Konstantin Ernst, producer of Sochi 2014 ceremonies, blasted at media criticism of a technical failure at the otherwise flawless show on Friday night, saying perfection was impossible.

"I knew it! The very first question to me would be about the unfolded snowflake," said the Russian artist. "Nothing can be perfect. You should just forget about it and enjoy the rest of the show."

"It was unfortunate that a snowflake failed to unfurl to become one of the five rings," he said, referring to the glitch at the start of the opening ceremony.

"Let me remind you of a Zen idea that if you have a perfectly polished ball, keep one side uneven."

"We know international attention was all on the unfolded flake, but in my mind, it's still the most spectacular show ever," he said.

When asked about the athletes parade which was put ahead of the performance, he said: "We wanted to show respect to the Olympic tradition but we also want renovations, because everybody in front of TV was waiting for their national team to march in and they would easily get bored if there was a long show ahead."

Commenting on summer sports athletes bearing the torch in the most important part of the ceremony, Ernst said: "We chose world known athletes since people always like to see familiar faces on TV. So we chose tennis Grand Slam winner (Maria) Sharapova and athletics great (Elena) Isinbayeva. I don't think it's important if they are from summer sports or winter."