Sochi shorts: Spanish figure-skater joins Putin's 'sport is sport' bandwagon

Gay rights groups in Spain criticised the country's flagbearer, the men's figure-skater Javier Fernández, before yesterday's opening ceremony after the two-time European champion said gay people should "lie low" during the Games. In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Fernández said: "The Games are about sport and not politics. I have my opinions and I don't get involved in what others think, but I think whether we like it or not, we have to respect the laws of the countries we visit. It's not such a big dilemma. It's better that homosexuals lie low a bit during the Games and then afterwards they can get on with their lives."

The Tongan luger Bruno Banani will be well supported during the Games, receiving sponsorship from a German underwear company of the same name. The 26-year-old used to be known as Fuahea Semi, but changed his name to raise money for the expensive sport.

He took up the luge in 2008 after Princess Salote Mafile'o Pilolevu Tuita launched a determined effort to get an athlete from her tiny Polynesian nation into the Winter Games. Banani, then a computer science student and member of the military, beat dozens of other Tongans and decided to give luge a go. He moved to Germany in 2009, where he trained with the national team.

Banani failed to qualify for the Vancouver Games after crashing and sustaining concussion, but is hoping to fulfil the princess's dreams in Sochi.

The Games had their first security "incident" yesterday when Turkey was forced to send a fighter jet to accompany a passenger plane from Ukraine after an (apparently inebriated) passenger made a bomb threat and demanded to be flown to Sochi. He was calmed down by the pilot and cabin crew after an emergency landing in Istanbul.

President Vladimir Putin's hopes of using the Games to enhance Russia's image on the world stage are being tarnished by a sea of online satire poking fun at everything from the toilets to the toothpaste. The Twitter account @SochiProblems, detailing problems with hotels, stray dogs, and signs banning fishing in the toilets, is competing for attention with official feeds from the organisers. Photos from the Games facilities showing two toilets in one cubicle have been widely circulated, with one post showing a drawing of five coloured toilet seats in the shape of the five interlocking rings of the Olympic Games symbol. In a play on words, it says Srochi 2014 – which roughly translates as Crap 2014.

Three days after it was set up, @SochiProblems has 190,000 followers.

Putin tried to close down the debate on his country's treatment of gay people by stressing that the Winter Olympics should be about sport, not human rights. "Leave us alone. Sport is sport. The Olympics are the Olympics. Let's focus," he told journalists shortly before the opening ceremony. But he forgot to mention it to Moscow police, who drew attention back to the issue by arresting four gay rights activists in St Petersburg on the opening day.

Putin may have forgotten to let his censors in on his promise to athletes that they would be well looked after. The Canadian bobsled racer Justin Kripps tweeted yesterday that his website had been blocked. When viewed in Russia, including at the Sochi Games, the site displays a notice in Russian saying access has been restricted and that it could be for a range of reasons, including a court order or because the site is on a Russian blacklist.

The website was accessible to internet users outside Russia, with pictures and biographical information and updates on Kripps' training and competition results.

Colder than Sochi: Madrid