News: SOCHI Olympics Begins After Spectacular Opening Ceremony

The Winter Olympics 2014 kicked off at the Black Sea resort of Sochi with a spectacular opening ceremony, starting with a small girl asleep being swept up in the air with the help of a kite. It has already been tagged the most expensive Olympics the world has ever seen because of the high price tag of £32 Billion.

The games will last for 16 days, and nearly 100 medals will be handed out to athletes from across the globe. Sochi 2014 organisers say 66 leaders, including heads of state and international organisations, made an appearance at the ceremony, with the United Nations' secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the respective leaders of China and Japan joining Russian president Vladimir Putin in the VIP box. Around 2,900 athletes are set to compete in 15 disciplines starting on today, switching the focus from concerns over security, human rights and last-minute hitches to the sporting action.

Despite the high price tag, which went into impressive venues in the mountains and a compact purpose-built Olympic Park on the coast, Sochi had a bumpy start as journalists arrived to unfinished hotels, sewage spilling out of the taps and unclean water from the taps. In response to the challenging conditions, Russia's deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak argued that the stories were a deliberate attempt by journalists to paint Russia in a bad light.

Meanwhile, a top U.S. counterterrorist official says there are 'a number of specific threats' aimed at the Winter Olympics- with the greatest danger coming from the Caucasus Emirate, which has threatened to attack the games. Russia has mounted a massive security operation for the Olympics, deploying more than 50,000 police and soldiers amid threats from Muslim insurgents.