quote f. ing idiots for giving them all their data. hello very good evening welcome to sochi this is all of the special coverage of the twenty fourteen winter olympics has just kicked off with a glittering opening ceremony as we're speaking is still continuing my name's kevin know it and you can stay with us and minister now way wow what a show it has been so far i'm having a little trouble staying focused because it's still going on so you know real frank they promised it would be one for the books and they really took that promise to heart didn't they absolutely stunning simply stunning it's just we just watched whole thing through over our shoulders there and on the teles most spin really amazing real riot of sound and excitement i tell you what i don't think people are taking on the next task of putting on a show going to be very impressive because it's such an uphill struggle to meet

what they've seen it's a noise and certainly the boss certainly going to well now it's up to us will be here for the next three weeks to bring you all the latest and greatest moments of these games here all the incredible victories all the sporting records from expect from the renowned athletes who have been around the world to be barely time to cut jobs it's going to be quite a mouth let's be honest kevin come on we are not alone here are to have the top team in sochi the correspondents will be going to the competitions and hanging out with sports fans to bring us some of the role emotion that of course produces as well this guy really village famous faces for us add to this is they we have set some traps and i scattered some special agents around sochi to gather the gossip and exclusive to share with you here and this is the first time you joined us you can see behind this is the coastal cluster the view behind this is fantastic we're going to great spot for us to hit the whole of the coastal cluster a little well there's a reason as dotted around here more much more about that in detail for you so yes this is a part of what's known as the coastal cluster like you said of these olympic games

and somewhere down town in sochi is paul scott who can tell us what's their goal hello. well i am here in good yes i can loud and clear good evening to you guys i'm here in. the city that has been planning for this moment for seven years and hundreds of spectators who were unfortunate enough to get one of the hottest tickets in town for the opening ceremony have been enjoying the spectacle one of the many lives sites around the region it's a communal area for spectators to gather and watch on giant screens this one just a few hundred meters behind me we are actually near pool where believe it or not during the day temperatures can rise into double figures up to fifteen degrees celsius this is the coastal cluster where the indoor ice events are going to take place contrasting situations that have led the organizers of the sochi twenty fourteen winter olympics to decide on the slogan cool you'll.

certainly hope it will be. some there's also of course the mountain cluster as well as in sports that's just forty kilometers away at least five hundred metres up from where we are now by the sea there manning our station for us tonight sandra farmer . good evening to you guys yeah i'm actually stood among the mountains and. it's only a thirty minute drive away from you tube but it is a world away from the swaying palm trees down at the black sea up a it will be the skiing the snowboarding in the sliding events i'm actually stood in a very picturesque picturesque village called tool which is being built specifically for these games there's a live site just a few hundred yards behind me you might be able to hear. we're going to give you a tour of this place a little later on plus also we're told that the sporting venues are being built here there are five in total i will be having a look at those plus trying to explain to everybody why there will be snow twenty

four. it's going to be much cooler up there in the mountains. we're warm in here toasty we're really enjoying the glamour of it all while talking to glamour when you talk about you think martha dandridge really some of us do because we could work with it it's been a regular insult she over the past few months he said been in for several days already he's already fit with the facts stage gossip and here i come with apologies to my that's all i consume what amazing certainly circle we've got music from from kiss a stranger in paradise with the ex ups of almost started to sell a items to it's also very interesting that the games actually started yesterday and lots of people are asking why on earth we would have a survey after the games began officially yes that's because in fact this is the first time they've had twelve extra events added to the lympics and that's just since vancouver and trying to get right since since twenty turns amazing last of all should all in trying to fit all in of course with the paralympics we got the

medals they were delivered we got them to see the medal to design of the medals a soup that. sort of like a patchwork quilt with a secret design off the coast in the mountains with french russian and english writing on the books look forward to party supplies go home i was slowing away as i was just now of the use of the amazing spectacle doesn't it kind of wonder how you could top london but i guess a lot of people depending whether you're russian or in britain said i would be we think this is better what do you think so i think that wants people to be fed what asking them before and they haven't because if we do have a sense of the occasion and just mazing job and let's look forward to it well you will not be leaving us we're going to have you hear us throughout the night throughout the entire depicts what is russia's home olympics it feels like almost everyone. there isn't there visiting the events in recent months we can take everyone to the actual games or could we all did there were

a few left back in the studio. hi guys. and a nice enjoying yourselves a bit to. at the twenty fourteen at sochi olympics thanks very much for that will speak to you as soon kevin doesn't actually know as i found the keys to his porsche so i know i'm driving home and i have my rotary sushi here in moscow and i am gathered here with a group of our closest colleagues in fact let's introduce all of them here we've got a we've got a i've a cross he added to have a coffee at the far end of the table nice to see you ivor partridge as well the host of our r t world sports a pleasure to have you on you must be thrilled about what we're getting into tonight here with sochi going on the big kickoff going on tonight and james brown our residential intrepid explorer you've been all over the world's largest country and you've got some details to tell us all about sochi twenty fourteen in fact if i can if i can just perhaps start with james first here you're talking about the travel of the olympic flame it's been up it's been down it's been all around tell

us about some of the highlights of the of the journey of the limbic torch well if there was ever a definition of an epic journey the torch relay certainly qualifies it's been through all eighty three regions one hundred thirty five six cities i've been to it to the pacific coast through nine time zones of russia and even beyond in fact my first. sort has been making history continuously i was with it when you could journey to the north pole on a nuclear ice breaker i was we are a group of scientists from the eight arctic nations athletes people who've contributed to arctic research we made a world record breaking journey to the top of the world where we then do the torch run on deck with minus twenty when with i'm sticking the torch up my jumper in an attempt to keep it warm so it doesn't freeze from my torch bearer and then you're there for a moment of history when that torch is lit at the top of the world for the very

first time we went up to the top of mt elbrus so that is the highest peak in your office right down to lake baikal into the. murky depths of light but why do you think they had to take it so far down into the world's biggest freshwater lake what i thought you were doing i mean you're talking about something which is an incredible natural highlight of russia in the first place and again it's something that the olympic torch has never done so you have the you're lighting the torch on the water which i didn't know but that can be done assuming you have a flame that can burn at two thousand degrees celcius so we are not exactly terribly common but we were working with one of the rescue rangers who'd been chosen to be. one of the torch bearers there to start the whole thing off he took it down passed it along on the water to two other torchbearers and then show wasn't enough we then had the bird mounted by a car flying back i saw that we were showing our footage some sort of jet ski jumps

out of the water and anyway it's technical but it's very very impressive james brown you've been all over the place with the torch fantastic stories you've got more of your stories on our to dot com as well ok part of our to your world sports you've been counting down the months the weeks the days and now we're down to the minutes here the ceremonies kicked off the olympics why here is this such a big one this time i think because it's part of a wider sporting legacy i mean this is the twenty second winter olympics it's the biggest sporting event to take part in russia since the one thousand nine hundred six now why is why is this such a big event why why is this part of history when i think about it goes back to vancouver two thousand and ten when russia finished a disappointing fifty eleven i should say overall fifteen medals three of them gold and the russian government looked at the winter sport has always been our bastion it's been our stronghold so what they did is they set about systematically changing the heads of sporting federations they invested i think it's an estimated billion dollars into promising athletes and they also set about in creating what is the

biggest post soviet construction site which of course was turning a sub sub tropical climate place like sochi into a winter sporting venue. and so they've done that as part of this legacy it's also on the back of an investment in sport this week going on throughout the year so we had the university games and was had the world athletics and also we're going to have a formula one race in sochi you can't have the first grand prix in russia for censure there are a lot of firsts that are taking place in sochi of the twenty fourteen winter olympic games if we have what we have some callers from from some sporting legends and so talking about sochi if we can or we can just pause and have a quick listen to this right now. oh you guys want to apologize for the guys i just saw just a moment guys to my director mike in the gallery. with you in just

a moment as you're getting your technical glitches together i'm going to cross over to i've across the aisle when you hear you talk about twitter trending in the world the hype and the global economy is absolutely epic i've. been a really busy week i'm pretty glad it's over tell you the truth it was pretty noisy for the start of the week there was a lot of mudslinging going on. managed to call the twenty second twenty really picks the twitter. we might see. what comes out of it but yeah it's been it's been a really really noisy. obviously i think social media becomes more powerful people start to share their experiences more. great events like the olympics something. like i'd like to be able to show you some global trends that we've got on the wall . but i don't see the. very very long time of the moment in fact i'm just this is

a. director michael we were ready to show you some of these twitter trending maps with. you know ok you know you know what there's spreading all their attention on cap and down at sochi and you know it's not surprising in fact that's how you will let's get it back down to the now and then and he's joining us about the live here oh it's the international back to you i hope you're enjoying yourselves. and we call it welcome back to you aren't sochi olympic studio here in the russian black sea on the russian black sea coast down there the opening ceremony is the face of any games every host country tries to showcase that unique character and culture to reach the hearts of millions of viewers worldwide and of course to surpass its predecessors and brilliance and scope of the. formants the opening ceremony still going on here in sochi so you feel the olympic spirit. i didn't miss much yes to have to say but i would have been have been building up all day today

and we would be smiling today and actually the weather help has been beautiful weather it's a beautiful star. but it's super absolutely super your brit be honest london olympics opening ceremony was phenomenal how to be how to how to do according to you i don't see all of it i'll be absolutely honest we're going to see all of it. all because i was busy working on the program here i was kind of looking over my shoulder at the television and look at the fireworks are amazing there's more to come good. and look fantastic spectacle the law and a lot of technology was used i should know that you could you well look at what is a new graphics on the floor just. show you still going on it's been going on now for war. ok well let's get some more details on it as i didn't see it all because we've been here has been watching the opening ceremony in full it's across time again poll. yes good evening to you guys well it's been seven years in the making

hasn't it this opening ceremony we were promised a high tech pyrotechnic display and that's exactly what we've what we've witnessed now as you say it is still ongoing at the moment but let's recap what we have seen obviously any olympic games is all just really about the athletes and there were three thousand of them competing during these in the games for more than eighty different countries and they emerged rather uniquely for their side being certainly from the center of the stadium from a ramp in the center of the stadium rather than from the side as is tradition as i say we were promised pyrotechnics we were. fireworks in the state of the art technology used in this opening ceremony not exactly what they delivered as in a condensed journey through russian history as well. started off with with a reference to the emergence of christianity the orthodox church in russia before going on to peter the great of course in russia as an emergence as

a great naval nation before not to what russia has given the world in terms of culture over the years there was a reference to tolstoy of war and peace might be exactly why they are still going on there was a giant train hanging from the ceiling it really was a spectacle there was audience participation as well. given to each member of the audience they had to hold any specific moments the lights would go off automatically and it was red white and blue course the color of the russian flag it really was a joy to behold a fantastic spectacle it is still ongoing and of course one of the best kept secrets about any lympics opening ceremony is who is going to light the olympic cauldron at this stage we still don't know who that is there are rumors going around it's only a matter of time now before we find out the answer to the arts and of course that's the moment that really defines any olympics opening ceremony we all remember atlanta nine hundred ninety six when muhammad ali let the olympic cauldron we were also treated to

a number of speeches by dmitri of course the president of the russian organizing committee president vladimir putin of course seeing all the entire event really he's given a speech. the president of the international olympic committee and it's a really poignant moment i suppose in many ways for thomas because this is the first olympic games that he has overseen he's replaced only in the autumn so it's a big and important and special occasion for thomas but he's just delivered his speech inside the fish stadium behind you guys chance to catch up with him a little bit earlier on and i asked him for his impressions of. the host city for the olympic games. sochi can really set the benchmark and if you look at the concept of the olympic park. the. real unique concept to have all the ice sports in these one park together when you see the

sports facilities to the olympic quidditch is. we can be very very confident that the fleet will have excellent conditions here during the games and the most important when you see that they're leaving you know walking distance from their competition when you can walk over. to compete or to train and all these state of the. us well thomas but the president of the international olympic committee saying that such he is ready to welcome the sporting world let's just get further reflection on the ceremony and be as a whole i'm joined now by david. travel writer and blogger as well first things first let's just get your reaction to what you've witnessed the ceremony respect and it definitely was i was very impressed you know i was lucky enough to sit through a dress rehearsal earlier in the week and then watch it on t.v. now and it's definitely a daunting task to fit an entire country's culture and history into

a two hour performance but it's even harder to do it in a way that's just as enjoyable for those in the audience in person and for those on t.v. and getting to see both i feel like they really accomplished that so i was most impressed naïve written a blog called why she could be the greatest winter olympics ever there's a lot of negative press that has been a lot of negative press and build up to this you think she could be the greatest olympic games ever yeah well i think there's there's two things to look at there's the games themselves which no doubt will be a success i mean you have more countries participating than ever before eighty eight countries half a dozen of them it will be their first appearance in the winter games where you have more athletes coming than ever before you have a dozen new events that have never existed in the olympics before all those things will make the games themselves fantastic on the. bigger than that you have the host country you have the host city so she. i have been very impressed. i think it's exceeded my expectations both in infrastructure and accommodation i know there's

been an unbelievable amount of negativity around it but i haven't experienced any of that firsthand and i think i think everything is going to go great some of that and the build up of these games a lot of the negativity was surrounding the location of sochi the choice for sochi in the first place. that of course is the unrest a reason there was negative reasons about the russian human rights record why do you think there's been such a reaction from certain parts of the media well i think it's it's a bold choice especially seven years ago when there was really nothing here and you know you're looking at a competition of cities that are much more developed if you look at something like vancouver who hosted and spent about seven billion dollars to prepare for the games and you look associates and fifty one billion. that's a big difference and you know if i had been on the selection committee i don't know if so she would have made sense then but now it's a different it's a completely different city than it was that it's it will host of your games david

thank you much for your time david. a travel writer and blogger joining us here have a nice. well for seven a long year as russia has been working in fact to make this sporting festival come alive in two thousand and seven the country won the right to hold these winter olympics they say longer right so it's kind of gone really quickly and i was on with. my director general he's done well for itself but i remember what he said of the toy i'm seven years will be covering this i thought he had seven years gosh it's absolutely flown by gone so quickly but so much work has happened because it wasn't just the seven years building up to this it was the years before putting in the preparation to put the bid in the first place like this you're talking to. it's flown by i was in guatemala for the bit when they announced my have to say while i was there leading up to the announcement not many people thought so she would get

it and i mean i know the russian olympic committee was confident but the russians that were there were waiting only when they won did i realize how powerful this was going to be in bringing the country together at the time it's just bringing spunk back you think you know i mean it was the first moment i realized what it would mean lots of fierce competition back then against. south korea's chang and russia of course coming out on top in the end let's have a look back at that very moment. for you with.

the shoes off he coming from. the coastal cluster of the winter olympics really good to have you with us now possibly one of the reasons why russia did win the bid was curiosity the curiosity fucked it all well maybe want to see what the russians would do with this first sub tropical when to go from this area where we are is subtropical we always knew we always knew was going to reach be a real challenge we were reporting on this in the first place and we won with other going to do that but what i've seen. about you've really been impressive really but impressive figures cross locals want to mention pays off for the next three weeks follows athletes as well the olympic park has been constructed exclusively for the sochi games all this built from scratch just. hind us on a patch of land roughly the size of monaco that's about two it's square kilometers that includes of course the main olympic stadium fish where the opening ceremony is

still going on just about to wrap up we're hearing five other arenas the olympic village media center and much more you know some really unique location in front of assyria which is the mountains you can see the snowy peaks on one side you've got a black sea just over there on the other you lying on this very narrow strip of land between the sea and the mountain what struck me first of all i came in is that right behind this futuristic complex you've got the beach you've got the estimate you've got palms you've got sea goals where you place there's a crack your swimsuit. there's some russians who actually didn't swim at this time they're still a bit chilly no well yes yes no but there's no swimming on this program so you don't see my mix misses. for that. right this location is just one of the winning points of course for such a new clock is renowned british journalist who kept a close saw on the games let's see if he's on the line. to discuss what else could help win over the tough. committee judges. hello kevin good evening

to you. hello can you hear me now what is about technology. yes i can bring you it's an end user here as well with kevin tell us in as you said lonely so why do you think the announcer international olympic committee plumped for so it's in the end why did they get the bit well well i mean if we look back at the history of the winter olympics and i've written a piece for the r.t. dot com website about this this is the twenty second winter olympics the first winter olympics was in nineteen twenty four since that time america is held on four times front st ives kind of the twice japan twice italy twice france twice and russia has never held the all the soviet union before that and that's a glaring admission really because i think russia is the biggest winter sports country the. never host the winter olympic games so when the big came up it was time to decide i think it would be pretty unfair if i had not been awarded the games because you know america's had it four times and russia hasn't had

a point yet until today so i think that that was really the main reason i think. you're talking stay with us stay with us cause i want to talk to you but just over our shoulder i just want to give you the view was actually happening over a shoulder you can see some amazing show i would say on the olympic torch has just been led miss. the games i think we can say have officially been. begun. by legendary ice skater. and legendary hockey player i have to admit i don't know his first name we can use first name so i can tell our audience who actually. this is greats like to slam straights who is a legendary russian hockey player of course a huge sporting russia and the reason that i do not i'd like to say who is the mother of her former star i don't mean scheme used to work on are to see it live along with it's a small world it is indeed ok ok but you know what you know we just going to

history making over a show that we couldn't leave and you know you're a very sure guest now russians feel proud about going through the course of this what is this some tropical zone no preexistence we have it was just not on one side warm sea just several kilometers from each other really end of the day but that was also point of controversy wasn't the region from the critics was it a good choice. but i think it will be a very good choice i think we talk about big subtropical i mean the sochi isn't miami it isn't africa i mean the average temperature there in febreze about nine degrees celsius so we've got to get this into perspective really many people be thinking that she is some sort of very very tropical very warm place and of course the problem we've had problems with winter olympics before with very high temperatures or mild temperatures let's think back to vancouver where it wasn't a subtropical place but the temperatures were quite hard there was rain snow had to be brought in even though about. i think nine hundred twenty eight there the speed skating had to be abandoned because of the mob weather so i don't think the subtropical thing is such a big problem really as it's been made out i think it's

a very accessible. place it's it was a logical choice in many ways even though some would argue that it was the other alternative would have been in siberia in the western europe's perhaps. it western siberia. i mean a lot of people say it would have been it would have been cheaper hold it elsewhere when you're talking we've seen the olympic flame some great fireworks with us here i mean what do you think i'm sort. of a very what this is the right place i mean it's a tough question because it's what i think i could i think if you're. equally as spectacular and so well money on war. i think the only alternative kevin in russia would have been in siberia western siberia would be in the other which you had advantage over that it may have been too cold in siberia and also of course more accessible for people coming from western europe and i think that might have been a big factor so it's a good meeting place it's a great place and i think that once you decide that the games should have gone to russia which i think we all agree should have gone because russia had held them

before i think she was a good place to hold them and i'm sure you know judging by the amazing opening survey which really enjoyed it going to be a very successful game to those people who've been knocking the games a lot of it on their face i think. neal as you've been speaking about history's been made nice to see you as well neil clark live in history maybe saw the fireworks going off so too much fun to listen to the games are underway. there is no like you suddenly go of course as has been well documented there were a couple of incidents with torches lead up in the hands of sort of people carrying member bearers burnt them little bit also over those first awkward moments don't you when a gust of wind blew up one of the floats bystander stuck to the likes of quick thinking low that's right yes and some bright spark up the line or company was quick enough. take advantage of this whole the firm was on the verge of actual legal action for publicity the photo with the olympic logo first logan tough laws on that zip code saves the olympics anyway this kind of thing it's not uncommon for

the olympic games and it's sad to diminish the inspiration brought about by the torch relay. but. their egos are. small to my name in the summer you can see from. the tone of. our correspondent james cole like a parent. plus roy he's a lucky man i actually do see a lot of smoke coming out of the same board ali and i know my son which just like yeah exactly does money ends up like most beginning of these olympics the same ugly

and told to me like i don't want to talk about it you can hear me that's covered sixty five cuts and comforters over the last few months from. russia in the last couple of days has been up arrow someone told the pope and on the subject line it's like to be deliberate stated during the time they started by playing to the other person for the second after all the old time the pope gets above the law but they don't love the stuff they like the money they got him to start getting some great city of the limpia that for the first lympics well i'd say is a good cigar no sir many thanks but close to seven hundred they say i'd like to stress the priest us to the old likes and dislikes he knows the sun if you remember the parabolic mirror. and also used to have all the oil i think slide not fly and then she used that a lot so i had a quick trouble with.