In light of the 2014 Winter Olympics starting on on February 7 in Sochi, Russia, here are 7 interesting facts you may like to know while watching this year’s international contest:

1. On November 7, 2013 the Baikonur cosmodrome, which is where Earth’s first artificial satellite was launched, took off with the Olympic Torch to outer space. The Torch spent over a hour on its journey in outer, it was unlit due to safety regulations.
2. The 2014 Winter Olympics will have 15 sports, which are: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing,  ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speed skating, skeleton, skiing, snowboarding, and speed skating.
3. There will be a total of 98 different events which is a new record.  12 new events have been added to the 2014 Winter Olympics. Free skiing half pipe, free skiing slope style, snowboard slope style, snowboard parallel special slalom, biathlon mixed relay, women’s ski jumping, figure skating team event, and luge team relay.
4. 2014 Winter Olympics are held in Sochi, Russia. Sochi is the longest city in Europe and has a population of approximately 400,000.
5. This will be one of the most expensive Winter Olympics with the total cost coming to $50 billion.
6. There have been and will be many protests due to the anti- gay propaganda law in Russia.
7. This will be one of the most compact games. They will have 2 clusters, a coastal cluster and then a mountain cluster.