Mainad Posted May 30, 2013 Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 Sounds like Russian attitudes to Sochi 2014 are somewhat less than harmonious with just 8 months to go before the Games begin! Sochi Olympics a 'monstrous scam' - Russian opposition Boris Nemtsov also says the Sochi Olympics is damaging for the local ecosystem Continue reading the main story Related Stories Sochi 2014 organisers unveil medals Putin's Olympic steamroller in Sochi Sochi 2014: Russia's Olympic city Watch As much as $30bn (£20bn) has been stolen in preparations for next year's Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian opposition leaders say. Boris Nemtsov and Leonid Martynyuk say the games are "a monstrous scam" and will be the most expensive in history, costing more than $50bn. A lack of fair competition and secrecy sharply increased the cost, benefitting only businessmen close to President Vladimir Putin, they say in a report. A Russian official dismissed the claim. Mr Nemtsov was quoted by Reuters as saying that he would now be pushing for a thorough investigation into the matter by Russian prosecutors. He also questioned the wisdom of staging the games in a subtropical climate in the city on the Black Sea coast. But Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak, who is responsible for the 2014 Games, was quoted as saying: "In spite of envious people, the Russian Winter Olympic Games will be held in the southern capital - subtropical Sochi." Meanwhile, International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams said it appeared that Russia was taking any corruption claims related to the Olympics seriously. Mr Adams said Moscow was addressing the issue "pretty much head-on from the president down", according to the Associated Press news agency. Medals unveiled President Putin was instrumental in securing the 2014 Winter Olympics for Russia Mr Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, and Mr Martynyuk, a member of the Solidarity movement, released their report on Thursday after analysing Olympic-related data for six months. The authors say they reached their conclusions by looking at the gap between the original estimate and the final cost and also comparing it with cost overruns at previous Olympics. "The expenses for the Winter Olympics in Sochi turned out to be more than all expenses for all the sports structures at the previous 21 Winter Olympics put together," the report says. It says that "between $25bn and $30bn have been stolen", and this has benefited "only oligarchs and companies close to Mr Putin". The opposition leaders claim that the stolen funds could have been used to build about 3,000km (1870 miles) of high-speed motorways or provide the housing for 800,000 people in Russia. They say that the final cost of staging the event will be more than four times higher than the original price tag of $12bn announced by Mr Putin. Details of their findings were released on the day Mr Putin met International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials in St Petersburg to unveil the medals for the Sochi games. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22720228 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted May 30, 2013 Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 Nemstov better start watching his back now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fox334 Posted May 30, 2013 Report Share Posted May 30, 2013 To be fair, I'd be pretty pissed off if the Vancouver Olympics cost that much money... frankly, in a real democracy I don't think such an expense for a WINTER games wouldn't have been allowed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympic Fan Darcy Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 Most expensive budget might not always be the best... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir Rols Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 It's all Lord David's fault - all that money spent producing a bid book to get his jollies off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
intoronto Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 lol Wow. I can't say I am surprised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkiFreak Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 In Soviet Russia, monstrous scam is monstrous success! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FYI Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 This all seems like 'too little, too late'. With just over 8 months to ago, what does he expect? It's too late to reverse course now. The Show (& the spending) MUST go on, as the Spaniards say! He's just stirring the post for his own personal agenda. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 Luckily, Russia is awash with all that reserve currency. It would've been more unconscionable if it were cash-starved and the people were starving...like a certain dictatorship to its far East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jawnbc Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 ZOMG Russian corruption! No way! WTF? [\ end faux surprised look] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nykfan845 Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 $30 billion? Jesus, it is no wonder that there is so much opposition against Olympic bids these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexjc Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 Luckily, Russia is awash with all that reserve currency. It would've been more unconscionable if it were cash-starved and the people were starving...like a certain dictatorship to its far East. What?...United States?... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 "The expenses for the Winter Olympics in Sochi turned out to be more than all expenses for all the sports structures at the previous 21 Winter Olympics put together," Wow! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faster Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 London could have hosted 4 of their games for one Sochi. Or Sydney could have hosted, what 10ish? 50 billion dollars is outrageous. That is $510,204,082 per event, so two events would have more than covered the cost of all of Vancouver's venues 20 million per athlete or almost 3 billion per day. Or 2 million dollars for every minute of the Olympics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olympiaki-agones Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I think nobody is surprised here. Sooner or later these sort of scandals would come up. Just wait for 2018 when more notes like this one may appear again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted May 31, 2013 Report Share Posted May 31, 2013 I am not surprised by the cost. Russia basically created what will be a first-class small city overnight. The venues and infrastructure will be the most state-of-the-art bar none. And then of course you add in the 20% kickback layer; so the real costs might've been probably around $40 billion; just less than what Beijing spent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faster Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 Not really. It is not like the stadium is as high-end as ones in Munich, London or Dallas (to name a few) and there are junior hockey arenas in Canada that are better than the Bolshoy and whatever its partners name is. I would say its 60% graft, especially if you look at the 'official costs' of the venues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 For quite some time, despite being surprised with the spectacular venues, i've been worried with the excesses and waste of money they've been doing, and I don't see much of a legacy for these infrastructures (except for, maybe, the Olympic Stadium and the hockey dome. ) Some people complain the Olympics have became something too expensive and almost impossible for host by small countries/cities. But the truth is that it's also the organizers of certain editions to blame because of the excesses and having no plans for a believable legacy (Montreal and Beijing are probably the most notorious examples of this, and Sochi seems to be following Beijing's footsteps) . This is something on where I praise London, which did a good job on this aspect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 While it doesn't surprise me that those are by far the most expensive Winter Games in history, I'm surprised that it all became that expensive. I mean, the venue construction was fast, mostly - so it's not that costs spiralled out of control due to construction delays. That does not apply to the Olympic Stadium, however. I mean, that roof construction seems to be really complex, if the stadium still looks very unfinished at this stage. They don't even mention a specific month, let alone a specific date for the opening of the stadium. Have they gotten into trouble with that one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofan Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 While it doesn't surprise me that those are by far the most expensive Winter Games in history, I'm surprised that it all became that expensive. I mean, the venue construction was fast, mostly - so it's not that costs spiralled out of control due to construction delays. That does not apply to the Olympic Stadium, however. I mean, that roof construction seems to be really complex, if the stadium still looks very unfinished at this stage. They don't even mention a specific month, let alone a specific date for the opening of the stadium. Have they gotten into trouble with that one? Well they have to be finished by the fall because IIRC OC and CC rehearsals begin in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2012 Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 I hate to give the Daily Fail ad revenue by linking to it, and never know how far to trust its journalism, but there are at least some interesting quotes in this piece from some of Putin's opponents... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2342153/Putins-30bn-calamity-games-Collapsing-buildings-Colossal-corruption-Contract-killings-The-race-complete-Russias-Winter-Olympic-village-mired-scandal.html?ito=feeds-newsxml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 16, 2013 Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 /\/\ Wow. I wonder if the Russian people will ever know the true scale of corruption connected with staging Sochi 2014. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Athensfan Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 I hate to give the Daily Fail ad revenue by linking to it, and never know how far to trust its journalism, but there are at least some interesting quotes in this piece from some of Putin's opponents... http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2342153/Putins-30bn-calamity-games-Collapsing-buildings-Colossal-corruption-Contract-killings-The-race-complete-Russias-Winter-Olympic-village-mired-scandal.html?ito=feeds-newsxml Rob that article is astonishing. Of course the IOC is staying silent about all this. Despicable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ofan Posted June 17, 2013 Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 Rob that article is astonishing. Of course the IOC is staying silent about all this. Despicable. Well yea, because the IOC are almost as corrupt as Putin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mainad Posted June 17, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2013 I'm sure the venues and infrastructure will all be completed on time. Putin will throw every single bit of resource at his disposal to make sure this happens. He cannot allow it to fail. His personal credibility and grip on power would soon slip away if this were ever allowed to happen. Too much is at stake for him to allow this to fail. Thousands died so Peter the Great could build his spanking new city of St. Petersburg. Millions died so Stalin could transform the country into an industrial superpower. Those were the ruler's pet, personal projects of their time and ordinary lives were completely expendable in making them happen. The Sochi Olympics are in the same vein and is Putin's pet project. Like the pet projects of Peter the Great and Stalin, they will be made to happen at whatever cost it may take. That is the Russian way and has ever been thus for centuries! We are naive to ever suppose it could have been otherwise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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