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The press arrived in Sochi this week for the Winter Olympics, and it did not go well.
Tweets, photos and full-on articles told the world of shoddy, unfinished accommodations that gave Vladimir Putin's Olympic Games a black eye before they'd even started. Russian officials remained largely mum as Sochi's unfinished construction — rooms without doorhandles, toilets that can't flush paper — became the story of the week that ends Friday with the Olympics' opening ceremony.
Then, on Thursday, a Russian official finally addressed reporters, ostensibly to set the media straight and correct the false narrative that gained so much momentum.
His response, according to The Wall Street Journal, boiled down to this: Some reporters are sabotaging Sochi's Olympics accommodations for splashy headlines. Russian officials know this because they have surveillance cameras in hotel rooms. And at least some of those surveillance cameras are focused on hotel showers.
"We have surveillance video from the hotels that shows people turn on the shower, direct the nozzle at the wall and then leave the room for the whole day," Dmitry Kozak, the deputy prime minister who oversaw Russia's Olympic prep, told the Journal.
A spokesperson for Kozak later denied that hotel rooms or bathrooms in Sochi have surveillance cameras, according to the Journal. The spokesperson said Kozak was likely referring to surveillance done at hotel sites during construction.
Cameras or no cameras, Kozak's response does not come from the Public Relations Hall of Fame and it appears to have horrified Kozak's handlers. The Journal reports that an aide immediately "pulled a reporter away before Mr. Kozak could be questioned further on surveillance in hotel rooms. 'We're doing a tour of the media center,' the aide said."
cosmicexplorer
the nsa wants to catch me masterbating...the russians want to catch me masterbating....its all about catching people masterbating
MystikMushroom
Well, it's no secret that a LOT of the athletes "get it on" inside the Olympic village. I've heard interviews and it sounds like it's one wild party with a lot of hooking up.
Maybe the Russians want to get into the black market adult film industry?
Joki42
And I always felt I was being a bit paranoid when I stayed in a hotel.
cosmicexplorer
the nsa wants to catch me masterbating...the russians want to catch me masterbating....its all about catching people masterbating
Don't flush the toilet, don’t drink the water and don’t expect a good night’s sleep.
Others were greeted with a diagram offering the proper use of the bathroom facilities.
No fishing was among the “don’ts.”
“My hotel has no water,” she tweeted. “If restored, the front desk says, ‘do not use on your face because it contains something very dangerous.’ ”
She later tweeted a somewhat terrifying picture of two glasses filled with a urine-colored liquid.
Another newcomer, a German photographer arrived to find his media hotel room unfinished. He was moved to a second room — where still-busy construction workers had taken up residence.
His third room was occupied — by a stray dog.
CNN sports producer Harry Reekie weighed in with a picture of his sad-looking accommodation: A broken curtain rod and dangling curtains.
CNN booked 11 rooms in the media hotels five months ago — but arrived to find only one available.
Lightbulbs were at such a premium that Yahoo! Sports columnist Dan Wetzel was offering three of them for a single working door handle.
Dave Schwartz, a weekend sports anchor at KARE-TV in Minnesota, tweeted pictures of random cats wandering through the main media center.
BBC Moscow acting bureau chief Kevin Bishop reported that the floor — yes, the floor — was missing from behind the counter at their hotel reception desk.