SOCHI, Russia -- At least for a few minutes this weekend, Canadian snowboarder Michael Lambert broke out of the bubble he says athletes are spending their days in at the Sochi Winter Games.

Lambert, who is at his second Olympics, was clearly disappointed at the lack of broader questions about at a media event Saturday.

"Really? No controversial questions?" said the Toronto native.

Even that didn't prompt any so Lambert explained himself later to the Olympic News Service, which distributes quotes to media outlets.

"I am all for the purest form of sport in which all other distractions are shed with no consideration given to anything but your own process," he said.

"At the same time, to act like there aren't a lot of other very controversial things at play here, it's ignorant. It's not real, it's not a reality. It's not my reality."

Lambert says athletes may be shielded from the real world but they shouldn't ignore it.

"It's relaxed here because someone very powerful has told everyone to stay relaxed. There is no danger of an attack because extremely powerful people have decided that they don't want an attack.

"These things are real and they still exist. We just don't see them because we are inside the bubble. Which is the goal -- and that's fair.

"We are here to compete and they want to keep us completely detached from all of that. But that stuff is still real. That controversy is still real."

The Sochi Olympics have been clouded in controversy for months over allegations of corruption and financial mismanagement, terrorist threats, concerns about heavy-handed security and outrage over Russia's anti-gay laws.

While the Games have been running smoother than some expected, Lambert says they are far from perfect.

"A perfect Games isn't someone who blows the budget through the roof for no reason, has people suffer, shuts people up. How is that a perfect Games? Spends ungodly amounts of money and then we are all going to watch it rot over the next 10 years."

Lambert said about the only countries that could pull off a perfect Olympics would be those in Scandinavia.

"They are going to be green, sustainable, be under budget and all of the buildings and services are going to be used afterwards," he said.