And those that did occur were generally new ones relating to matters which happened here. Here are a few of the highlights...

- It all came to nothing of course as the sport proved a huge hit - but initially slopestyle snowboarders were not super-stoked about their ultra-difficult course during training runs...

We had injuries, crashes, course-change and the tactical withdrawal of super-star Shaun White to focus on his favoured halfpipe discipline.

That went well didn't it Shaun...

The slopestyle course received criticism from various quarters for being too dangerous after training began ©Getty Images


It seems a long time ago now but our reports can be read to jog the memory here, here and here.

- The choice of triple gold medal winning figure skater Irina Rodnina, meanwhile, as one of the two Flamelighters in the Opening Ceremony provoked a hail of criticism - mainly from a certain North American country - due to an allegedly racist tweet she had posted last year about a certain North American President not present at the Games.

The choice of Irina Rodnina of Flamelighter received criticism due to her allegedly racist tweet she posted about Barrack Obama ©Getty Images



Rodnina deleted and eventually apologised for the tweet - but claimed her account had been hacked... There was some scepticism at this, surprise, surprise, and and our reports at the time can be read here and here.

Sochi 2014 highlights from the insidethegames team...

One of my sillier highlights was the incredible roar of welcome the Jamaican team got when they entered the Fisht Arena at the Opening Ceremony and I loved how last night the Russians showed their sense of humour with the fifth ring...
- Commercial director Dommie Gill selects moments from the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

They may have not done too well on the track...but the Jamaican bobsleigh team made lots of headlines once again at their first Winter Olympics in 12 years
©Getty Images




Back to the sport...

Sochi - what a great platform for Team GB Winter to push on from - well done guys.
- British Olympic Association chairman Sebastian Coe congratulates the British team on their best medal haul since 1924.

Great Britain finished 19th in the medals table with one gold, one silver and two bronze medals: skeleton gold for Lizzie Yarnold, slopestyle bronze for Jenny Jones and curling silver and bronze for the men and women's teams.

Lunchtime literature lesson

12:56 I'm not sure if I could honestly recommend Tolstoy's "War and Peace" having valiantly abandoned my quest to read it long before the end - but, for a shorter and simpler but an equally eye-opening read, I would definitely advise Solzhenitsyn's "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich."

12:50 With one of the Olympic themes being education and learning through sport - the Closing Ceremony paid homage to this with a section recognising 12 of Russia's - or the Soviet Union's - literary greats.

Some of these are more famous than others - but here is a bit of background info on all 12. Who ever said reading insidethegames does not broaden your intellectual horizons?

1) Anna Akhmatova - Anna Andreyevna Grenko, better known by her pen name Anna Akhmastova, is regarded as one of Russia's greatest poets. A modernist working in the early 20th century, she wrote about life under Russian leader Joseph Stalin and her work was censored by authorities. She was also renowned for translating Italian, French, Armenian and Korean poetry into Russian.

2) Joseph Brodsky - A poet and essayist who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1987. Brodsky studied with Akhmatova before he was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1972 and emigrated to the USA. He served as Poet Laureate of the USA from 1991-1992.

The Closing Ceremony paid homage to some of the great authors of Russian history ©Getty Images



3) Mikhail Bulgakov - A writer and playwright working in the first half of the 20th century, Kyiv-born Bulgakov was a Red Cross medical volunteer during World War One and later a journalist before turning his pen to writing plays. He wrote science fiction as well as satire, fantasy and fiction. His most famous work is the novel The Master and Margarita.

4) Anton Chekhov - A medical doctor, playwright and author who is considered one of the world's greatest writers of short stories. Chekhov was an influential figure in modern short story-writing techniques. In the world of theatre, his most famous plays include The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard. His fame and popularity increased posthumously.

5) Fyodor Dostoyevsky - A novelist, essayist, short story writer and philosopher who graduated in engineering but chose to pursue a career in literature. In 1849 he narrowly escaped death by firing squad (for his involvement in a secret society) and instead served a four-year hard labour sentence in Siberia. He later worked as a journalist and writer. His most famous novel was Crime and Punishment, written in 1866.

6) Nikolai Gogol - A Ukrainian-born writer, playwright, poet and critic, Gogol followed in the footsteps of his father, who wrote stories for the Ukrainian puppet theatre. He was a leader in Russian literary realism and his works satirised political corruption in Russia, resulting in his eventual exile. He was referenced many times in works by Dostoyevsky and Chekhov.

7) Vladimir Mayakovsky - The multi-talented Mayakovskywas a Bolshevik poet, playwright, artist and actor. He was passionate about Marxist literature and was one of the founders of the Russian futurist art movement. Russian leader Joseph Stalin described him as "the best and most talented poet of our Soviet era".

Literature at the Closing Ceremony ©McClatchy-Tribune/Getty Images



8) Aleksandr Pushkin - Pushkin is considered the founder of modern Russian literature and the country's greatest poet. Working in the early 19th century Romantic area, he pioneered the use of every day speech in his poetry. PUSHKIN wrote a mixture of Old Slavonic with vernacular Russian, giving his poetry an unusual melodic quality. He died at the age of 37 from injuries sustained in a duel against a French military officer who had been attempting to seduce his wife.

9) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - Solzhenitsyn, who lived from 1918 to 2008, was a novelist, historian and critic of Soviet totalitarianism including gulags and forced labour camps. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1970 "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature". He was expelled from the Soviet Union in 1974 but returned to Russia in 1994 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

10) Leo Tolstoy - The author of lengthy novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, Tolstoy is considered one of the world's greatest writers. War and Peace is more than 1200 pages long and subdivided into four books. Born in 1828 into a well-known noble family, Tolstoy's works reflected his personal journey from a privileged background to a spiritual anarchist. He also wrote plays and essays and was known for his extreme moral views.

11) Marina Tsvetaeva - A poet writing in early 20th century Russia, TSVETAEVA is considered one of the greatest Russian poets of her era. She wrote about the 1917 Russian revolution and the subsequent Moscow famine, drawing from her own experiences of poverty, starvation and political struggles. She committed suicide at the age of 48.

12) Ivan Turgenev - Writing in the mid-19th century, Turgenev was a novelist, short story writer and playwright who pioneered Russian realism. His early, influential works included short stories about peasant life which were credited with influencing public opinion in favour of abolishing serfdom in 1861. His later works continued to explore problems in Russian society.

Super stoked at Sochi 2014...

12:35 These events produced plenty of thrills, spills and exciting finishes as well...

A photo finish from the men's ski cross ©Sochi 2014



12:28 Who said the Olympic Games was not for learning new things? New sports...but also new vocabulary from many of those who competed in some of these new snowboard and freestyle events... 

"I'm holding it down for the rad dad club."
- Halfpipe skier David Wise on being a father and bringing his family to Sochi.



."Switch right-side gap 270 on, pretzel 270 out on the down-flat-down; switch on, 450 out of the up rail, to left side 270 on, pretzel 270 off on the down; to a butter, switch slide to corked 450 off on the cannon feature. Then, left side double corked 1260 double Japan on the first booter, to switch right side dub 1080 tail grab, and a switch right side triple corked 1260 Japan on the big booter."
- Ski slopestyle judge Simon Tjernstroem offers an easy explanation as to why it was a no-brainer to award Joss Christensen the gold medal.

I'm super stoked. So stoked to be here, representing the USA for sure. Bringing home the gold is just icing on the cake.''
- The first gold medal winner of Sochi 2014, US slopestyle snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg, is super-stoked following his triumph. He said that a lot. 

Ukraine - Olympics to build bridges

12:04 With the exception only of Alpine skier Bohdana Matsotska the Ukrainian team unanimously chose to stay on and compete in Sochi despite the troubles - and even Matsotska stayed here to cheer on her team-mates even though she personally withdrew. Read our article about this last Thursday here. 

11:55 IOC President Thomas Bach also selected that gold medal as one of his stand out moments of Sochi 2014. He described it as a powerful symbol of unity during the country's bloody political crisis, and praised the Ukrainian team for staying to compete in Sochi rather than returning home. 

"In this moment, mourning on the one hand, but knowing what really is going on in your country, seeing your capital burning, and feeling this responsibility, and then winning the gold medal, this really stands out for me," Bach told the Associated Press "It was really an emotional moment."

Great proof of how sport can unite the nation. It is a day of crucial decisions in Parliament. Hope the power of sport help to find unity. Moments after girls won gold Ukrainian Parliament stopped discussions. Speaker greeted the team, MPs sang national anthem!
- Sergey Bubka tweets his reaction on Friday following the gold medal

11:46 I have lost count of the amount of times that we have heard a speech during Sochi 2014 emphasising how the Olympics should build bridges and bring people together and push people apart.

This was best epitomised when - in the midst of the conflict engulfing the country - Ukraine was given a sense of unity by the gold medal won by Vita and Valj Semerenko,
Juliya Dzhyma and Olena Pidhrushna in the women's 4 x 5km biathlon relay.

Sergey Bubka presenting the gold medal to the Ukrainian biathlon relay team ©Twitter



Quotes of the Games

11:29 Some of the best excuses, explanations and bold assertions of Sochi 2014

"The good thing about the team pursuit is that all the Dutch skaters are in one team, so they can only win one medal."
- USA speed skating coach Kip Carpenter had enough of Dutch podium sweeps. We will study the dominance of the Dutch in the Adler Arena later on today.

"We're just as tired as any other endurance athlete, but we have to look pretty when we do it."
Canadian figure skater Mitchell Islam on the special requirements of his sport.


"I've been chosen because I am the special one."
- Bobsledder Marvin Dixon fancies taking over the mantle of Chelsea's football manager Jose Mourinho when asked why he was Jamaica's flagbearer. A pity about the last placed finish then for the special one...

Sochi 2014 - the sport...

11:14 We will bring you as many facts and stats as possible from Sochi 2014 throughout the day - starting with a couple of rather special Norwegian skiers...

Brilliant Bjoerndalen

* As well as being elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission as a consequence the IOC, Ole Einar Bjoerndalen claimed two major records in Sochi.