A photo of two toilets in one bathroom stall at the Olympic Biathlon Center in Sochi, Russia has prompted fresh criticisms about waste and corruption at the games.
The photo:
Seeing double in the Gentlemen's Loo at the Olympic Biathlon Centre #Sochi pic.twitter.com/a1HoilU9zn
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) January 20, 2014
With a ~$50 billion price tag, the Sochi games are nearly 20% more expensive than the 2008 Beijing Olympics — the most expensive Olympics ever. The organizers went $39 billion over budget with projects such as a 31-mile highway/train line that ended up costing $8.7 billion, and could have been paved with Beluga caviar for cheaper.
Check out this BusinessWeek story for a full rundown of wasted funds at the Sochi games.
Two toilets in one stall is hardly as wasteful as an $8.7 billion road. But with critics already out in full force, one ridiculous toilet photo was all it took to reignite the debate.
Putin nemesis Alexey Navalny wrote on Twitter, "This is the men's room in the media center for the Sochi Olympics 1.5 billion rubles."
Это мужской туалет в медиацентре сочинской Олимпиады за 1.5 млрд рублей. pic.twitter.com/GfKluVwl5b
— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) January 20, 2014
Garry Kasparov went off after he saw the picture.
But the toilets in Sochi will create a sense of community! This is what $50+ billion gets you! http://t.co/pYTDZAGPNf pic.twitter.com/Wy6VPEUxmX
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 20, 2014
Toilets aside, spending/stealing $50b of Russia's money to destroy a beautiful place in attempt to showcase a dictator's power is no joke.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 20, 2014
Of course security also a huge issue. Environment, climate, bigotry, corruption... Sochi was always a scandalous choice, now even clearer.
— Garry Kasparov (@Kasparov63) January 20, 2014
Someone did some photoshopping (Medvedev and Putin):
После вчерашней критики туалета в олимпийском центре биатлона там, наконец, навели порядок. pic.twitter.com/4ApM78thwk
— Рустем Адагамов (@adagamov) January 21, 2014
