Sochi 2014 Leaves Despondent Legacy -- Media Watch

(ATR) Media mark the one year anniversary of the 2014 Winter Games with commentary on Sochi's Olympic legacy.

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SOCHI, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 06:  A general view of the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the Olympic Cauldron ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Olympic Park on February 6, 2014 in Sochi, Russia.  (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)
SOCHI, RUSSIA - FEBRUARY 06: A general view of the Bolshoy Ice Dome and the Olympic Cauldron ahead of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics at the Olympic Park on February 6, 2014 in Sochi, Russia. (Photo by Joe Scarnici/Getty Images)

(ATR)Bruce Arthur, a columnist for Canada's daily newspaper The Toronto Star, marks the one-year anniversary of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

"It's been an entire year since the Sochi Olympics began as the sun set over the Black Sea, with an opening ceremony full of color and wonder and tributes to the art the government had been enthusiastically suppressing for an awfully long time," Arthur says.

"The whole thing felt like a scam from the start, of course. But it was pretty."

The Wall Street Journal'sMoscow correspondent Paul Sonne says that one year on, "Sochi is suffering the Post-Olympic blues.

"Resorts built for the Winter Games are struggling to attract enough visitors to Sochi amid an economic downturn."

Rose Troup Buchanan, a reporter for the British daily newspaper The Independent, paints a despondent picture of current-day Sochi.

"Pictures have emerged showing the Sochi Olympics Winter Park standing empty and neglected just a year after Russian president Vladimir Putin pumped billions into the venue.

"Many of the custom built stadiums, which cost an estimated $51 billion in total, now appear deserted and unused."

The Daily Mail's Will Stewart dubs the Sochi Olympics a "$5l billion ghetto."

Russian news media agency R-Sport examines the Olympic legacy of Imereti Valley in Sochi.

Speaking with R-sport about Sochi's Olympic Park and facilities, Russian cross-country skier Yelena Valbe, says, "I believe we are on the right track as long as we manage the facilities wisely.God forbid any sports facilities just remain unused and unwanted.

"As you remember, Luzhniki used to be a big fair. Many sports facilities were turned into markets. Fortunately, we have moved past this."

In Other News

CNN spotlights FIFA president Sepp Blatter's secret passion.

"He's a man that divides opinion and in the past has even jokingly compared himself to a James Bond villain stroking a white Persian cat.

"But forget felines--it's equine beasts that really stir the emotions of the head of world football's governing body."

Boston's NPR news station, WBUR, speaks with United States economist Andrew Zimbalist about his newest book, Circus Maximus. The book explores ways in which the Olympics and the World Cup have developed into "exhibits of excess."

Compiled byNicole Bennett

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