GLOBALPOST LIVE BLOG: THE SOCHI OLYMPICS KICK OFF
UPDATE: 2/7/14 3:00 PM ET
Signing off
Hope you had fun following along with us. Stay tuned for Dan Peleschuk's cheatsheet on the opening ceremony when it's broadcast on NBC tonight.
Meanwhile, here's some reading material:
Sochi 2014: The gayest anti-gay Olympics ever
You can thank Putin for these 11 amazing new gay rights protest songs
These are the 6 openly gay athletes competing at the Sochi Olympics
The cost of the Sochi games: $19 million per Olympic athlete
6 things that might ruin the Sochi Olympics. Spoiler: Not one of them is ‘gay people.’
Meanwhile, just outside Sochi, a neighboring breakaway region is growing even more isolated
The US bobsled team is brought to you by Germany's BMW
The 35 most glorious fashion statements in the history of Olympic figure skating
UPDATE: 2/7/14 2:15 PM ET
Olympic torch is lit
UPDATE: 2/7/14 1:35 PM ET
And the games are officially open
Meanwhile…
UPDATE: 2/7/14 1:00 PM ET
Sochi's Olympic mascots freak everyone out
And we're back to the pageantry portion of the ceremony, with some Russian ballet, onion domes and a shoutout to Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace."
UPDATE: 2/7/14 12:45 PM ET
Sochi's Olympic mascots freak everyone out
UPDATE: 2/7/14 12:30 PM ET
Russia enters with t.A.T.u. music
If t.A.T.u. sounds vaguely familiar… remember this?
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:53 AM ET
East Timor's first Winter Olympian
As you watch the ceremony tonight, keep an eye out for East Timor's first Winter Olympian Yohan Goutt-Goncalves.
The 19-year-old is on a mission to introduce East Timor to the world — and, for those who only know its history of turmoil, to show that there is more to the country and its people.
He’ll fulfill his mission on Friday, by carrying the flag of Timor Leste, as the country is officially known, in the Sochi Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:45 AM ET
The athletes' parade begins
The countries began their stroll through the Olympic stadium:
And here's Team USA waiting in the wings:
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:39 AM ET
The first minor malfunction of the night
Eagle-eyed viewers caught this moment where one of the snowflakes failed top open:
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:32 AM ET
Putin's moment, the national anthem
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:25 AM ET
Everything is floating
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:17 AM ET
And we're off!
The opening ceremony started with:
UPDATE: 2/7/14 11:10 AM ET
Here's the view from Fisht stadium
The view from outside:
And athletes on their way (via the Twitter account of Sophie Caldwell, a member of the US ski team):
UPDATE: 2/7/14 10:30 AM ET
Sochi gets ready for the spotlight
If you're a cable or satellite subscriber, you can catch most of the Winter Olympics online. The one thing you won't be able to see is the opening ceremony that's kicking off the Olympics in Sochi on Friday.
"We want to put context to it, with the full pageantry it deserves," NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus told Variety.
We'll be following along with Senior Correspondent Dan Peleschuk as he gives us the highlights with cultural context.
You can find him here on Twitter.
And you can find the folks from NBC News on Twitter here.
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