He was happy to join in the festive spirit for the Games by running along dressed in a colourful tracksuit at an Olympic parade in Sochi.

But the UN Secretary General was totally serious with some forthright comments condemning homophobia.

Ban Ki-moon did not mention directly Russia's controversial laws against so-called "gay propaganda".

But speaking before the International Olympic Committee, he said that hatred had "no place in the 21st century".

"We must all