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- The buffoonery of the Sochi Olympics is best symbolized by the Olympic rings that malfunctioned during the opening ceremony.
- The IOC is now mocking those games with their own "404" error page on the official Olympics website.
- It is not the first shot the IOC has taken at Russia recently after they were officially banned from the Winter Olympics for doping.
The 2014 Sochi Olympics were mess, and that buffoonery is now being mocked by the International Olympic Committee's official Olympics website.
For all the doors that wouldn't open, incomplete construction projects, failed plumbing, and bizarre toilets, the mess in Sochi was best symbolized by the malfunction of the Olympic rings during the opening ceremony. The big moment of the opening ceremony was supposed to be five snowflakes opening to form the rings. Instead, one of them remained closed.
Now, the IOC is mocking that failure on their official Olympics website.
A "404" error page at Olympics.org simply says, "404 - PAGE NOT FOUND" with a picture of the malfunctioning rings in the background.
Olympics.org
It is unclear how long the error page has referenced the Sochi Olympics, but it is not the only shot the IOC has taken at Russia recently.
During the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics, where Russia was officially banned for widespread doping, IOC President Thomas Bach took his own thinly veiled shot at the country.
"You can only really enjoy your Olympic performance if you respect the rules, and stay clean," Bach said. "Only then will your life-long memories be the memories of a true and worthy Olympian."
In Russia's defense, they did have a sense of humor about their own malfunction at the end of the Sochi games. At first, Russia doctored video of the opening ceremony to make it appear as if the rings did work properly. But during the closing ceremony, they brought the rings full circle.
Dancers formed the rings during the closing ceremony. But before forming the rings completely, one group of dancers remained "closed."
NBC Olympics