Since American journalists began arriving in Sochi, Russia for the 22nd Winter Olympics, they have been encountering some strange mishaps with their boarding situation. Many have been complaining that hotel rooms and buildings have not been finished and are potentially dangerous. The Twitter handle @SochiProblems has over 300,000 followers, which more than half the amount of followers that the US Official Olympic Team twitter has. The popularity of the topic increased exponentially when Nick Cunningham tweeted a picture of his hotel bathroom door, or at least what was left of it after he broke through it because he was trapped after a shower due to shoddy craftsmanship and the fact that he didn’t have his cell phone or any means to call for help.
A Russian official stated that the remarks are untrue and that the US reporters are just looking to make headlines (which is a fair assumption based on recent media coverage). The the deputy prime minister of Russia famously stated, “We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day,” which is rather unsettling, but a spokesperson soon after attempted to clarify by suggesting that deputy prime minister Kozak was referring to the testing during construction. It is easy to brush these accusations off as rumors, but the pictures on Twitter keep reinforcing the thought that Sochi really wasn’t ready to host so many people. Pictures show notes from the hotel telling guests not to flush toilet paper down the toilet or drink any of the water from the faucet as it is “very dangerous.”