The Sochi Light Rail Is the Most Epic Failure in Olympic History

Finding rock bottom after the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics hasn't been easy. The cost overruns alone would seem to spell disaster in no uncertain terms, but not everyone agrees. The International Olympic Committee refuses to think of the Sochi games as a failure at all. Just last week, one year after the launch of the games, the IOC released a fact sheet praising the event as an unmitigated success, even in terms of its legacy for Sochi and the surrounding region.

Meanwhile, facing an economic downturn framed by falling gas prices and crushing international sanctions, Russian oligarchs are running from their assets in Sochi. The Associated Press reports that two of the oligarch investors who paid in part for the most expensive Olympics in history have already shed $3 billion in Sochi properties, leaving it to Russian taxpayers to pick up the tab.