Tensions were high in the weeks leading up to the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The games are held once every four years, so the show must go on. The Olympic Games started on Feb. 7 even with terrorist and security threats hanging overhead.

With threats raining over the Olympic Games, “There could be a fifty-fifty chance of something happening,” history teacher Jeff Aman said.

Chechnya and Dagestan are two regions in Russia that are fighting to break away from Russian rule.  These hostile regions are just 300 miles away from Sochi.  Many rebel groups in those areas were the ones posing the threats towards the Olympic Games.

In recent months leading up to the games, there had been an increased presence of terrorist threats and bombings:  many of these coming from the “black widows.” The black widows are the wives of the militants who were killed by the Russian officials.

“Russia is used to these threats,” Aman said.  With many new threats pouring in each day, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Igor Shuvalov said in an interview with Erin Mcclam that, “Russia can guarantee the safety of Olympic athletes and fans as well as any government can at any public event.”

According to USA Today there were more than 40,000 troops and police in Sochi, a city of 350,000.

“The hostility in Russia took away from the start of the games but once the events began the threats had been less publicized,” math teacher Karla Heussner said.

The area around the Olympic Village was locked down tight and referred to as the “ring-of-steel.” Security officials were confident that the correct measures had been taken to protect athletes and spectators.

Not only did the location of the 2014 Olympic Games cause controversy, but also the courses of certain events.

“Unfortunately I had a bad crash in training before qualifying and injured my knee. I was unable to compete today,” American moguls skier Heidi Kloser posted to her Facebook page.

Despite many modifications to enhance the safety of the Olympic Slopestyle course, Finnish snowboarder Maria Enne and American snowboarder Shaun White both dropped out of the slopestyle event after injuries suffering in training runs.

The course was, “a little intimidating,” White said in an interview after a trial run on the course.

As the Olympic Games continued on without hesitation, there were no security breaches or attacks on the Olympic Village.