The 22nd Sochi Winter Olympic Games have become the most expensive in history with a price tag of 51 billion US dollars, 7 billion more than China spent on its 2008 summer games. But where was that money spent and will the Olympics help the community after the games end?

Valentina Velikaya has been living in the small village of Akhshtyr her whole life and was excited the games would be built just nearby. Until the realities set in.

"We thought that finally, our men would get to work there. But they didn't hire any locals at all. If you are registered locally, you are out - doesn't matter if you are an engineer or whoever." said Valentina.

All the new construction has also killed their crops and promises from the Sochi Municipal council have not yet been met.

However, voices such as Valentina's have been muted by the extravagant economic costs Russia has put into these games.

President Vladimir Putin announced a budget of 12million usd when Sochi was awarded as Olympic host city back in 2007 - today, that number has increased four fold.

A new state of the art highway and railway was built to connect the coastal and mountain Olympic venues for a cost of 8.7 billion dollars, more than the total cost for the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Many other projects went well over budget with unconfirmed reports saying as much as 30 billion usd went to kickbacks and embezzlement, something the Russian Olympic committee denies.

Yet Sochi organizers expect about 213,000 spectators at the two weeks of games.

Russia's economy grew by only 1.3% in 2013, less than half the 3.4% expansion of 2012.

Russia is also banking on 'consumption' from tourism after the games. With more than 1300 hours of live Olympic television coverage to an expected audience of 1.5 billion people worldwide, Sochi has the potential of being recognized as a holiday destination.

Foreign visitor numbers for the Olympics themselves are already lower than expected as security concerns, expensive hotels and visa hassles are said to have turned many off.

Generating enough income to maintain the facilities after the games end could prove the biggest economic challenge for Russia. Leaving some in Sochi still wondering if this multi billion-dollar show is even worth it.

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