2014 WINTER OLYMPICS OPENS IN SOCHI, RUSSIA
By Maloney L. Samaco
PhilBoxing.com
Sun, 09 Feb 2014
The 2014 Winter Olympics opened on Friday (Saturday, PHL time) in Sochi, Russia with a colorful and lavish opening ceremony. President Vladimir Putin, who promised a safe and successful Olympics, led the 40,000 spectators at the elegant new Fisht Stadium. "I declare the 22nd Winter Olympic Games open," said Putin, launching an event that would be competed on February 7-23 in this resort town along the coast of the Black Sea.
IOC President Thomas Bach called on participants to let politics stay out of sports, declaring ?have the courage to address your disagreements in political dialogue and not on the back of your athletes?.
Sochi was voted as the host city in July 2007, during the 119th IOC Session held in Guatemala City. It is the first Olympics held in Russia since the dismantling of the communist USSR in 1991. The then USSR was the host of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
A total of 98 events in 15 winter sport disciplines are scheduled for the Winter Games. The new events are biathlon mixed relay, women's ski jumping, mixed-team figure skating, mixed-team luge, half-pipe skiing, ski and snowboard slopestyle, and snowboard parallel slalom.
Organizers modernized the telecommunications, electric power, and transportation infrastructures of the area. The cost of hosting the Winter Olympics reached $51 billion, surpassing the estimated $44 billion cost of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics as the most expensive Games in Olympic history.
The Philippines is represented by one athlete Michael Christian Martinez who will compete in figure skating. Being the lone Philippine entry, he was the flag bearer during the opening ceremony. Our country participated at the Winter Olympics for the first time in 22 years and 4th time overall. The Philippines sent entries in the 1972, 1988 and 1992 Winter Olympics.
Martinez began skating in 2005 at the SM Mall of Asia ice rink and trained mainly in Manila. He joined his first triple Axel in competition at a 2012?2013 Junior Grand Prix (JGP) event in Lake Placid, New York. He placed 6th in his JGP event in Croatia. At the 2012 Crystal Skate of Romania, Martinez won his first senior international title, the first also for the Philippines.
Martinez finished 5th at the 2013 World Junior Championships and competed at the 2013 JGP Latvia where he ranked 4th. He qualified for the 2014 Winter Olympics when he finished 7th in the men's singles figure skating at the 2013 Nebelhorn Trophy. He competed at the 2013 JGP Estonia and won his first JGP medal, a bronze. He then won the gold medal at 2014 Skate Helena.
Martinez has the distinction of being the first figure skater from Southeast Asia to qualify for the Winter Olympics.
Photo shows lone Winter Olympics entry of the Philippines Michael Christian Martinez.
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