2014 Winter Olympics

The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, is an international winter multiple sports event that will be celebrated from February 7 to February 23 2014. The host city, Sochi, Russia, was elected on July 4 2007, during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This will be the first time that Russia hosts the Winter Olympics; the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow.

Venues

The Games will be organized within two clusters, a coastal cluster in Sochi and a mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana.

Sochi Olympic Park

This sketch shows the Olympic Park concept with all venues gathered around the Medals Plaza

The Sochi Olympic Park will be built along the Black Sea coast in the Imereti Lowland. All the venues listed below are new and need to be built. The venues will be clustered around a central water basin on which the Medals Plaza will be built. This will provide a great compactness of the concept with the Olympic Stadium and all indoor venues of the Olympics gathered within walking distance.

Krasnaya Polyana

• Russian National Sliding Centre — Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton
• Psekhako Ridge — Biathlon, Cross-country skiing and Nordic combined
• Rosa Khutor Alpine Resort — Alpine skiing and Snowboard
• Alpica Service Mountain Resort — Freestyle skiing
• Russian National Ski-jumping Centre — Ski jumping and Nordic combined
• Mountain Olympic Village

Additional sports

Several sports applied for inclusion into the official sport program of these olympic games. The sports included:

• Ski orienteering [2]
• Ski mountaineering [3], [4]
• Winter triathlon [5]

On November 28 2006, the Executive Board of the IOC decided not to include these sports in the review process of the program.[6]

New disciplines within the existing Olympics winter sports may be added until 2009, while events of existing Olympic disciplines may be added until 2011.

Bid process

Main article: 2014 Winter Olympics bids

2014 Winter Olympics bidding results
City	NOC Name	Round 1	Round 2
Sochi	Russia	34	51
PyeongChang	South Korea	36	47
Salzburg	Austria	25

File:Lg2014sc.gif   File:Pyeongchang2014.pngFile:Lg2014sz.gif

Organizing Committee

The Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee (SOOC) was established on October 2, 2007 by the Russian Olympic Committee, the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports, and the Administration of the City of Sochi.

Head

• Dmitry Chernyshenko (CEO)

Supervisory Board

• Alexander Zhukov (Chair)
• Dmitry Kozak
• Dmitry Chernyshenko
• Semen Vainshtok
• Viktor Kolodyazhny
• Alexei Kudrin
• Alexander Tkachyov
• Leonid Tyagachyov
• Viacheslav Fetisov
• Viktor Khotochkin
• Vitaly Smirnov
• Shamil Tarpischev
• Alexander Popov
• Vladimir Lukin
• Tatiana Dobrokhvalova

Functions

• Planning and managing of all the events of the 2014 Olympics and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi;
• Provision of IOC regulations and observation for the project planning and construction of sports venues and infrastructure facilities as well as the IOC regulations for transportation system, security issues, medical service and others;
• Execution of financial planning and monitoring of the Sochi 2014 budget implementation; provision of financial reports for the IOC on a regular basis;
• Provision of financing for all the activities in the framework of the Sochi 2014 preparation and execution including educational, cultural and promotional events;
• Protection of the IOC intellectual property rights.

Construction

Construction of the olympic infrastructure is expected under direction of the Federal Target Programme (FTP).

Telecommunications

According to the FTP, $580 million will be spent on construction and modernization of telecommunications in the region.

Expected to be built:

• network of TETRA mobile radio communications for 100 user groups (with capacity of 10 thousands subscribers);
• 700 km of fiber-optic cables along Anapa-Dzhubga-Sochi highways and Dzhubga-Krasnodar branch;
• digital broadcasting infrastructure, including radio and TV broadcasting station (building and communications tower) with coverage from Grushevaya Polyana (Pear Glade) to Sochi and Anapa cities. The project also includes construction of infocommunications centre for broadcasting abroad via three HDTV satellites.

During the Olympic Games, telecommunications backbones of UTK, Rostelecom and TransTeleCom providers will be used.

Fiber-optic channel is created in Sochi between Adler and Krasnaya Polyana. The 46 km long channel will enable videoconferencing and news reporting from the Olympics.

Power infrastructure

By July 2007 the total output of Sochi power stations was 350 MW. Planned before 2011 is construction and improvement of four power stations and four cascaded hydroelectric power stations with total output of 1129 MW. Operations cost is expected to approximate 83.6 billion rubles ($3.2 billion).

It is expected to

• double Sochi thermal power station output;
• reconstruct Krasnopolyanskaya hydroelectric power station;
• build Krasnodarskaya and Adlerskaya CHP power stations;
• build power complex of four cascaded hydroelectric power stations on Mzymta river;
• build combined cycle (steam and gas) power stations near Tuapse and Novorossiysk cities.

Power generation will take 33.7 billion rubles ($1.3 billion), while investments in power infrastructure, power grids (that will be totally rebuilt) will require 49.9 billion rubles ($1.9 billion). Construction of a cable-wire powerline, partially on the Black Sea bottom, is planned as well.

Transport

115 billion rubles are expected to be spent on a transportation infrastructure. Specialized railway (light metro) will be constructed between Adler and Krasnaya Polyana to connect the Olympic Park, the airport and the venues in Krasnaya Polyana.

Existing Tuapse-Adler railroad (102 km long) will be reconstructed, ensuring two tracks everywhere between, to allow stable regional traffic and improve the bandwidth. Moreover, the railroad is expected to stretch up to the airport. Russian Railways is going to establish high-speed Moscow-Adler transportation and it also plans to build a new railroad (more than 60 km long) passing by the territory of Ukraine.

At the Sochi airport, where a new terminal has been built, a runway extension is planned up to 3.5 km, possibly overlapping Mzymta river. Backup airports will be built in Gelendzhik, Mineralnye Vody and Krasnodar by 2009.

At the Sochi sea port, a new offshore terminal will be constructed to allow docking for cruise ships with capacities of 3000 passengers. The terminal is to be placed 1.5 km away from the shore. Cargo terminal of the sea port is to be moved off the Sochi centre.

Road ways will be detoured. Some will go around the construction site. Others will be cut off.

Other infrastructure

Besides that, funds will be spent on construction of 15 modern sport venues and some hotels for 10,300 guests. The first of the olympic hotels, «Zvezdny» (Stellar), will be rebuilt anew.

There are also plans to build «Federation» island in the sea near Lesser Akhun subdistrict of Khostinsky City District. The shape of the island will reflect that of the Russian Federation. The island is to be filled with hotels and offices.

Significant funds are to be spent on construction of sewage treatment facilities in Sochi.

Logo and mascot

Along with 2008 Russian presidential election, on March 2 2008 there was an unofficial referendum held in Sochi to elect the mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics. 270,000 voters along with their ballots received a coupon with four mascot candidates: Ded Moroz, a snowflake, a polar bear and a dolphin. According to a representative of Sochi city administration, the majority of Sochians voted for a dolphin. However, representatives of the Sochi Organizing Committee for the Games, which is to officially elect a logo and a mascot, commented, that while respecting the opinion of Sochians, such a procedure is usually held later, the mascot is to be elected not earlier than 2011 and the logo in the middle of 2009. They also pointed out, that the final version of the mascot should be a consensus of opinions of all citizens of the country and the result of work by professional designers and market analysts.

Security

The Russian military has offered to provide the S-400 Triumf advanced surface-to-air missile system as part of the large-scale security measures during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

However, some officials from Georgia and EU are concerned that the unresolved conflict between Georgia and it's breakaway region of Abkhazia might disrupt the Winter Games. Georgian and Abkhaz officials have warned of renewed risk of war.

The 2008 South Ossetia war, involving military forces of host-nation Russia and nearby Georgia, has made an indeterminate impact on the 2014 games.

Financing

The following funds have been approved within the Federal budget for the development of Sochi:

Funds approved from 2006 till 2014
Year	Billions of rubles
2006	4.9
2007	15.9
2008	31.6
2009	27.3
2010	22.2
2011	27.1
2012	26.3
2013	22.1
2014	8.4

Total funds to be approved and invested according to the Federal Target Programme is 327.2 billion rubles. 192.4 billion rubles must come from the Federal budget and 7.1 billion rubles — from Krasnodar Krai budget and from Sochi budget.

Financing from non-budget sources (including private investor funds) is distributed as follows:

• Tourist infrastructure — $2.6 billion;
• Olympic venues — $500 million;
• Transport infrastructure — $270 million;
• Power supply infrastructure — $100 million.

Criticism

Environment

IOC virtually ignored numerous expert statements that broad buildout with sport venues of buffer area of Caucasus Biosphere Reserve, placed under UNESCO protection, and Sochi national park, especially untouched Grushevyi (Pear) Ridge, is unacceptable. Greenpeace of Russia, right after IOC voting results were announced, said that since then IOC along with Russian Government are fully responsible for any damage to West Caucasus natural UNESCO World Heritage Site. According to Sochi bid, in Grushevyi Ridge area it is planned to build a cascade of hydroelectric power stations on Mzymta River, sewage treatment facilities, high-speed railroad, Mountain Olympic Village, track for luge and bobsleigh (now being considered for relocation), and biathlon venue. Alpine skiing venues are being constructed in Rosa Khutor plateau and Psekhako Ridge area. Environmentalists propose to build up Krasnaya Polyana instead of destroying nature protection sites. Plans for construction of olympic venues are called by environmentalists as just occasion for change of zone partitioning of Sochi national park and to allow sale of most valuable lands of the Reserve for buildout by private sector. Territory of the national park is being filled with non-olympic and non-resort objects: nine private elite sport venues, including golf club and spa centre.

Environmentalists oppose to construction of cargo terminal for ships in the mouth of Psou River in Imereti Lowland, because this leads to destroying the largest areas of sea-flooded shore and water-marsh ranges.

On July 3, 2008, Vladimir Putin put Sochi officials under criticism due to environment threatening projects and ordered some of the olympic objects, including the track for luge and bobsleigh, to be relocated. «In setting our priorities and choosing between money and the environment, we're choosing the environment,» he was quoted as saying.

Economy

According to IRN.Ru analytical agency, prices for new Sochi houses, located next to the shoreline, reach $15000 per square metre, while price per square metre in average panel apartment building on the outskirts of the city already reaches $2000. «As a result of 2014 Olympics euphoria prices will rise annually by 15-20%», — assumes Irina Tyurina, press secretary of Russian Tourist Industry Union. This leads to decrease in tourist interest to Sochi, which already has fallen below Anapa, Gelendzhik and Adler. Prices for Sochi coastal lands reach $150000 per 100 m².

After IOC Evaluation Commission visited Sochi in February 2007, local authorities promised to buy the lands from Lower Imereti Bay long-time residents for true market price. But during the followed half a year no local resident could get approved his land as private property.

Other

Circassian organisations in the North Caucasus and throughout the world have spoken out against the Olympics, pointing out that the games will take place on the land that had been inhabited by their ancestors until the 1860s, when the Russian-Circassian War, which they claim to have been a genocide, forced tens of thousands of Circassians to move to the Ottoman Empire. Circassian organisations point out that by an irony of history, the 2014 Olympic Games will mark the 150th anniversary of the Circassians’ defeat by Russia in 1864. The moderate groups have not expressed outright opposition to the Olympics but argue that symbols of Circassian history and culture should be included in the format, as Australia did with its indigenous population in 2000. The violence that broke out in nearby South Ossetia between Russia and Georgia on or about August 8, 2008 have put the Sochi games at risk, because it may spark similar violence in Abkhazia, whose border is approximately 30 miles from Sochi. The Sochi International Airport, planned to service the Olympic Games, is a mere 5 miles from Abkhazia.

External links

• Official website
• 2014 Winter Olympics host city announcement ceremony (video)
• Candidature acceptance procedure for the XXII Olympic Winter Games 2014
• Homepage of the Almaty bid
• Information on current bid process
• IOC press release about the bid process (October 26 2005)
• IOC official site
• Sochi 2014 news
• Article discussing Sochi and how it won the bid
• Olympic Genocide
• Article Discussing Circassian outrage

Candidature files

• Sochi 2014
• Salzburg 2014
• PyeongChang 2014

Mini bid books

• Salzburg 2014
• PyeongChang 2014

IOC evaluation report of the applicant cities

• Conclusions
• Full evaluation report

See also

• 2014 Winter Paralympics