Gunned down Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was leading critic of Sochi Olympics

“This is completely stupid,” he told HBO’s Bernard Goldberg in a 2013 episode of “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel.”

“This is a festival of corruption and mismanagement,” he continued. “We have 20 million poor people in this country. We have a problem in police. We have a problem in our hospitals. Putin spent $50 billion for what? For what?”

Nemtsov concluded at the time Putin was simply putting on a “show for himself. He’s too expensive for Russian people.”

Back in Moscow on Saturday, Putin instructed several arms of the federal government “to form an investigative group and keep the course of the investigation into the crime under personal control,” according to a Kremlin press release. He also expressed his “deep condolences” to Nemtsov’s family and friends.

Marissa Payne writes for The Early Lead, a fast-breaking sports blog, where she focuses on what she calls the “cultural anthropological” side of sports, aka “mostly the fun stuff.” She is also an avid WWE fan.