ft.com: Vladimir Putin rarely speaks in the first person. But for the Olympic Winter Games, he has abandoned the dignified ‘we’ typically used by Russian leaders.

“I am particularly pleased to see what is happening here because I chose this place personally,” says Mr Putin, filmed on a ski run in Sochi. The sun flashes on the goggles strapped to his forehead when he points with his chin to the Gazprom biathlon and ski complex: “It must have been in 2001 or 2002, we were driving around and arrived at this brook, and I said: ‘Let’s start from here!’ That’s how it all began.”

Opening Ceremonies for the 2014 Winter Olympics will be held today. Olympic events will start tomorrow.

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