The next Olympic Games will be held at the end of summer 2012. The previous competition took place two years ago - it was the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Despite the fact that it was already the 21st Winter Olympic Games, several "premieres" took place there.
The emblem of the games was a hero named Ilanaak - a "friend" made up of five stones of Olympic colors. Two of the games' mottos were borrowed from the Canadian anthem: the phrases in French "Most Brilliant Feats" and in English "With Flaming Hearts."
The original script for the opening of the Olympics has been amended. A few hours before the ceremony, it became known about the tragedy - a luge athlete from Georgia crashed during training. A minute of silence was included in the ceremony, and the Georgian national team came out in mourning bandages.
During the lighting of the Olympic flame, there was a small incident. For the first time, four athletes participated in the procedure. But due to a technical failure, there were only three "grooves" leading to the main torch. However, during the closing ceremony, this situation was ironically played up. The same guilty "electrician" appeared on the scene, he apologized and removed the missing fourth element in the construction of the Olympic flame.
The main stadium for the games was BC-Place in downtown Vancouver, with a capacity of 55,000 spectators. In addition, some competitions were held in Whistler, Richmond and West Vancouver.
From 12 to 28 February, 82 teams competed for prizes in 15 disciplines. Compared to the previous Olympic Games, the list of disciplines has expanded: ski cross competitions have been added, separately for men and women.
The medals at the Vancouver Winter Olympics were unique, stylized in the tradition of Canadian indigenous art. For the first time in the history of the Olympics, the awards were not flat, but with a wavy surface.
The Russians remember these games as one of the most unsuccessful for the national team. The Winter Olympics became a record failure - the Russians showed the worst result in terms of the number of gold medals and place in the team classification. In the medal standings, the national team was only on the 11th line of the table. The hosts of the XXI Olympic Winter Games took the first place in terms of the amount of "gold", the second place was taken by Germany, and the third place was taken by the US team.
