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Sochi 2014 related news


oakydoky

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Oh yeah!

I love it's the most expensive in history! (Scary for last and next hosts) Just
goes to show what the world and IOC really want. Everyone is excited for Sochi!


Rio you better bring it, get that economy going again and let’s see some lavish
spending. Impress us with your dirty oil money and don't go pretending it's all
green, you got one chance lets just have a blast.


After all we're on a time bomb. (the only Kylie song I like)

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Tickets for Sochi Olympics to go on sale a year before the Games

07 February 2013

On February 7, with a year to go until the start of the XXII Winter Games in Sochi, tickets to the Olympic Games are going on sale. Persons residing in the territory of Russian Federation will be able to purchase tickets exclusively on the official website of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi - www.sochi2014.com. Within Russia the only retailer of tickets to the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi will be the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee. In other countries people will only be able to obtain tickets fr om the Authorized Ticket Resellers (ATRs), appointed by their country's National Olympic Committees (NOCs). To gain access to the sporting events, all spectators will need to have with them their spectator pass, which, along with their ticket, will be a mandatory requirement to gain access to the venues.

The Sochi 2014 ticketing program will see tickets for the sporting events sold online on a first come first served basis. The ticketing program for the Sochi 2014 Games is unique as it is one of the largest in Olympic Winter Games history, thanks to the record number of sports disciplines and new events contained in the Olympic program for the Games.

How to purchase tickets

Up until May, 31, 2013, all tickets will only be sold by price category, without assigned seats. The least expensive tickets will cost 500 rubles (~$ 17), and the most expensive - 50,000 (~$ 1651) rubles, and delivery throughout Russia will be available.

Fr om June, 1, 2013, all tickets which have been sold by price category, without being tied to exact seats, will be automatically assigned a specific seat at the sports venues.

As of autumn 2013, tickets with assigned seats can be purchased at the Main Ticket Centers in Moscow and Sochi. At these centers it will also be possible to collect tickets purchased via the website.

Only those who purchase a ticket before May 31 and sel ect delivery can look forward to receiving a unique souvenir ticket of the Games in Sochi.

At Games Time (February 7 - February 23, 2014), remaining tickets will be available fr om the Sochi 2014 website www.sochi2014.com, the Main Ticket Centers and Ticket Box Offices directly at the sports venues that will open when the Games start.

A complete list of the Authorized Ticket Resellers appointed by each country's NOC, through which foreign nationals will be able to acquire tickets, will be published on the official site of the 2014 Games, www.sochi2014.com. Outside Russia each NOC/ ATR sets its own specific ticket sales procedure and timelines, which are approved by Sochi 2014, and in accordance with applicable local regulations.

In addition, starting in the autumn of 2013, overseas spectators from certain territories (if agreed by the NOC of that territory) will be able to purchase tickets on the official website of the 2014 Games, www.sochi2014.com. In order that as many spectators as possible are able to go to the Olympic competitions in 2014 and enjoy the atmosphere of the Games, the Organizing Committee has set lim its on the number of tickets to each event that can be purchased per person. For a number of the most popular events, such as ice hockey, figure skating and the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games, the lim it is 4 tickets per person, whilst for the rest of the events it is 8 tickets. The total number of tickets in a single order must not exceed 50.

Ticket prices

Ticket prices for all the Olympic events, approved by the International Olympic Committee, on average correspond to ticket prices for the most popular Russian and international events, and are comparable to the ticket prices at previous Games. The ticket price is final and includes all taxes and Olympic transport in Sochi.

Ticket prices are the same for all spectators. There will be no discounts on tickets and no free tickets.

The lowest-priced ticket to sporting events in the Mountain Cluster will cost 500 rubles (~$ 17), and to sporting events in the Coastal Cluster – 1000 rubles (~$ 33). More than 40% of all tickets will cost under 3,000 rubles (~$ 99), more than half will cost less than 5,000 rubles (~$ 165), and 85% of all tickets will cost less than 9,000 rubles (~$ 297). It will be possible to buy a ticket to any sport for 1,500 rubles (~$ 50) or less. Ticket prices for the Ceremonies will start at 4,500 rubles (~$ 149). The most expensive ticket at the Games will be a category "A" ticket for the Opening Ceremony, costing 50,000 rubles (~$ 1651).

Payment methods and delivery options

In recognition of Visa's support for the Olympic Games for over 26 years, Visa cards will be the only cards accepted when paying for tickets to the Games. Visa accounts can be opened in practically any bank in the country. Moreover, there are plenty of innovative ways in which to get your Visa card these days - whether on the day you visit the bank, or over the Internet, from the comfort of your own home.

Sochi 2014 is keen to ensure as many Russian residents as possible have access to enjoy the Sochi 2014 Games. For this reason, the Organizing Committee has decided that only Visa cards issued in Russia will be accepted to purchase tickets on this site until May 31. Starting from autumn 2013, the Sochi 2014 site may accept other international Visa payment cards.

Tickets may also be paid for in cash if purchased in the autumn of 2013 at the Main ticket centers in Moscow and Sochi.

For the 2014 Games there are two ways to get your hands on your tickets: either by courier delivery, or by picking them up yourself in Moscow or Sochi. Delivery will take place throughout Russia from the autumn of 2013, and will cost 450 rubles (~$ 15).

To avoid having to stand in line, the Organizing Committee recommends that you choose delivery. Moreover, only by selecting courier delivery and completing your order on the official website by May 31 will spectators receive a special souvenir ticket featuring a unique design.

Spectators who do not choose the option "Delivery by courier" will be able to pick up their tickets in the autumn of 2013 in the Main ticket centers situated in Moscow and Sochi.

Spectator Pass

According to the Terms and conditions of the Sochi 2014 ticketing program, to gain entry to sporting events, Games ceremonies and the Olympic Park, a ticket holder will also need to be in possession of a spectator pass. The spectator pass will help to ensure the secure, hospitable and friendly atmosphere of the Games in Sochi. The state is responsible for ensuring the safe hosting of the Games, and it is its top priority. The spectator pass will allow all spectators at the Games to enjoy their visit to the sporting and cultural events in maximum comfort, whilst the pass itself will prove to be a wonderful souvenir.

After buying a ticket, every spectator is required to obtain a spectator pass. Once the Games have started, this will help minimize long queues at the entrance to the sports venues and save time.

The detailed information on the procedure to obtain a Spectator Pass will be available onwww.sochi2014.com.

Anti-scalping measures

Fans should only buy tickets from Sochi 2014 authorized sources in order to avoid disappointment and potentially being refused entry to the venue. It is illegal to resell Olympic tickets.

On January 2 2013, the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin signed the Federal Law "On Amendments to Article 9 of the Federal Law On the Organization and Staging of the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games of 2014 in Sochi, the Development of Sochi as an Alpine Climatic Resort and Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation" and the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation". The legislation, which came into force on January 15, 2013, means that ticket scalping is punishable by an administrative fine for citizens amounting to between five and ten times the cost of admission; for officials - between ten and twenty times the cost of admission; and for legal entities, from five hundred thousand to one million rubles, or administrative suspension of activity for up to ninety days.

Notes to the editor

Visa has been a Worldwide Olympic Partner of the Olympic Games for over 26 years. Up to 2020, Visa is going to maintain its status as a Worldwide Olympic Partner in the category "payment services", and as the only payment card with which to pay for products and services in the territory wh ere the Olympic Games are going to be staged, including at the Olympic Games of 2014 in Sochi. Visa adheres to the highest possible standards of security when developing its payment processes for Visa cards, ensuring speed, security and convenience when purchasing tickets to the Games in Sochi. You can find out more about the company's Olympic history and about how to open a Visa account at the following website: www.visa.com.

A General Partner for the Olympic Games in Sochi, Sberbank, is acting as the acquiring bank for the Sochi 2014 ticketing program, providing support for operations involving Visa cards. As part of the project's implementation, Sberbank successfully integrated a new Visa processing platform, which will help to provide a high level of security for payments made on the site www.sochi2014.com.

The Organizing Committee's Official Supplier in the "Hospitality" category is Jet Set Sports - the world's leading provider of hospitality packages at the Olympic Games. Hospitality packages fr om Jet Set Sports will include tickets and hotel accommodation, catering, services related to meeting guests and transfers. The company was founded in 1984. It is an Authorized Ticket Reseller of National Olympic Committees - in Australia, the USA, Bulgaria, Canada, Great Britain, Norway and Sweden. The quality of the services provided by Jet Set Sports has stood the test of time: the company has already supplied its services at no fewer than 15 Olympic Games.

The supplier of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee in the "Ticketing Services" category – CTS Eventim AG - is Europe's leading service provider for ticket sales, represented in Russia by the ticketing agent PARTER.RU. The company will provide a platform for ticket sales, including technological and operational solutions based on innovative ticketing programs, which will help the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee to provide a transparent ticket distribution system at the Games. The company was founded in 1989 in Germany. Each year, Eventim sells more than 100 million tickets to events around the world.

http://www.sochi2014.com/en/media/news/65316/

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Athletes of the world officially invited to Sochi 2014 with one year to go

At a ceremony today marking one year to go until the start of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge officially invited the world’s National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and their athletes to take part in the Games.

During the event, President Rogge personally delivered invitations to representatives of the NOCs from the host countries of the previous, next and future editions of the Olympic Winter Games (Canada, Russia and South Korea, respectively), in addition to the NOC of the host country of the next Summer Olympic Games (Brazil). All other invitations will be sent by post from the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.

The ceremony took place at the Bolshoi Ice Palace in Sochi and was attended by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, IOC Coordination Commission Chairman Jean-Claude Killy, IOC members in Russia Vitaly Smirnov, Shamil Tarpishev and Alexander Popov, and the President of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Accepting the invitations from President Rogge were Canadian Olympic Committee President Marcel Aubut, Brazilian Olympic Committee President Carlos Nuzman, the Chairman of the Korean Olympic Committee’s International Commission, Ji Young Kim, and Russian Olympic Committee President Alexander Zhukov.

“A year before the start of an Olympic Games is traditionally the time we invite the athletes of the world to take part in the Games, which are a celebration of sport, peace and humanity,” said President Rogge. “These will be the first Olympic Winter Games to be held in Russia, and the Russians are eager to welcome the world to the shores of the Black Sea and the mountains of the Caucasus. A spectacular setting with equally impressive venues await those who qualify – the perfect platform on which to compete. I wish all the athletes hoping to compete here next February all the best in their preparations.”

Sochi 2014 Organising Committee President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said, “Today is a milestone day for us. In just one year’s time we will invite the whole world to Sochi and we are eager to help every guest enjoy the best winter Games in history. I believe we are pretty much where we should be at this point in time. All sports venues in the Mountain and Coastal Clusters are almost ready, and the volunteer selection process for the Sochi Games is approaching the finish line. But now is the time for us to really concentrate and to do our best during this final stage before the Games. We need to make sure that every single aspect of our preparations is aligned as we get ready for this historic event. That is why the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee has already moved into full ‘Olympic mode’ by starting large-scale operational testing of the sports venues. We recognise that it will be vital to ensure that we have perfected all the services that we will deliver for the Games.”

The ceremony, which was covered by media from around the world, featured an ice dancing performance directed by Salt Lake 2002 silver medallist Ilya Averbukh and featured a number of Russia’s most well known figure skating stars such as Irina Slutskaya, Tatiana Navka, Roman Kostomarov, Alexej Yagudin, Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin. The show brought together over 300 participants and told the story of the preparations for the Sochi 2014 Games from the moment the city was elected in 2007 to today. The celebration concluded with a spectacular firework display.

IOC

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Surprised no-one's posted this:

Vladimir Putin sacks senior Sochi Winter Olympic Games official

President Vladimir Putin of Russia has sacked a senior Olympic official as concerns mount over construction delays and the soaring cost of the winter games in Sochi - the most expensive in history.


Akhmed Bilalov, the vice president of Russia's Olympic Committee, was removed from his post as Mr Putin carried out a tour
of inspection in the city on Russia's Black Sea coast on Thursday, a year before the start of the games.



The overall £32bn cost of the 2014 Sochi Olympics will make them the most expensive Games in history – more than the £27bn spent on the Beijing 2008 games and over three times the cost of the £9bn summer
Olympics in London
last year.



Stadiums, ice skating rinks, ski runs, a bobsleigh track and other infrastructure are being built from scratch in a high resort in the Caucasus Mountains and a seaside cluster close to Sochi, formerly a cherished resort of the Soviet elite, which has a beach promenade and streets lined with palm trees.



The original projected budget for the Games was a fifth of the current figure, and Russian opposition figures suggest that huge tranches of money have been siphoned off by corrupt officials and contractors.



There have also been signs that locating the Winter Games in a warm, subtropical region could be problematic. A snowboarding test event was cancelled on Monday because of lack of snow.



Meanwhile, environmental activists say toxic construction waste has been
dumped in rivers, and some locals complain of being denied compensation for
demolished houses, or for homes damaged by landslides caused by dumping of
building waste.



On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch released a report saying that migrant workers building the Olympic venues were being systematically denied wages. Many "toiled in exploitative, abusive conditions to build these shimmering façades and luxurious interiors," the organisation said.



Mr Bilalov's ousting had become inevitable after Mr Putin was shown on state television chiding officials on Wednesday over the ballooning cost of a ski jump venue, whose budget had grown from $40m (£25m) to $265.



Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak told an inquisitive Mr Putin – who spoke in a menacing whisper – that the much-delayed
construction project had earlier been run by a company belonging to Mr Bilalov, 42.



"So it turns out that the vice president of the Olympic Committee is dragging out the construction. Well done! You are doing a good job," Mr Putin replied sarcastically.


Later he told reporters: "The main thing is that no one steals anything, so there are no unexplained increases in costs." But while the televised scenes of Mr Putin scolding officials were clearly designed to deflect criticism from the Kremlin, public discontent could rise over the phenomenal cost of the Games.



Boris Nemtsov, an opposition activist and former deputy prime minister, said this week he is preparing an investigative report into the overspend.



The Games were a "large scale swindle" that would cost an "astronomical sum" and eventually result in prosecutions for corruption, he said.



"With the same amount of money we could have built one ice rink, one football stadium and a swimming pool in every one of Russia's 1,100 towns, and on top of that we could have bought everyone under 30 a pair of skates as well," Mr Nemtsov added.



The politician said a road built to the Olympics mountain cluster had cost $200m (£127m) per kilometre – "about the same as if it had been made of a 5mm layer of gold or black caviar". In Sochi, Mr Putin urged officials to speed up construction in order to finish in time for the start of the Olympics on February 7, 2014.



"For complete success, more intensive work is needed, a doubling of efforts," he told them on Thursday. "It's the final stage and
there's no panic. Even where there are small delays, it's all surmountable. But we need to gather our strength and work."

The Telegraph

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Wowzers. Are many members are thinking of attending? it should be one hell of a games.

I do wonder how South Korea will react for the following games. Kinda feels like the Beijing/London thing. Do they compete or take a different approach.

I think they will take different approach. It will most certainly have a Nagano feeling to them.

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I think they will take different approach. It will most certainly have a Nagano feeling to them.

...why because they are Asian? Just slightly racist there. The Koreans are gonna do fantastic, it's their BIG first winter moment, they will not waste it with small old ideas.

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Dow prepares for Sochi 2014 Olympics


dow.png


Corporate spotlight

Compiled by Tony Lascari tlascari@mdn.net

Posted: Sunday, February 10, 2013 10:30 am | Updated: 9:02 am, Sun Feb 10, 2013.


Russia on Thursday celebrated the one-year-to-go mark for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and The Dow Chemical Co. highlighted its contributions to Olympic facilities.


Dow said its solutions can be found throughout the Sochi Olympic Park, including the Bolshoy Ice Dome. Dow worked closely with the project’s contractors to provide a number of unique solutions, including insulation and heat transfer fluids that enable an energy-efficient and reliable, long-lasting ice rink.


“We are extremely proud of our science and technology-based contributions that enable more sustainable, safer and higher-performing venues at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games,” said Arthur Eritspokhov, executive director for Dow Olympic Operations in Russia.


As the Official Chemistry Company and the Official Insulation Partner of the Olympic Games, Dow said it applied its technical expertise and product portfolio to help build a world-class ice surface for top-performing athletes.


STYROFOAM brand XPS insulation served as an insulation layer for the flooring underneath the ice surface, and DOWCAL 10 and DOWCAL 20G heat transfer fluids were used to create and maintain the arena’s high-performance ice surfaces.


Dow Corning, IBM develop new materials for board-level photonics

Dow Corning and IBM scientists recently unveiled a major step in photonics, using a new type of polymer material to transmit light instead of electrical signals within supercomputers and data centers.


The companies said this new silicone-based material offers better physical properties, including robustness and flexibility, than other alternatives.


Scientists have been researching a range of technological advancements to reduce the energy required to move data from a processor to a printed circuit board within a computer.


“Dow Corning’s breakthrough polymer waveguide silicone has positioned us at the forefront of a new era in robust, data-rich computing, especially as we continue to collaborate with outstanding industry leaders like IBM,” Eric Peeters, vice president, Dow Corning Electronic Solutions, said in a news release.


“Optical waveguides made from Dow Corning’s silicone polymer technology offer customers revolutionary new options for transmitting data substantially faster, and with lower heat and energy consumption.


We are confident that silicone-based board-level interconnects will quickly supersede conventional electronic signal distribution to deliver the amazing speeds needed for tomorrow’s supercomputers.”


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  • 2 weeks later...
Winter Olympics workers face abuse, swastikas at Sochi


AFP


February 23, 2013 3:47PM


A HUMAN rights report into working conditions at the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia has found widespread exploitation.


Tashkent Ibragimov initially jumped at the chance to work on Sochi's Olympic construction, hoping the earnings would help his family in Uzbekistan. Instead, the job left him broke and humiliated.


Having already worked in Russia's far eastern Vladivostok constructing hotels for last year's high-profile Asia-Pacific Economic Summit, Ibragimov "thought it would be good in Sochi as well".


But the 31-year-old said he was cheated out of his salary by a subcontractor building a hotel for some of the 300,000 sports fans expected to descend on the Black Sea resort city for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.


"We didn't send money home for six months," the father-of-three told AFP in broken Russian, explaining how his boss would only give out sporadic cash allowances to him and his group of 15 workers instead of paying a monthly salary as agreed.



On top of feeling powerless and frustrated at having to continuously fight for his paycheck, Ibragimov, as foreman of his group, was under added pressure from his co-workers.


Relatives of co-workers from the same impoverished area as Ibragimov blamed him when their cash transfers didn't arrive and went so far as to harass his family about it back home in the western Uzbekistan town of Beruni, he said.


"My grandfather couldn't take the stress, he died of a heart attack because of this," Ibragimov said bitterly.


His story is just one example of what rights group say is a system of unjust treatment of migrants by the firms working on Sochi's sites.


Earlier this month, international rights group Human Rights Watch published a report highlighting the "exploitation" at Sochi, contrasting the abusive treatment of migrant labourers with the "big hopes and dreams" for Russia's athletes at the Games.


Titled "Race to the Bottom" and based on dozens of interviews with workers, it calls on Russian authorities and the International Olympic Committee to address rights violations such as wage arrears, the confiscation of identification documents and inadequate rest periods between long shifts.


Russian authorities have rejected the accusations, while the main agency overseeing construction, Olympstroi, said it had conducted more than 1,300 checks for violations and received only five complaints from workers via the hotline numbers made available on various posters in the city.


But the workers are mostly from Central Asia, with a limited knowledge of Russian, and are often wary of complaining out of fear of deportation, said Semyon Simonov, who runs a consultation centre for migrants in Sochi for watchdog Memorial.


The authorities are concealing "massive human rights violations on the Olympic venue sites," he said.


"Clearly everything leads to the very top... they know everything in Olympstroi and in (Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry) Kozak's department, but they choose to ignore the problems due to the worker shortage."


With preparations running behind schedule, more than 22,000 additional workers will be needed to finish the construction work on time, a government report said this month, according to Kommersant business daily.


Finding out who is responsible for unpaid wages is not straightforward and requires wading through a complex web of subcontractors, said Memorial lawyer Alexander Popkov, who works with Simonov.


The chain of subcontractors also means that the enormous sum invested in Olympic development -- over $50 billion -- mostly goes to middle-men.


"This huge stack of money melts away to pennies on its way to the worker," Popkov said.


Large contractors often deny violations which are committed by the smaller firms carrying out the actual construction, he told AFP.


Most labourers don't even have copies of their contract, according to Simonov, who puts the number of migrant workers in Sochi at over 40,000, much higher than the official figure of 15,700.


"Many people leave (Sochi) with no money," he said. Unemployed and broke, some migrants end up in dire circumstances that push them towards crime, which in turn fuels nationalist sentiment among locals.


Over the past two years, swastikas and SS signs have become widespread in a city that has always been a melting pot of many Caucasus ethnic groups, Simonov said.


In January, investigators charged two Sochi teenagers with inciting hatred for attacking migrant workers from Central Asia and spreading "nationalist rumours".


Scarred by his experience, Ibragimov said he has stopped working on Olympic venues -- but he isn't ready yet to leave Sochi, where he has just found employment with a non-Olympic contractor.


"There is a lot of work here," he said. "I was just tired of the humiliation."


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Russian Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Commemorative Coins at RCM

Four new commemorative coins issued by the Bank of Russia celebrate

the upcoming Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic & Paralympic Games. Each

represents a different sport of the games to include Biathlon, Alpine

Skiing, Figure Skating, and Hockey.

Russian-Sochi-2014-Winter-Olympics-Comme

RCM

images of the Russian Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Commemorative Coins.

These designs depict hockey, alpine skiing, biathlon and figure skating

The Royal Canadian Mint is able to offer a small selection of the

commemorative coins as an official Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic &

Paralympic Games product partner. The RCM is able to sell 3,000 per

design. Each Russian coin has a 35,000 worldwide mintage.

Next year’s 2014 Winter Olympics will be held from February 7 to

February 23 in Sochi, Russia. The 2014 Paralympic Winter Games follow on

March 7 to March 16, 2014.

All four commemorative coins feature reverse designs by artist. A.A.

Brynza. Each depicts an athlete competing in their sport along with the

year 2014 inscribed and the Olympic logo. To the bottom is a colored

image of a piece of vegetation from the Sochi region. The Alpine Skiing

silver coin depicts a magnolia, popular for decorating the region’s

cities. The Biathlon silver coin offers a sprig from the Pitsunda pine

while the Figure Skating silver coin showcases a Voronov’s Snowdrop,

named for Russian botanist Y.N Voronov. Finally, the Hockey silver coin

has a colored leaf group from a Cork Oak, an evergreen tree of the

region.

Russian-Sochi-2014-Winter-Olympics-Comme

RCM image of the obverse of Russian Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics Commemorative Coins

A relief image of the State Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation

appears on each obverse, as designed by E.V. Kramskaia. Inscriptions

include "THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION," the coin’s denomination of "THREE

ROUBLES" and the year of issue "2014." The trademark of the Saint

Petersburg Mint and the fine precious metal content are also shown.

Each coin is from sterling silver (92.5% silver, 7.5% copper) and features a legal tender face value of 3 Roubles.

...

http://www.coinnews.net/2013/02/26/russian-sochi-2014-winter-olympics-commemorative-coins-at-rcm/

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March 7: Sochi 2014 to mark one Year Countdown for Paralympic Games

SOCHI, March 5, 2013 -On the 7th March Russia will celebrate one year to go until the first ever Winter Paralympic Games in Russia’s history.

The Paralympic Games will take place in Sochi from the 7-16 March in 2014.

The Games will bring together 1,350 Paralympic athletes and team members from across 45 countries. They will be competing for 72 sets of medals in five Paralympic sports.

Celebrations will be supported by the set of Paralympic test events, that will begin at the "Rosa Khutor" Alpine Center. The IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup Finals – which include the new event para-snowboarding - will begin on the 6th of March.

In Moscow, celebrations will be held in Red square, where the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Torch Relay route and the official pictograms of the Paralympic Games will be unveiled by Sochi 2014 President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko.

http://en.olympic.cn/news/olympic_news/2013-03-05/2213141.html

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Not sure where to post .. maybe someone wants to know more about athletes experience in Sochi

Sochi 2014: Marie Dorin Habert Feels that Sochi Is a Ghost Town
Published on Mar 06, 2013 by Mihaela Lica Butler
Sochi has a long way to go to become the Olympic destination it aims to be in 2014, and since little comes out of Russia about the progress, the world is watching the small resort at the Black Sea through the eyes of the athletes. But it’s a pity, and a potential PR nightmare in the making, when athletes talk in bitter terms about a city, which once was the top Summer seaside resort in Russia.
Marie Dorin Habert, the biathlete who represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics, and will also represent her country in Sochi next year, feels that the city is weird, a ghost town, no less. In a message to her fans posted on her official website, Marie wrote:
“Nous sommes à Sotchi, c’est bizarre. Une ville fantôme construite à la place de rien, des bâtiments luxueux poussant comme des champignons au milieu de la gadoue brassée par les machines, la terre creusée partout, des employés fatigués (exploités ?). Tout est grand, tout est vide, tout ça me met mal à l’aise.”
“We are in Sochi, it’s weird.A ghost town built in the place of nothing, luxurious buildings growing like mushrooms in the middle of the slush brewed by machines, the land excavated everywhere, tired employees (exploited?). Everything is great, everything is empty, everything makes me uncomfortable.”
If the description of the current landscape was not enough to give you a bitter taste, the athlete’s experience upon arrival at the airport was no better either. A long journey ended in a lot of discomfort at the airport, where she had to show her passport way too many times, then had her rifle photographed and registered.
She ended her impressions in a bitter note:
“I do not know how it will change for next year, I just find that the waste of money does not really agree with my idea of the Olympic spirit.”
The negativity expressed by the French biathlete follows another negative report, after a private three-storey residence collapsed in Sochi last Sunday, on the new Kurortny Avenue.
Lithuanian biathlete Natalia Kochergina described a similar airport experience:
“In Russia, we were met by a nightmare, all unorganized mess. We arrived at seven in the evening to the airport and we stayed five hours stuck in a queue to check in a rifle.”
But it’s not all gloom and doom. Unlike the French and Lithuanian biathletes, American biathlete Lowell Bailey had positive first impressions:
” It is one of the most beautiful vistas I’ve seen with mountains surrounding the entire mountaintop village where we are living. When you look closer though, within the confines of the Biathlon and Cross-Country Venues, the Sochi Organizing Committee has a TON of work left to do! The chalet’s which will house some (but not all) of the cross-country and biathlon athletes are fairly complete, but the rest of the structures – additional housing, dining facilities, roads, walkways, etc. – are largely unfinished. The trek to the venue consists of navigating on and around a bunch of semi-finished paths and buildings. But the actual stadium and venue are just about finished.”
And still he also had something negative to say about the venue, for good reason:
“The stadium itself is by far, the biggest, most expansive stadium I’ve ever seen. The Timing and Press building is about ten stories high. I’m not sure what they plan on doing with all that space, especially considering that they are planning to cap the spectators at a total of 5,000! This is perhaps the most disappointing part about the Sochi venue. They built one of the most expensive venues in the world, destroyed a huge swath of untouched mountaintop, and they’re only going to bring 5,000 spectators up to see it? If that’s the case, this will be one of the smallest crowds assembled for a biathlon World Cup-calibre event. Kind of strange when you think about how big biathlon is as a sport in Russia.”
The negativity seems to be the common denominator for athletes currently in Sochi. And because there is still so much to be done, can Sochi truly shine in 2014?
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Unfortunately no English version .. maybe in the upcoming hours
translated by Google:
Sochi Olympics medals may be presented in May
Posted 06.03.2013 at 15:28, updated 06/03/2013 at 15:31
Medals Olympic Games in Sochi can be presented to the public in May, said the president of the organizing committee "Sochi 2014" Dmitry Chernyshenko.
XXII Olympic Winter Games will be held in Sochi, from 7 to 23 February 2014.
"Medals are already presented the IOC general public, we will present them, most likely in May" - quoted Chernyshenko RIA "Novosti".
Chernyshenko said, "the organizing committee chooses the right moment - to some good festive day to show all the medals, because they are outstanding, unique, and very Russian. "
Sochi was chosen as the host of the Games in 2014 during the 119th Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Guatemala, July 4, 2007.

http://www.eurosport.ru/olympic-games/sotchi-2014/2014/story_sto3653202.shtml

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Not sure where to post .. maybe someone wants to know more about athletes experience in Sochi

(...)

The negativity seems to be the common denominator for athletes currently in Sochi. And because there is still so much to be done, can Sochi truly shine in 2014?

It's a shame... WoG are become crazy business. Everybody is against this kind of host city/bid but IOC continues to vote to crazy bid.

Athletes are against, public so... Only 54 IOC members think the contrary... Thank you bribes

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You might well but be right about Sochi's spending having a chilling effect on future bids. You don't HOWEVER speak on behalf of athletes or the public. And unless you've got some proof of bribes I'd suggest you STFU.

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One Year Before the Paralympic Games Sochi 2014 Unveils the Paralympic Torch Relay Route and Paralympic Pictograms

On March 7th, Russia celebrates the countdown of 1 Year to go until the first Paralympic Winter Games in the history of the country.


The Games will be held in Sochi on March 7-16, 2014.


One Year Before the Paralympic Games Sochi 2014 Unveils the Paralympic Torch Relay Route and Paralympic Pictograms

Today we are all celebrating One year to the start of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, and we can be extremely proud about preparations for them. We can see Sochi transforming into a real capital of the Russian barrier-free environment.

(PRWEB) March 07, 2013


On March 7th, Russia celebrates the countdown of 1 Year to go until the first Paralympic Winter Games in the history of the country. The Games will be held in Sochi on March 7-16, 2014. 1350 Paralympic athletes and team members from 45 countries will participate in the Games, and 72 sets of medals will be won in five Paralympic sports.


On March 5, in Sochi as part of the Russian Sledge Hockey Championship, an Exhibition match with the Russian National Sledge Hockey Team and the Higher Hockey League Team HC "Kuban" was held. The HC “Kuban” players tried Paralympic sledge instead of their normal skates and together with athletes with disabilities demonstrated the strength and the unity of sports.


On March, 6, also in Sochi, on the eve of one year to the Games, the next Paralympic Test Event was launched at the "Rosa Khutor" Alpine Center, the IPC Alpine World Cup Finals. Among the competitions is Para-Snowboard, a new event that spectators of the Paralympic Games will be able to see for the first time in Sochi.


In Moscow, celebrations were held in Red Square, where the presentation of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Torch Relay route and the official Paralympic Games pictograms took place. During the ceremony the General Partners of the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games were announced. World industry leaders, such as Coca-Cola, Dow, General Electric (GE), Samsung and Visa obtained their honorary diplomas from the President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko.


Paralympic Torch Relay


The Paralympic Torch Relay route and the Paralympic pictograms will be presented by the President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko at the Red Square Ice Rink. The relay will last for 10 days, from February, 26 to March, 7, 2014 and will go through 43 cities in all 8 Federal regions of Russia. Over 1500 torchbearers will get the opportunity to carry the Paralympic torch. The new Sochi 2014 Paralympic Torch Relay website will be available at http://www.torchrelay.sochi2014.com/Paralympic and will reveal the selection criteria and specific deadlines for Paralympic torchbearers.


Every day, the Paralympic flame will be lit simultaneously in several Russian cities, so that at the end of the relay, thanks to the Paralympic flame "unification" ceremony, it will reach the Opening Ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Sochi.


Paralympic pictograms


One year before the launch of the Paralympic Winter Games, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee presented a selection of Paralympic pictograms. These images of sports and disciplines provide information for participants and guests on the location of events and the sports in the Paralympic program.


There are more Paralympic pictograms than there are Paralympic sports (6 pictograms for 5 Paralympic sports), this is due to the fact that para-snowboard has been added as a new event to the sport program of the Paralympic Games in Sochi for the first time in history. Para-snowboard entered the program as one of the alpine skiing events; however, it has its own features which are reflected in a separate pictogram.


Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, highlighted:


"Today we are all celebrating One year to the start of the Paralympic Games in Sochi, and we can be extremely proud about preparations for them. We can see Sochi transforming into a real capital of the Russian barrier-free environment. Number of ramps, accessible crossings and adapted vehicle transport in the city is growing rapidly. All sports venues of the Mountain and Coastal Clusters are being constructed according to accessibility requirements and are fully adapted for the Paralympic athletes’ needs, this has already been proven by the "Paralympic" Test Events season. The barrier-free environment in Sochi is already prepared to host the Paralympic Games. But probably the most important is that the Games in Sochi are breaking down stereotypes towards people with disabilities which still exist in Russia, and are already changing the lives of 13 million Russians for the better”.


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Fired Russian Olympic Committee vice-president suspected of misspending half-a-billion dollars

Akhmed Bilalov, the former Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) vice-president fired by Russian President Vladimir Putin over construction delays and cost overruns on the ski jumping facility for Sochi 2014, is now facing fresh allegations of misspending up to 15.5 billion roubles ($504 million/£335 million/€387 million), prosecutors have confirmed.

The 42-year-old, who has since fled the country with his brother Magomed Bilalov, could now face misuse of funds charges stemming from travel expenses for lavish trips – including one where he allegedly hired a helicopter to take him to his hotel from the airport in the United Arab Emirates – charged to a state company, should Russian prosecutors decide to file the case.

"Incidents have been uncovered of money-wasting and groundless use of company funds on luxury business trips of Bilalov and the leaders of the company to long-haul destinations," said spokeswoman Marina Gridneva.

Putin took the action to fire Bilalov after asking who was responsible for the delay in the completion of the RusSki Gorki Jumping Centre during a visit to Sochi last month.

The project was also revealed to be considerably over budget, having originally been penned to cost $40 million (£26 million/€30 million) and now estimated at $265 million (£163 million/€189 million) when it is completed in July.

Russian auditors said this week that the state company responsible for building that facility had systematically overstated costs by a total of 15.5 billion roubles ($504 million/£335 million/€387 million).

The case also highlights concerns over the significant cost overruns for the Sochi 2014 Games.

The current price tag is estimated at about $51 billion (£34 billion/€39 billion), which would make them the most expensive Olympics and Paralympics in history.

Insidethegames

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The Biathlon venue looks spectacular, but its located in a really inconvenient location. That they are limiting it to a measly 5000 spectators is a crying shame. They have way better turn outs in Syberia.

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The penultimate IOC Coordination Commission gets underway in Sochi

12/03/2013

Today sees the start of the ninth and

penultimate visit of the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s

Coordination Commission to the city of Sochi. The Commission, led by IOC

member Jean-Claude Killy, will be joined this time by representatives

of each of the Olympic International Winter Sports Federations.

During this visit, the Commission will be updated by

the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee and its local partners on the

progress being made on the project, with less than a year remaining

until the Games.

Winter Sports Participation

As has happened during the preparations for previous Olympic Winter

Games, the seven Olympic International Winter Sports Federations will

participate in the opening and closing plenary sessions of the visit, as

well as in the working group on sport and the International

Federations. This participation helps to cement the already strong

collaboration between the federations, the Local Organising Committee

and the IOC.

A Full Two Days

Over the course of the two days of meetings, the Commission will hear

about Sochi’s progress in areas as diverse as Games operations, the

Olympic Torch Relay, technology, culture, education and sustainability. A

large part of the meetings will also focus on client experience, with

working groups examining the services that will be provided to groups

such as the athletes, National Olympic Committees, spectators, the

marketing partners, workforce and the media. These full two days will be

yet another important step on Sochi’s way to successfully hosting the

2014 Olympic Winter Games.

IOC

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