Traders see profit in Sochi Olympics hitch

Five snowflakes are to expand into the five Olympic rings during the opening ceremonies in Sochi on Friday, but only four end up working. [Agencies]

A technical hitch at the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Sochi, Russia, turned into a money-making opportunity for some quick-thinking Chinese entrepreneurs.  [Special coverage]

Products printed with the image of the incomplete rings were on sale just hours after one of five giant snowflakes designed to unfurl to form the interlocking rings symbol failed to perform as planned as they drifted above the Fisht Olympic Stadium. All five also failed to erupt into white flames.

On online shopping platform Taobao.com, T-shirts and mobile phone cases featuring four Olympics rings and the malfunctioning snowflake were soon on sale.

T-shirts were priced at 35 yuan to 119 yuan (US$6-US$19) and phone cases were going for 23 yuan.

One store began selling "four-ring" T-shirts on Saturday evening, just eight hours after the glitch. By last night, it had sold 221.

Another store had fun with the image by replacing the unopening snowflake, with a computer icon indicating a picture that can't be opened.

The ring glitch also aroused amusement on social networking platforms.

"Five rings turn to four. Did Audi pay for the advertisement?" one microblogger wrote.

One man who may not be buying a T-shirt is Konstantin Ernst, producer of the opening ceremony.

He said that he wasn't too worried about the glitch.

"It would be ridiculous to focus on this ring that never opened, it would be simply silly," he said.

Russian television viewers didn't witness the problem as Ernst said he had asked the channel to broadcast pictures from successful rehearsals when he noticed there was something amiss.

And the malfunction didn't seem to mar people's enjoyment of the lavish ceremony.

A poll conducted by news portal www.ifeng.com showed that 73 percent of 81,742 respondents thought the ceremony was a huge success with nearly 60 percent saying the ceremony displayed "wisdom and elegance."

"It may be a little bit imperfect but the snowflake can precisely show it is the Winter Games," CCTV sports anchor Zhang Bin said.