The 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony Was Outstanding – What Did The Soviet Era 1980 Olympics Opening Ceremony Look Like?

Friday night's telecast of the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi, Russia was breathtaking.  The projections on the floor of the Fisht Olympic Stadium, the ballet dancers spinning for five minutes with those cool strings of lights, the massive horses that were suspended from the ceiling, the huge lighted figures that represented each sport in the Winter Olympics - I couldn't stop watching! This wasn't Russia's first Olympics. During the height of the Cold War in 1980, they hosted the Summer Olympics in Moscow, but the Opening Ceremony looked nothing like this year's.

The Opening Ceremony of this year's Winter Olympics was artistic and ethereal, there were actor's portraying the history of Russia, ballet dancers wowing us with classic Russian ballets and stories, and even a nod to modern music that made Russia look like a '50s movie. It's a pretty far cry from the first Russian Olympics put on by the Soviets back in 1980.

The biggest difference in Opening Ceremony's is the 1980's militaristic tone of the Ceremony's. The Russian's were trying to scare the crap out of the world, and considering they had some crazy people with their finger on the nuclear button, they succeeded!

The Winter Olympics runs 2 weeks. Hopefully, they'll be just as amazing as the Opening Ceremony!