exactly $425,659.59, according to Robert Cianflone in Petapixel—”that’s the value of a house and more than a Lamborghini Aventador!” Here’s the list: 20 Canon 1Dx cameras 3 Canon 5DmkIII cameras 1 Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L IS…

General Motors’ wind tunnels aren’t only used to test the aerodynamics of the carmaker’s latest vehicles. Here we see a member of the Canadian Alpine Ski Team working to improve his tuck position so he’s as streamlined as possible as he streaks down a mountain. [FastLane]

How Olympic Athlete’s Bodies Have Changed Over the Years

When you watch footage of the Olympics from back in the 1920s, it’s hard to imagine the athletes involved did any training at all. Their physiques are by and large what we would consider average, not the sculpted and toned competitors we know today. But that’s because back then the image of the ideal athlete…

Sochi Official: Our Shower Surveillance Footage Says Hotels Are Fine (Updated)

By now, you’ve surely heard the harrowing stories about how the Sochi Olympic village is a hellscape of stray dogs, weird toilets, and unfinished accommodations. Well, according to the Russian official in charge, everything’s cool! And he has the surreptitious surveillance footage to prove it. The WSJ reports that Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Kozak…