The Winter Olympics may only come and go every four years, but Sochi, Russia has given people multiple reasons to boycott this year’s games.

The games started Thursday, but the reasons people have decided to boycott deal with Russia’s politics.

Multiple videos have been released on the Internet that shows how Russia treats gay citizens.  Occupy Pedophilia is a Neo-Nazi group that contacts gay people to set up dates.  In reality, the group sets up a time to humiliate and torture the person for their own pleasure.

Gay citizens whom have been attacked have contacted the police, but no arrests have been made because they do not think gay people are important.

The deputy prime minister of Russia told gay athletes they do not need to worry, but said, “Please do not touch kids.  That’s the one thing.”

No matter what stance a person has on gay rights, Russia is giving itself a bad name. It is disturbing to watch videos of human beings being tortured just because of their sexual orientation. 

However, you should not boycott the games just because of politics.  It would be like boycotting one party’s primary you didn’t agree with, to a lesser extreme.  The Olympics are about supporting your nation in athletic competition.

Humans are not the only life form Russia is doing inhumane things to.  According to CNN, Russia is hunting and poisoning stray dogs in the area to prevent them from interfering with the games.

Shouldn’t there be no-kill shelters they could take them to, instead of harming more hopeless creatures?

Security has also become an issue. U.S. Olympic speed skater, Tucker Fredricks, asked his family not to travel to Sochi to watch him compete. Fredricks is competing in his third Olympics, but did not want to worry about his parents or wife’s safety while he is competing.

His father, Dan Fredricks, said the Olympics are about Tucker and did not want to go if it was going to distract him.

Not only are politics scary in Russia.  Some people may not want to watch because America’s roster lost two big names from the last winter Olympics.

Former speed skater Apolo Ohno is the most decorated American winter Olympic athlete of all time with eight medals.  Ohno had won two gold medals during his career, and three medals in the 2010 games.  Ohno retired last year.

Skier Lindsey Vonn won two medals in 2010, including one gold.  Vonn had a knee injury in December, which made it too hard for her to compete in this year’s games.

Of course, two-time gold medalist Shaun White is competing in his third Olympics, and he is always worth watching.

Unfortunately, housing the athletes has been another problem.  Athletes have tweeted pictures of brown water and small rooms.  Bobsledder Johnny Quinn had to break through his bathroom door after getting locked in.

Sochi also did a bad job with the opening ceremony.  The Russian Police choir’s song of choice was Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky”.  No national police force should ever sing that song to the world, no matter how catchy the song is.

Malfunctions have happened before in the Olympics and Sochi’s lighting did not go smoothly.  The Olympic logo had four of the five rings lit up, and a snowflake where the fifth ring should have been.  The snowflake was supposed to expand into a ring, but did not do so.

Even with poor politics and an embarrassing ceremony, Sochi’s weather is nowhere near fit for the winter games.  The forecast has temperatures in the 50s and 60s during the games.

Whether or not you intend on watching the Olympics, you have to admit these games are not the same, and Sochi is doing a lousy job as the host.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected], @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269