The Olympic Games: back once again and it looks to be a very “cool” set of games this year. This year the Olympics are going to be held in Sochi, Russia, a well known city with a population of 40,000. Sochi is the longest city in Europe at 92 miles, making slopes a spectacle to ski down.  The resort-like city,  will also host the 2018 Fifa World Cup and take the Olympic torch into space on a 123 day trip in celebration of the games.

This might all sound close to a  great, picture-perfect event, but no one would expect all of these countries to come together without a little controversy. Russia is notorious for their gay rights issues and many have come to protest the Olympics taking place in Russia.These anti-gay propaganda laws prevent the discussion of gay rights with children present. The Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will have protest zones where people can protest freely without danger of arrest. These zones have been seen in the Vancouver and Beijing games as well and are not surprising due to the recent uproar over anti-gay legislation by the Russian government.

Another problem: Russia allowed wanted criminal, Edward Snowden, to take asylum there in August. However, even with all of these issues snowballing into an icy situation there is no doubt that the world will be watching. Sochi has some great new prospects such as America’s own Mikaela Shiffrin who has two first place finishes at only the age of 17. Meryl Davis and Charlie White won silver for American figure skating in Vancouver and will be keeping their eyes glued to the gold medal. Of course you can expect something great from legends like Shaun White and Lindsey Vonn who look to repeat as gold medalists. Whether you are rooting for the red, white and blue or any other country, the Sochi Olympics will definitely be interesting.