Article content

Watching the Sochi Olympics rise from the earth as if by the hand of Ozymandias himself, it seems hard to believe the Winter Games were once a low-key affair.

In Shelley’s poem about the fall of empires, Ozymandias, king of kings, brags that other mighty rulers should look on his wondrous works and despair, although the vainglorious boast is inscribed on his ruined monument.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or How the Sochi Winter Olympics grew into a state-sanctioned flaunting of ego and power Back to video

In stark contrast to the extravaganza of Summer Olympics, the Winter Games traditionally boasted the feel of a small-town sports festival. Enthusiastic home-town crowds and pin-bearing volunteers would welcome the world to rustic mountain locales with quaint streetscapes; places like Sarajevo, Lillehammer, Lake Placid, and even Calgary, could not have competed with the later Games in Vancouver and, of course, Russia.

At an estimated $51-billion, Sochi will be the most expensive Olympic Games ever held. The price tag will vault the event into the show-stopping spectacle once reserved for the much larger Summer Games.