Free Republic

1980: 2014:

In Putin, IOC aristocrats such as Bach thought they had found their kindred spirit, willing to pay and do anything for Olympic glory. Construct lavish and ridiculous facilities that play to the IOC's over-inflated sense of worth? Check. Suck up to IOC leadership like they are all-powerful? Check. Toss a little something extra on the side to assure the voting on host city goes smooth? Cough. Cough. The New York Times on Thursday reported the latest, and most damning, proof yet that Russia did more than just host the 2014 Winter Olympics: they conspired to fix it. Grigory Rodchenkov, the...

When the 22nd Winter Olympic Games opened at Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi with a spectacular Feb. 6 ceremony, it might have been assumed little would be heard over the following fortnight about Christian churches. As the games neared their end on Feb. 23, however, the churches’ presence had been well established — led by Russia’s predominant Orthodox church, but with clergy from Russia’s million-strong minority Catholic Church playing a role, too.“These Olympics have been hugely important here,” Msgr. Igor Kovalevsky, secretary-general of Russia’s Catholic bishops’ conference, told Our Sunday Visitor. “Of course, the games are a secular...

Just read this and weep for our future. David Wise is at the top of his sport. He’s always smiling among his friends and competitors, however, he’s not like the rest of the field. He is mature. Not to say the rest of the freestyle skiers of halfpipe are not mature, but Wise is mature far beyond his years. At only twenty-three years old, he has a wife, Alexander, who was waiting patiently in the crowd, and together they have a two-year-old daughter waiting for them to return to their home in Reno, Nevada.At such a young age, Wise has...