Before the games began, there were media hype of the violence in the country, which fueled peoples fear of the visitors safety. There was the threat and fear, that the so called widow bombers will disrupt the games.
That is Moslem women from Chechnya, who are widows who lost their husbands in Putin's war with Chechnya. Some of them have been involved in suicide attacks in the past, and prompted fear among many that they may use the oppoturnity of the games, to stage an attck on the masses there.
Putin and his security men put them in check, as was shown on television before the games started. The games arena and accommodations were secured and the security people did a good job and there was no incident.
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The issue of anti gay laws that was passed before the games began, which many western countries protested about and tried to use it, to turn the game into international politics did not cause much commotion as was anticipated by many.
Putin who spent $50b dollars of Russian oil money to stage a spectacular sports event, promised the world that nobody will be persecuted during the games, because of their sexual orientation.
He kept his word, though the punk band - Pussy Riot that seem to be a thorn in the flesh of Putin, protested against Putin and his authoritarian style of governance.
They were on each occassion of their demostrations arrested and released. The band members were even seen on telly being whipped by a security agent, for demostrating in a games area that was not designated for protest.
Putin designated an area far away from the games arena for demostration, which nobody wanted to use, because the media was not covering there as everyone was at the games village.
Inspite of these minor issues, one can say that the sporting event was a big success, which was one of the reasons Putin wanted to show the world. That is, that Russia can successfully host a world sporting event.
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