Putin Bolder Than Brezhnev Betting All on ‘Cool’ Olympics

After Moscow was picked to host the 1980 Summer Olympics, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev considered backing out as he fretted over the costs and political risks. Not so Vladimir Putin, who’s dreamed of bringing the games back to Russia for two decades and has staked his legacy on success.

After personally overseeing an unprecedented $50 billion transformation of Sochi for next week’s Winter Olympics, Putin is betting more than treasure that he can showcase Russia’s achievements under his 14-year rule and prevent threatened acts of terror. To win, his prediction of a glitch-free games will have to be as prescient as Brezhnev’s foreboding over the 1980 event, which was marred by a U.S.-led boycott over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.