On the final day of the Sochi Winter Olympics, February 23, 2014, it was sunny and spring was in the air on the Black Sea. But the mild light had to stay outside when the closing ceremony began in the covered Fischt Stadium, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, and Thomas Bach, the President of the International Olympic Committee, shook hands in front of their seats.
The organizers had given the spectators medals that were supposed to flash in the darkness with light-emitting diodes in three signal tones: white, blue and red. The appropriate moment came when the final awards ceremony of the Games took place as part of the closing ceremony: men’s 50-kilometer cross-country skiing, bronze Chernusov Russia, silver Vylegschanin, Russia, gold Legkov, Russia. The athletes from all over the world, who were supposedly celebrating a peace festival in the dark stadium, found the flashing medals in their seats.