The Opening Ceremonies are presented tonight – with an opportunity to set the stage, emotionally as well as competitively, for the XXII Olympic Winter Games to come. Six years ago, at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, China used the Opening Games to present an extraordinary exhibition of pomp and circumstance from Beijing. The most recent Winter Games, from Vancouver in 2010, was, by comparison, more of a high school talent show affair – and London’s Summer Games of 2012 opened with an odd mixture of images evoking both James Bond and the Teletubbies. Tonight, Russia has the chance to counter all the initial negative publicity from Sochi – crummy hotel rooms, erratic plumbing, isolated venues – with an Opening Ceremonies spectacle, but only if it comes off as more impressive than oppressive. Meanwhile, at least one world leader won’t be watching from the bleachers this time: President Obama has opted to stay home.