Sochi 2014 Olympics: watch online and stay in the loop with these 5 apps for iOS, Android and Windows Phone

In the next couple of weeks, the world will become one with the Russian city of Sochi, the World’s 2014 Winter Olympic capital, and here are the 5 essential apps to watch all the action live on your smartphone or tablet, and stay in the loop.

The official opening ceremony is just about to kick off in the United States where coverage will be time-delayed due to time zone differences, and from what we have heard it is a magnificent event.

The 2014 Sochi Olympics are officially the XXII Olympic Winter Games going under the catchy “Hot. Cool. Yours” motto. A total of 88 nations from all over the globe will compete in 98 events, 7 sports and 15 disciplines.

A curious fact about these Olympics is that they are the most expensive in the history of the winter games. While initial expectations were for costs of $12 billion, expenditures have grown out of proportion to the whopping $51 billion. That’s more than seven times the cost of the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. The reason for this lies partly in the fact that Sochi is a city with a very warm, sub-tropical climate that has complicated things, and partly in the fact that almost all facilities had to be built from the ground up. Nonetheless, the result promises to be amazing to watch, so make sure to tune in not just on your TVs, but also on your mobile devices.

The opening ceremony starts today, on February 7th, and will be aired on NBC from 7.30 p.m. ET until 11.30 p.m. ET.