A Russian soldier stands in front of the flags during the welcoming ceremony for the U.S Olympic team in the Athletes Village at the Olympic Park ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi February 6, 2014. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh
A Russian soldier stands in front of the flags during the welcoming ceremony for the U.S Olympic team in the Athletes Village at the Olympic Park ahead of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi February 6, 2014. REUTERS/Laszlo Balogh

The 2014 Sochi Olympics are underway, and so far, the quadrennial winter sporting spectacle has already seen the weirdest and the most terrifying news just three days into the competition.

A day after billions of sporting fans around world witnessed the most bizarre opening ceremony technical glitch in the history of the Winter Games, rumours circulated that the engineer behind the "no show" of the fifth ring in the Olympics' official symbol was found dead in his hotel room.

"According to local reports the body of Boris Avdeyev was found in his hotel room early this morning with multiple stab wounds," ran the report in The Daily Currant. "Avdeyev was a technical specialist responsible for the Olympic Ring spectacle, which embarrassingly malfunctioned last night ... Although his body was badly mangled and the wounds were consistent with a struggle, so far officials say they don't suspect foul play."

Many were shocked to learn about the news, while others believed it was not surprising given the strict nature of the Russian government, especially towards perfection. However, Yahoo Sports sports writer Jay Busbee quickly dismissed the report, stating that it was a product of another prank by satirical news site - the Daily Currant.

"All right, if that last sentence didn't tip you off, as well as the fact that no other media source other than your Facebook feed ran this story, tell your mom: this is a hoax, people. The Daily Currant is a satire Web site specialising in snaring suckers with the stories they desperately want to believe (Example: "Marijuana overdoses kill 37 in Colorado on first day of legalization.") This one's fairly absurd, but enough people are reacting with that trepidation familiar to pro wrestling ("This has to be fake ... right?") that it's your duty to stamp out the falsehood," Busbee stated in his article.

Terrorist Attack Foiled?

On Friday, Mirror News reported about the foiled terrorist plot in the Ukraine when a plane was forced to make an emergency landing in the country, following a hijacking attempt. According to the report, a 45-year-old Ukrainian attempted to hijack the plane and plan to divert its destination to Sochi - the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Here's tidbit of information from Mirror News.

"A flight from Ukraine was forced to make an emergency landing in Turkey this evening after a hijacking attempt, officials have confirmed.

The Boeing 737-800 carrying 110 passengers had departed from Kharkiv airport when a passenger reportedly yelled "Bomb!", according to CNN Turkey.

The man, a 45-year-old Ukrainian national, is then believed to have attempted to hijack the aircraft and divert it to Sochi, where the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics was underway at the time."

Despite the hoaxed death of the engineer and failed terrorist plot, the Winter Olympics is off and running as athletes from different parts of the world compete for sporting supremacy under freezing condition.