Four out of five Olympic rings are seen lit up during the opening ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics February 7, 2014.
Four out of five Olympic rings are seen lit up during the opening ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics February 7, 2014. Picture taken February 7, 2014. REUTERS/David Gray Reuters

Let it not be said that Russians don’t have a sense of humour. After being relentlessly mocked on the ring malfunction during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics opening ceremony, the Russians poked fun at themselves by recreating the same mistake during the closing ceremony.

During the opening ceremony of the XXII Olympic Winter Games on February 7, a lighting malfunction resulted in the fifth ring of the Olympic symbol failing to develop into a circle. Instead of five interlocking rights, only four rings and a snowflake were displayed.

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The gaffe was watched by the whole world, and was promptly met with ridicule.

Instead of brooding over their much publicised mistake, the organisers of the ceremony thought to repeat the same flub and make the world laugh again. This time, though, the world wasn’t laughing at them, but with them.

On Sunday’s closing ceremony, five groups of dancers formed the five rings, with the fifth group seemed to be having trouble getting into position at first, just like the lighting malfunction at the opening ceremony.

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Russia apparently did not see the display blunder because Rossiya 1, the host broadcaster in the country, showed the rehearsal footage that saw the five rings functioning properly.

So Russians who watched the closing ceremony of the Olympic games might be a trifle confused when the group of dancers who were forming the fifth ring took time to get to their position.

But while the Russians might not know what was going on, the rest of the world were delighted as they got the joke.

The Canadians were the first to do it, though. During the opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, only three of the four arms that would light the Olympic cauldron was lit due to a hydraulic system malfunction. The organisers made a joke about it themselves during the closing ceremony by having a mime climb out of a hole and plug two long cords together, indicating an electrical failure.