pilots divert to sochi. and who did ? who leaked private conversations between u.s. diplomats, complete with profanity. it is a big embarrassment. some big allies are angry, and washington has shifted into damage control. and one moment in time. the american athletes who did not get to compete the last time the games came to russia because the president kept the u.s. team home. tonight, the scars that are still visible. nightly news begins now. good evening, there was more tension leading up to these olympic winter games than any such gathering in memory. they are, after all, the most expensive and the most heavily

defended by far. and now, tonight, we are finally, thankfully under way here. just as the opening games at the summer olympics were very british, as you can see tonight these games are getting off to a very russian theme start. the game today feels very spirited. but for a time today as we'll talk about it in a moment there was a scare that reminded us all of the high security stakes. first, however, the command that has gone out to let these games begin. nbc's kevin tibbles has more. >> reporter: brian, before, sochi was just a sleepy little tourist town on the banks of the black sea. well, tonight, sochi welcomed the world with a festival of sound and color, and oh yes, sir, a little controversy mixed in. the big show has come to sochi. and thousands streamed into the olympic park with smiles and cheers and a russian greeting for visitors. >> welcome to sochi! >> reporter: after the metal detectors and bag checks a daily ritual, it took those today

attending the opening ceremony a few minutes just to get to the stadium. >> i don't want to be late. >> reporter: security ever present, sometimes even friendly. inside, a spectacle about a proud people, many celebrating with selfies. after six olympics it never gets old. todd lodwick chosen to carry the flag. just one noticeable glitch, one of the olympic rings failed to materialize. among those who carried the torch of the olympic torch, rumored to be linked to the russian president putin, although the relationship has never been confirmed. she handed it off to one of the most decorated figure skaters in russia, a national hero who has drawn international criticism for a doctored photo she tweeted of president obama last year that many considered racist. but for those in attendance, a

breath-taking evening. tennis star and sochi hometown hero maria sharapova also carried the torch, she expects russia to wow the world. >> knowing our history of dance and culture, we enjoy a great program, a great performance. >> and a great party? >> yes, and a party, with a couple of vodka shots. >> reporter: russia's olympic coming out party is under way, the most expensive games in history. under the big top in sochi. and fears of empty seats in the olympic stadium seem to be a bit premature. the place was filled to the rafters. and of course those waiting to watch the show, the big show tonight. a couple of highlights that i noted brian, being in there, one, the jamaica bobsled team got a great cheer. their gear finally showed up and they're ready to go.

and then of course when team russia walked into the building, the roof came off. and kevin tibbles starting us off. as the big scare had arrived as the opening ceremony was under way, that a man had attempted to hijack this commercial jetliner and ordered the pilots to fly it here to sochi. while it now turns out he may have been in an altered state and there never was a bomb on board it speaks to the hair trigger in the entire region. richard engel has that story tonight, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian, imagine if the plane had had been diverted to sochi during the opening ceremony while the world is watching, a stadium full of vips and don't forget this entire area is full of anti-aircraft missiles. but in the end it was averted. as spectators filed in to the opening ceremony few had any idea a hostage drama was under way. that a hijacker was trying to divert a passenger plane their way.

a turkish boeing 737 800 carrying 110 passengers took off for a flight to istanbul. but once in the air, a ukrainian man claimed he had a bomb and demanded the plane divert to sochi. passengers took cell phone videos they say showed the hijacker in a red and white jersey. but it may have been cool thinking by the pilots that averted a major crisis. the pilots stayed calm, pretending to cooperate, telling the hijacker they were heading to sochi, while continuing on to istanbul. they turned off the in-flight map system so the hijacker could not see where the plane really was, and over the black sea at night it would have been hard to identify any landmarks. when the plane entered turkish air space, the pilots tripped an alarm alerting the officials on the ground. two f-16 fighters scrambled,

escorting the aircraft to istanbul, where it was surrounded by security. >> this was textbook response from the flight crew to keep them under control and get the aircraft to safety. and also the turkish authorities to make sure that even if this turned out to be nothing they were prepared. >> reporter: the suspect, reportedly drunk, was taken into custody, bound on a stretcher. no bomb or weapon was found. the officials believe he was acting alone. the turkish police identified the man as hazlof from the ukraine, they are investigating his background, but so far nothing suspicious. >> reporter: richard engel from the olympic village, thank you. as they say that is not all. there is trouble between the u.s. and russia tonight on another front. the business of diplomacy, after somebody posted on the internet the very clear recording of a private phone call between two u.s. diplomats over the dicey matter of the current unrest in ukraine. it is real, the u.s. can't hide

from it and they are pointing the finger at russia. we get our report from chief foreign affairs correspondent andrea mitchell. >> reporter: vladimir putin is having a field day as they chanted outside the embassy. center stage in kiev today, victoria nuland, the top u.s. diplomat for europe, trying to make light of her diplomatic gaffe. >> it was pretty impressive information, the audio was clear. >> reporter: too clear, they were heard around the world talking to the u.s. ambassador about ukraine, and using the f-word. the bigger fallout on ukraine. in crisis for months. nuland was also heard sizing up the rebel leaders, sounding like a chicago ward captain. >> so i don't think klitsh should go into the government, i don't think it is necessary, i

don't think it is a good idea. >> reporter: accusing the u.s. of meddling, but had russia bugged her phone? >> the u.s. was the first to tweet about this particular call. only a few countri have the level of capabilities needed. i'll let you use your judgment. >> reporter: nuland has been tough on russia, and recently sided with ukraine's anti-government protest, even feeding them bread. putin has also gone after the u.s. ambassador who is now leaving his post, and talked to richard engel today. >> what is unusual to me is this would be put on youtube or wherever it was, that seems like something extraordinary. >> reporter: germany's chancellor is said to be furious, others say a word of caution is necessary. >> i think both sides should take a little more care in the language we use to share points of view with each other. >> reporter: in other words, watch what you say, somebody may be listening, andrea mitchell, nbc news, washington.

on the home front today we learned the economy added 113,000 jobs in january. while it was as they say, short of expectations the unemployment rate did kick down to 6.6%. the problem is not fast enough growth for the millions of americans still struggling to find work, although a lot of economists predict that hiring will pick up the pace in the months to come. and in pennsylvania, power crews working around the clock report that more than 200,000 customers are still without heat and light since the big ice storm moved through, but they hope to have most of the homes back up on line tonight. still means a lot of hardship and a lot of frozen pipes for a lot of homeowners in that area. and seems like half of hollywood came to new york today. and yet any one of them would have given anything not to make the trip. they gathered at a church in manhattan for the funeral of philip seymour hoffman who died of an apparent heroin overdose. he was 46 years old.

his death brought about a crackdown by the nypd and now a renewed attention to the surge of heroin use across the country. still ahead tonight, the american athletes who made the team the last time the olympics came to russia, only their team was held back by the president. and tonight, how they turn that into success down the road. t. and tonight, how they turn that into success down the road. how much money do you think you'll need when you retire? then we gave each person a ribbon to show how many years that amount might last. i was trying to, like, pull it a little further. [ woman ] got me to 70 years old. i'm going to have to rethink this thing. it's hard to imagine how much we'll need for a retirement that could last 30 years or more. so maybe we need to approach things differently, if we want to be ready for a longer retirement. ♪ i took medicine but i still have symptoms. [ sneeze ] [ male announcer ] truth is not all flu products treat all your symptoms. what?

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news. good evening, there was an incident in afghanistan today. >> reporter: in december of 197, 100,000 soviet troops marched into afghanistan. at the same time, the iranians were holding american hostages. at home, the u.s. economy was stalled. in his state-of-the-union address weeks later, president jimmy carter sent a clear message to the russians, withdraw your troops or there will be consequences. >> neither the american people nor i will support sending an olympic team to moscow. >> reporter: watching the president's speech that night, the first american women's volley ball team ever to qualify for the olympics, deborah landrith was one of the ten women who had olympic hopes. >> we just kind of laughed about it. we said that was ridiculous, like we really didn't take it seriously. >> reporter: then there was don page, the american long distance runner, he was in the room along

with the other invited olympic hopefuls the day president carter announced his final decision. >> i can't say at that moment, what other nations will not go to the summer olympics in moscow. ours will not go. >> and we're all like, he is serious. the president of the united states just said we're not going to go to moscow? we're not going to go to the olympics? >> so congratulations. >> reporter: sue walsh was 17 back then and had just clocked the fastest time in the world for the 100-meter back stroke. and to this day, the cancelled olympics are an emotional topic. >> it was knowing that my parents had bought flights to go to moscow that were not going to be refunded. and now, as a parent what you -- sorry. what you hope -- your hopes for your children are and then knowing that my parents --

wouldn't get to experience that? i think that was the hardest thing. >> reporter: while the games were taking place in moscow as a consolation prize, the u.s. olympic team was invited to washington. they wore their official levis western wear team outfits that they were supposed to wear to the opening ceremony. and that is when reality sunk in for another u.s. team member, ron gallamore. >> i broke down into tears. >> reporter: gallamore grew up the son of the late chicago bears runningback willy gallamore, and he was set to become the first african-american gymnast to compete in the olympics. >> it was not until that moment that you know i realized what i had achieved. and the opportunity i would not get. >> reporter: none of the four athletes, page, landrith, walsh or gallamore ever made it to

another olympics, but they long ago decided not to let that disappointment stop them. don page founded a company that designed running track outfits for high school athletics. deborah, now deborah landrith brown, went on to coach at notre dame and recently celebrated her 600th victory. sue walsh competes as a swimmer and last year broke the record in her age group. and ron gallamore supports the u.s. olympics as an executive with usa gymnastics. >> i feel great to have the dream i have now, and work with so many young athletes. i get to relive my life through them with the happiest ending. >> reporter: these athletes have all proven their strength and history always proves if you think it is tense between super powers now, there is often a ready example of when it was worse. another break for us, when we come back the start of something very big 50 years ago today. ck the start of

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you may recall that after billy jean king was named the official to the u.s. olympic delegation she suddenly pulled out of her appearance to be with her mother here in the u.s., well, we learned today her mother passed away. betty moffet died in prescott, arizona, at the age of 91. we also want to note marty pilsner, over at cbs news was a competitor of ours, but along the way contributed to the late night lexicon. he is the guy who coined the phrase "too close to call." as the way we categorize tight races out of a bit of caution. marty pilsner was 87 years old. these days, very few people leave the game when they're on top of their game and that is what jay leno did last night. we now know a record 14.6

million americans watched his good-bye. billy crystal led the way with a celebrity-studded take down with music. lots of old friends stopped by. but at the end of the night it was just jay and the audience, and after 22 years and over 4,000 shows it got emotional. >> boy, this is the hard part. i want to thank you, the audience, you folks have been just incredibly loyal. this is tricky. we wouldn't be on the air, without you people. secondly, this has been the greatest 22 years of my life. >> last night, jay said after losing his mother, father and brother, his tonight show family became family to him. the show now moves east as the baton and the time slot both get passed on to jimmy fallon. and in case you missed all the other coverage and tributes,

this is the 50th anniversary of the beatle's arrival in the u.s. while they went on to change music forever, at the time, 50 years ago tonight on this very broadcast nightly news anchorman chet huntley was not impressed with their first visit to new york, and he said so on the air. here is what it sounded like to our viewers that night. >> like a good little news organization, we sent three camera crews to stand among the screamer youngsters and record the sightings and sounds for posterity. the pictures are very good, but someone asked what the fuss was about and we found we had no answer. so good night for nbc news. >> turns out those 4,000 shrieking youngsters who showed up at kennedy airport that day might have been on to something. >> when we come back you may notice something different about one member of team usa during tonight's opening ceremony and we'll tell you why. one member of team usa during

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record it all. and yes, they say getting here is half the battle. but for those who get here and then have to go home because of fate or tragedy or injury or all three, that is a heartbreaker. it has already happened to one member of team usa. and chris jansing has her story tonight. >> reporter: it had been a good ski season for heidi kloser, second at lake placid, fourth in world cup overall. she first imagined going to the olympics when she was just three, and now it happened. >> it was really cool standing at the top, it felt like the olympics for sure. >> reporter: but thursday, just seconds into her moguls warmup, a terrible crash. as she was carried off the mountain she says she knew the games were over before they began for her, and with the innocence of the young girl who wanted to represent her country for so long, she asked her parents, am i still an olympian? did you think you were not? >> i don't know, i just didn't know for sure, i felt like i had

to start to be an olympian. >> reporter: her dad's posting on facebook all echoed her question, of course you are. heidi had broken her right leg but wanted to walk in the opening ceremony anyway. when she told you she was going to walk with all of those injuries? >> well, i had had some reservations, but i know how strong she is. >> reporter: heidi was determined, so after arriving to the stadium in a wheelchair, when team usa was announced, she got up, grabbed her crutches and took in the olympic experience. and on this night of celebration. her teammates found something extra to cheer. >> she is a real american. >> and she embodies that, she embodies the love and being a teammate through it all. she is truly such an inspiration. >> reporter: on and off the slopes, life is full of twists and s.