Sochi Olympics fans might have come late, but at least they came

SOCHI, Russia — The first full day of competition at the 2014 Sochi Games included reports of spectators missing the start of events as they waited at security checkpoints.

So how did Olympic officials respond?

“We had some problems with basically a Russian mentality,” said Aleksandra Kosterina, a spokeswoman for the organizing committee. “Russians like to come to the event not prior but as close as possible, and that is why we had an issue of a lot of spectators being late for the Games. We’re working on it.”

While organizers did not explain how they planned to fine-tune the Russian mentality, they did express satisfaction regarding early ticket sales.

“On the number of seats, 92% of tickets available were sold yesterday, so if we talk about the actual turnout it was probably 81%” Kosterina said. “We think 92% sold is a pretty good figure.”

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