The 22nd Winter Games opening ceremonies begin Friday in Sochi. The Post wishes all the athletes well — though we will of course be cheering for Team USA.
We also wish the Russian people a successful Olympics. We are not among those hoping for disaster as a way of embarrassing Vladimir Putin. The innocent athletes who have come from all over the world do not deserve this. But if many people are hoping for such a disaster, it is because Putin has brought this on himself.
From the start, he has made clear these are his Olympics, designed to showcase his greatness even more than that of the nation whose president he is. That’s not unusual for the Olympics. What distinguishes Putin is the way he goes about it all.
Whether he’s invading Georgia, arming a Syrian tyrant who used chemical weapons on women and children, barring Americans from adopting Russian children, threatening Ukraine for trying to work out a trade deal with Europe, providing sanctuary to NSA saboteur Edward Snowden or jailing some Russian with the temerity to question his decisions, this is a man who routinely indulges in provocation.
No doubt he believes these actions make him look strong, in the tradition of some 19th century czar. But great leaders don’t prop themselves up by making gays into a target of the state.
Nor do they make themselves look big by banning yogurt meant for athletes. And a great leader would not sit by as corruption siphoned off millions from the most expensive Olympics ever at a time when ordinary Russians are struggling to make ends meet.
If there were a competition for spreading ill-will and divisiveness, Putin would walk away with the gold.