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SOCHI SPECIAL sochi2014.rbth.ru Hunger games: Russia bids to satisfy its craving for ice-hockey gold Ready for action: Sochi has risen to the Olympic challenge, says Graham Bell

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Safe and sound: inside the Olympic ring of steel

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Tuesday, January 28, 2014

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RUSSIA GOES FOR OLYMPIC GOLD

ochi is ready for its Olympic debut. When the world tunes in to watch the 2014 Winter Games, it will see futuristic, state-ofthe-art stadiums nestled next to the Black Sea, breathtaking views from world-class ski resorts in the snow-capped Caucasus mountains, and a sprawling new Olympic Park framed by subtropical palm trees. It has been an epic seven-year adventure to prepare for the Games, which organisers hope will formally introduce the “new Russia” to global audiences as a modern, dynamic country. The transformation of Sochi is all the more remarkable as none of the facilities existed a few years ago. When the Sochi bid was selected by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2007, there was much grumbling that its defeated rivals Pyeongchang in South Korea and Salzburg in Austria were more worthy choices. Both could point to existing facilities ideal for Games events. But Sochi’s vision prevailed and the race has been on to deliver what was promised. Indeed, the finishing touches were still being put on some venues, including the Fisht Olympic Stadium, built specially to host the opening and closing ceremonies, as the New Year arrived. The opening ceremony on February 7 promises to be a moment of high drama, not just for the world but also for the Russian Olympic organisers. All the new competition venues in Sochi have been put to the test by hosting international events. The ski jump area went into service only recently after

After years of controversy and preparation, Sochi is ready to present the glamorous and glitzy face of modern Russia to the world at the 2014 Winter Games, says Dominic Basulto significant delays and cost overruns so outrageous that the head of the project was reprimanded on national television by President Vladimir Putin. The new mountain train, which will whisk Olympic visitors between the Coastal Cluster and the Mountain Cluster for events, went into service this ski season. Russia can claim to be breaking new ground by staging the Winter Games in Sochi. The traditional model for host cities has been to take a proven winter resort area, spruce it up, add a few modern touches, and not worry too much about anything else. Russia proposed to start from scratch in a city with no alpine ski tradition to speak of and one that is better known among Russians as a summer resort on the Russian Riviera. Indeed, Sochi’s subtropical climate makes it one of the warmest places in Russia in winter, and a bold choice for Games host. Mr Putin’s address to the IOC in 2007 was widely seen as helping to clinch the Games for Sochi and he has been very much associated with the whole project. Thoughts of turning the city into a worldclass winter resort really only took shape after he

US Olympic skiers who came back from Sochi described it as surreal, as if Russia had built a winter Disneyland in the mountains

had made the mountains of Krasnaya Polyana his personal ski retreat. No expense has been spared to convince Russians to visit Sochi’s slopes rather than head off to Europe’s traditional alpine resorts. Rosa Khutor, the crown jewel, has one of the world’s longest vertical drops and was built with the help of European and US experts. At the highest elevations, if you blink, you would think you were in Switzerland or Austria. Sleepy mountain roads are now filled with European-style ski chalets and pastel-coloured hotels. Olympic skiers who returned to the US from Sochi described it as surreal, as if Russia had built a winter Disneyland in the mountains. Critics in Russia and abroad have argued that Sochi 2014 is simply a pet project of Mr Putin, a grand attempt to put Russia back on the map by wildly overspending. They point to Russia’s extensive bureaucracy as the root causes of the estimated $50bn (£30bn) price tag, which officially makes Sochi the most expensive Olympics in history. However, that figure also includes extensive infrastructure spending on the city that is intended to

boost its claim to be a tourist attraction long after the Games are over. Mr Putin himself recently put spending on the Games alone at $6.4 billion. Sochi has big plans for its post-Olympic future. It will host the 40th G8 summit of world leaders in June and welcome Formula 1 racing to Russia in the autumn. The Fisht stadium is an official venue when Russia stages the 2018 football World Cup. Russia’s arrival on the global sporting stage as host nation also fits a broader trend of the new global economic powers presenting the biggest events. It adds its name to a list that includes Beijing (the 2008 Olympics), South Africa (the 2010 World Cup) and Brazil (the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics). However the costs of the Games are calculated, there is no doubt that Sochi will be one of the biggest, most extravagant Olympics of recent times, perhaps ever. The 123-day Olympic torch relay, which covered a record 65,000km (40,000 miles), included a space walk at the International Space Station, a visit to an active volcano, and an underwater trip in Lake Baikal. These Olympics promise the highest medal count and the largest number of events in the history of the Winter Games. Now all eyes turn to the athletes who have fed their dreams of Olympic and Paralympic glory with years of hard training. Sochi has prepared the stage for spectators and competitors to produce a dazzling festival of sport in the coming weeks, whose stories of triumph and heartache will be etched into Olympic history.

Welcome to Sochi A stadium to celebrate

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The Fisht stadium, named after a Caucasus mountain summit, will host the opening and closing ceremonies. It can hold 40,000 spectators and beyond the Olympics will be a venue for 2018 World Cup football games

Thrills, chills and bills in quest for glory Sports Ski, skate, puck and broom inspire Winter Olympics gold fever – and team budgets are stretched to the limit

THE NUMBERS

thousand athletes will compete at Sochi. They will be supported by a similar number of coaches and team personnel.

JAMES ELLINGWORTH SPECIAL TO RBTH

Seven years and $50bn (£30bn) have gone into making Russia’s first Winter Olympics a success. Now all that remains is to stage it and for the athletes to arrive to dazzle the world. As with the similarly extravagant Beijing 2008 Summer Games, the Sochi project is inextricably linked to government prestige. The sheer engineering challenge certainly matches President Vladimir Putin’s political ambitions. It’s a Winter Olympics in the subtropics: even the connecting road to the mountain venues costs nearly as much as the previous Games in 2010 in the Canadian city of Vancouver. “It’s a big responsibility and a lot of work still, setting up the operations and the cooperation,” a senior official overseeing the finishing touches to Sochi said.

The age of figure skater Yulia Lepnitskaya, the youngest Russian Olympian at Sochi 2014.

billion is the estimated worldwide audience expected to watch the Winter Olympics on television.

The venues The Sochi Olympic vision can be distilled into two spectacular views – the snow-capped Caucasus Mountains and sparkling Black Sea. This is the first Winter Games to cluster venues, consciously trying to replicate the summer Olympic buzz of London and Sydney. On the coast, the Fisht stadium, the spectacular setting for the opening and closing ceremonies, nestles alongside hockey, skating and curling venues in a meticulously landscaped oastal park. Inland, a scattering of brand-new ski resorts dot the mountain ridges. The two locations emphasise Sochi’s legacy plans as a beach resort and a base camp for winter sports. Preparations have generally gone smoothly, despite a rush to finish the Fisht stadium after a roof was added as part of the staging for the opening and closing ceremonies.There were concerns when snow melted at some rather balmy mountain test events a year ago. But those worries have now evaporated as the white stuff has poured from the heavens this winter. In echoes of Beijing 2008, security is heavy and protests are limited to a small town 12km (eight miles) from the nearest venues.

Ice and easy: right, Team GB curling skip David Murdoch delivers a stone during a training session in Stirling; inset, ski jumping at Sochi

Ice hockey The men’s ice hockey gold medal game is the unrivalled blue-riband event at any Winter Olympics, but here it arguably means more for the host nation that at any previous Games. Without Olympic gold since 1992 (as part of the “Unified Team”, the Russian side is under pressure to win in front of a rowdy home crowd. They have all the ingredients with the forward firepower of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk.“It is a powerful Russian team,” Canadian pundit Tony Ambrogio says.“The key will be how quickly they bond and how they cope. I can’t think of any other Russian team that has had to deal with such pressure.”Against them are the Canada of Sidney Crosby and (hopefully) the injured Steven Stamkos, burning to defend their Vancouver gold. The US play Russia in the opening pool stage, and the home team will be desperate to prevent a repeat of the “Miracle on Ice”, when the Americans defeated the mighty Soviet team at the 1980 Winter Games.

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Alpine skiing

Curling Figure skating It may lack the celebrity status of its Nineties heyday, but figure skating could be back in the spotlight in Sochi. North American fans have plenty of contenders to cheer: for Canada, the men’s world record holder Patrick Chan; and for the US, the veteran Jeremy Abbott, who reached new heights in qualifying for Sochi. Russians could leave with three gold medals, which would be a crowdpleaser. Their emerging women skaters will challenge reigning championYuna Kim, while pairs team Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov are odds-on for gold. In the new team event, scores in all four disciplines are added, making for a battle between Russia, Canada and the US.

Ice hockey is the blue-riband event and here it arguably means more for the host nation than at any previous Games

The popularity of this Scottish-born sport has soared since it was added to the Olympic programme in 1998. Idiosyncratic as only a game involving a broom can be, curling offers a change of pace from the frenetic nature of most Olympic winter sports. The Canadians are among the favourites, but their teams lack Games experience. “I think it will be closer than North American curling fans realise,” Scottish-based curling writer Thomas Edmunds said. He tips Sweden, Norway and Great Britain as the main rivals to 2010 champions Canada in the men’s event, while the British women’s team“are in the best position they could be”. Russia’s women won the European cham-

definitely see them pick up a medal, I don’t think it will be gold.”

New kids on the block

DPA/VOSTOCK-PHOTO

Someone is missing at these Games for US fans: Lindsay Vonn. Injury has kept the blonde bombshell of downhill skiing from Sochi, but there remains the promise of plenty of action. Colorado’s Mikaela Shiffrin is slalom world champion at just 18, while there will be an emotional farewell for legend Bode Miller, 36. The men’s slalom and giant slalom are Austrian Marcel Hirscher’s to lose, and there could be a rare medal for tiny Liechtenstein. Its 36,000 people will be praying Tina Weirather can bring the nation a podium place for the first time in 26 years. She has the pedigree – members of her family have won six Olympic medals.

pionships in 2012 but have been wildly inconsistent. Off the ice, they are engaging personalities – skipper Anna Sidorova is a PR specialist dedicated to banishing the image of curlers as “pretty girls who push mops, throw pebbles and clean the floors well at home”. Her senior team-mate Kira Ezekh is breaking down barriers as one of the few black athletes both in Russian sport and the world of curling. Russia“should never be ruled out”,Edmunds says.“While the bonus of a home crowd could

The most notable new event in Sochi is slopestyle skiing, a flashy X-Games-style trickfest. with jumps and rail grinds. It joins the burgeoning freestyle programme, with men’s and women’s ski and snowboard events. It has taken until Sochi 2014 for women’s ski jumping to become an Olympic sport, and Japan’s Sara Takanashi is hot favourite for gold. Ski halfpipe, biathlon mixed relay and a team luge event are also debutants.

A Russian team like never before After the shock of finishing 11th in the Vancouver 2010 medal table, Russia is chasing glory in Sochi. Vast sums have been thrown at once-obscure sports and legions of foreign coaches imported. There are even foreign athletes. Triple Olympic gold medal-winning speed-skater Ahn Hyun-soo defected from South Korea and now calls himself Viktor Ahn, his new first name a conscious nod to his goal in Sochi. An unusual husband-and-wife duo are among Russia’s medal hopes in snowboarding, a discipline that barely existed in the country a decade ago. Alena Zavarzina, a former world champion in parallel giant slalom, has drafted in her American-born spouse Vic Wild to compete for Russia, and both could be on the podium at these Games.

EXPERT VIEW

Graham Bell TV PRESENTER

Sochi 2014 will be my 10th experience of an Olympic Games – five as a Team GB athlete. Since my retirement, after Nagano 1998, I have worked on three winter and one summer Games (London 2012), as a reporter for the BBC. The Sochi organisers have faced many challenges and a few controversies. However, without exception, all my Games have been preceded by scare stories before the opening ceremony: London 2012 would be gridlocked; Vancouver 2010 would have no snow; Turin 2006 would be not be built in time; Salt Lake 2002 would be shut down after 9/11; and Nagano 1998 would have too much snow. Once the Games started, though, all the positive stories of dedication, hard work and commitment by the athletes in their quest for gold shone through. The great challenge that separates winter from summer Olympics is finding a city big enough to stage the Games, yet close enough to the mountains to make it work,

The new sports of slopestyle skiing and snowboarding represent Team GB’s best chances of medals on snow

geographically. Sochi does that. The only medals that London 2012 could not present within the inner circle of the M25 were for the 10 sailing competitions, and at Sochi 69 of a total of 98 events will be contested in the Mountain Cluster. Twelve new titles are up for grabs this time around, nine of which are in skiing and snowboarding. As a former downhiller, I take a special interest in that discipline. I skied the Rosa Khutor course two years ago at the test event, and while they have opened some of the tighter turns the top section is still very steep. The speed picks up as the course dives into a big wide bowl, while the lower section features a couple of massive jumps that will send the racers flying around 60-70m (almost 200-230ft). It will be a real test. Ski jumping has been ever-present since the first Winter Games in 1924, and Sochi brings to a close the chapter of men-only Winter Olympic events with the introduction of a women’s competition. But it is the new sports of slopestyle skiing and snowboarding that represent Team GB’s best chances of winning a medal on snow. James “Woodsy” Woods won the World Cup title last season in men’s slopestyle, and snowboarders Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan also have medal

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Skeleton Lizzy is steely spine of strong British team

Slip sliding away: Yarnold is the hot favourite for gold

chances. Also in the mountains, on the skeleton track, Britain boasts the hot favourite for gold in Lizzy Yarnold. Winner of four of the seven World Cup competitions this season, the 25-year-old looks set to continue the tradition of British sliders winning medals at every Games since 2002. At Sochi 2014 there will be the strongest British team at the Winter Olympics since the inaugural Games in Chamonix in 1924, when four medals were won. Ninety years later, UK Sport has set a target of three medals, but admits that as many as seven could be a possibility. As was shown at London 2012, a strong performance by the home team does wonders for the spirit of a nation, and I have every confidence that Sochi 2014 will be no different. A strong Russian biathlon team led by Olga Zaitseva and Anton Shipulin should bring home medals, and Yevgeny Plushenko will try to add to his tally of one gold and two silvers on the figure skating rink. But it would be Russian gold in the men’s ice hockey tournament that would produce the most thrilling climax to the Games. Graham Bell is a former British Olympic skier and co-presenter of BBC’s Ski Sunday.

Ice hockey Face-off with football for popularity

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Since Soviet times, ice hockey has been second only to football as the most popular sport among Russians. Former stars such as Valery Kharlamov, Viacheslav “Slava” Fetisov and Igor Larionov are all household names

Old rivals Russia will resume hostilities with the US and Canada using players from both the NHL and Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League

The Sochi tournament is a continuation of a rivalry that dates back to the 1970s

Another ‘Miracle on Ice’? Not if the Russians can help it

WHO TO WATCH

Pavel Datsyuk CENTRE, DETROIT RED WINGS

Growing up in the Urals city of Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg), Pavel Datsyuk was not considered a leading player because of his size. He entered the NHL draft in 1996 and 1997, but was only taken in 1998, by the Red Wings. In his long career with Detroit, Datsyuk has proved to be a consistent top scorer and a leader both on and off the ice. He will captain Russia’s Olympic ice hockey team in Sochi. ITAR-TASS

Ice hockey Intercontinental rivalry between Russia, Canada and the US has come a long way since the 1970s Summit Series but winning remains a matter of national pride

Alexander Ovechkin WINGER, WASHINGTON CAPITALS

The Moscowborn Alexander Ovechkin began playing ice hockey at nine and was quickly recognised as a top talent. He joined the national team at 17 and was first overall NHL draft pick in 2004. He has become the star attraction of Washington Capitals.

ANDY POTTS SPECIAL TO RBTH

When Russia’s ice hockey team faces off against Team USA in Sochi on February 15, the intercontinental clash is likely to bring the host nation to a halt. Not only is the men’s ice hockey tournament the single biggest event of Sochi 2014 for Russian fans, it represents a rare chance to continue the sequence of superpower sporting summits that dates back to the Seventies. The game will be the continuation of a sporting rivalry that once pitted political ideologies against one another – and which remains a barometer of national pride. Additionally, for Russian fans, the Olympic Winter Games on home ice is an unmissable opportunity to land a first-ever ice hockey gold for an independent Russia (Russia did contribute heavily to the victorious Unified Team of 1992) and reassert the sporting primacy established by the near-invincible Red Machine of the Soviet Union over the pampered stars of the National Hockey League.

Past meets present

Evgeni Malkin

Many Russian ice hockey players who have made it to the NHL have become living legends. Now fans can read all about them in the new digital app from RBTH, the Russian Hockey Players Guide. Get the inside stories from the coaches, players and NHL experts, along with exclusive forecasts and insights as the teams fight it

CENTRE, PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

Malkin’s father, Vladimir, played ice hockey professionally and Evgeni learned to skate when he was three years old. Malkin began his career with Metallurg Magnitogorsk, his local team. He began playing for Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2006-07 season and won the Calder Trophy for best NHL rookie.

THE QUOTE

I think [defending Olympic champion] Canada’s forwards are probably deeper, but the first two [Russian] lines are as good – if not more offensively talented – than Canada’s. Any team with Ovechkin, Malkin, Datsyuk and Kovalchuk will be dangerous, especially on the power play. TONY AMBROGIO CANADIAN HOCKEY EXPERT AND SPORTS REPORTER

to draft in St Louis Blues’ defence pair Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo, both preparing for Olympics debuts and seemingly selected with the bigger ice of Europe in mind. But the buzz is still all about Crosby, the golden goal hero of Vancouver and back in action at last. His long spell out with concussion-related problems, followed by the enforced rest in last season’s lock-out, led some to question whether his career was destined to wind down. However, a league-leading 68point haul in the NHL suggests he is going to be a threat to any opponent in Sochi. Familiarity has taken some of the edge off this rivalry, but has done little to dampen suspicions: when the Colorado Avalanche’s Russian Semyon Varlamov was arrested on domestic-abuse charges in October, Russian Duma deputy Igor Ananskikh, who heads the parliamentary commission on sport, claimed the case was motivated by a desire to scupper the goaltender’s impressive early-season form and see him locked up before Sochi 2014. The charges were dropped, and Varlamov is set to backstop Russia’s line-up in Sochi.

NHL pitfalls? Ironically, though, a rivalry that began by pitting eastern political virtues of collective effort against western individualism seems now to have reversed those stereotypes. Ice hockey is typically played on bigger rinks in Europe than in the NHL, and Russian fans claim their players are allowed greater freedom to display individual brilliance, that game-breaking mix of flair and skill that leaves opponents stumbling blindly towards defeat. By contrast, they say, the NHL is a crude exercise in“dump-andchase”, interspersed with on-ice violence, where creativity is sacrificed to percentage-based play. The evidence they cite comes from a host of stars – whether “Russian Rocket” Pavel Bure or Nichushkin – who play a daring attacking game in the NHL, securing plaudits as they go. On the rinks of North America, meanwhile, the feeling persists that Russian players are overhyped show ponies, full of flicks and tricks, but lacking the application and endurance to tough out a potential 100-game season culminating in Stanley Cup glory. Whatever happens in Sochi, it promises to be another lively instalment of a rivalry between nations brought up to regard excellence on the ice as a given, and defeat in “our game” as a crushing blow to national pride.

Everything you need to know about the current NHL season – in one tap

out on the road to the playoffs. Read profiles of the biggest stars and NHL newcomers by award-winning writers, and behind-the-scenes anecdotes told by their teammates and coaches. All the content is accompanied by highresolution photos focusing on the best action and highlights from the ice.

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But what was once a clash of cultures – East versus West, communist versus capitalist – is now a very different affair. The 1972 Summit Series, when the notionally amateur Soviet Olympic champions played a team of Canadian professionals from the NHL, was not only a confrontation between the best of the best but also a clash of unknowns. Canada won the best-of-eight series 4-3 (one game was a tie), but only after an almighty shock on home ice, when the Maple Leafs were booed out of the arena by their own fans after four games in Canada. Heading to Moscow, they trailed 2-1 in a series they had expected to win easily, and pride was hurting. Ted Nolan, now behind the bench of the Buffalo Sabres, watched the series as a teenage fan and saw European stars for the first time. “We realised they had some guys who could play hockey,” he said. That impression stayed with him. Today, apart from his interim role with the Sabres, he is also head coach of Team Latvia, and will lead the former Soviet republic’s team to the Sochi Olympics. Nolan is typical of a new generation of transatlantic ice hockey enthusiasts, reared on the Summit Series and the “Miracle on Ice” of the

1980 Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games, when the US team upset the Soviet juggernaut. Although it took almost two decades to get from the Summit Series to relatively free movement of players and coaches between the continents, today’s Russian national team is dominated by NHL-based talent. More than half of the Russian coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov’s roster ply their trade overseas, and the likes of Alexander Ovechkin (Washington Capitals), Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit Red Wings) and Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh Penguins) carry the weight of a nation’s demand for gold. The breakout player at Sochi 2014 could be Valeri Nichushkin, just 18, and currently playing for Dallas Stars after electrifying Traktor Chelyabinsk’s play-off push last season in the Russia's Kontinental Hockey League. Changing circumstances bring changing rivalries: while in the Seventies, players such as Boris Mikhailov or Phil Esposito knew each other only by reputation – and reportedly did not like what they heard – Malkin shares a Pittsburgh locker room with Canada’s top star, Sid Crosby. However, the defining battle among fellow Penguins may come in that Russia-US game, when Malkin will have to contend with grizzled defenceman Brooks Orpik, also of Pittsburgh. He is the kind of gnarled veteran on which successful teams should be based, and his close-up view of Malkin’s game makes him ideally placed to combat one of the leading Russian goal threats. The reverse could be true from a Los Angeles perspective, with the Kings sending Stanley Cup-winning defenceman Slava Voynov to Russia to face club captain Dustin Brown, a rough-and-ready forward whose solidly unspectacular scoring is eclipsed by the gritty leadership that he brings in tight games. Voynov, a rare example of a strong Russian blue-liner, might also come up against his LA Kings colleague Drew Doughty should there be a long-awaited match-up between Russia and Canada. Doughty is arguably the Canadians’ best man in defence and was named the top player in the Kings’ Stanley Cup victory in 2012. Elsewhere, though, Canada’s roster sprung a few surprises: goal-getter Steve Stamkos got the nod despite struggling with a leg injury of late, but his Tampa Bay line-mate Martin St Louis missed out, as did the Flyers’ Claude Giroux. Then there was the decision

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Security Staying safer together

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British and US intelligence agencies are co-operating with Russia's security services to help ensure spectator and athlete safety in Sochi in the face of terrorist and other threats to the Winter Olympics

NEWS IN BRIEF

Mettle test begins for the Sochi ring of steel Law & order Measures to ensure the safety of competitors and spectators will be tough but unobtrusive

and units of the Ministry for Emergency Situations. The minister, Vladimir Puchkov, said that on January 7 all divisions responsible for ensuring guests’ security at the Games went on combat alert.“Every facility was put under protection and a space-based monitoring system was launched,” he added.

NIKOLAI GORSHKOV

Police checks and street life

SPECIAL TO RBTH

Bloggers in Sochi reported many police patrols in central Sochi during the New Year holidays from January 1 to 8. Pedestrians were stopped for ID checks and officers went house-to-house to enforce proper documentation and registration with local authorities. Foreign visitors in hotels were registered automatically by their hosts; foreign and Russian visitors in private accommodation have to register within three days of arrival. Since January 7, local bloggers say, there have been fewer police on the streets but more checkpoints at transport hubs and other places where people gather. Some measures, such as frequent street ID checks and restrictions on private cars, have upset locals. They also cannot understand why rubbish bins have disappeared from most public places such as shopping arcades, a precaution reminiscent of London during the IRA bombing campaign. But normal life goes on and visitors can expect to enjoy themselves in Sochi without any sense of being under constant surveillance. Indeed, the security measures will mean that the city is one of the safest places in the world to walk around or enjoy a drink and a meal in the bars and restaurants. Mr Eke said: “Sochi is generally a peaceful and safe city with no history of terrorist attacks. . . Furthermore, the political prerogative attached to the project means that the authorities will do everything possible to ensure the Games pass off peacefully and without incident”. The authorities appear confident about the security measures. Alexander Zhukov, the head of the Russian Olympic Committee, said after theVolgograd bombings that there was no need to take extra steps to secure Sochi, as “everything necessary already has been done”.

After three suicide bombings in Volgograd in October and December that killed 41 people, the international spotlight is fixed firmly on Sochi. A widely held view is that the real target of the bombings was the Winter Olympics that extremists in the North Caucasus, who are fighting to establish a hardline Islamist state, had vowed to disrupt. In a perverse way, the bombings were a signal to the authorities to beef up security across Russia and not just in and around Sochi. The comprehensive security arrangements for the Games, introduced as planned on January 7, one month before the opening ceremony, make an attack on Sochi fairly unlikely. “The security plan for Sochi is the most comprehensive ever implemented at a public event in Russia, and includes unprecedented deployments of human assets as well as advanced physical and electronic counter-terrorism measures,” says Steven Eke, senior analyst for Russia with Control Risks, a leading global security, political and risk consultancy based in London. “The scale of the security measures in place, in Control Risks’ view, mitigates against the likelihood of an attack on the sporting facilities.”

Staying in the zones The principal measures activated on January 7 were two security zones: a restricted or controlled zone and a prohibited zone. To access the restricted zone, visitors need to produce tickets for the events and proof of identity. The tickets can only be bought after providing biographical and address information. The prohibited zone can only be accessed by specifically authorised personnel who have Games- related business there. A traffic exclusion zone stretches for 60 miles across Greater Sochi and only allows in specially cleared transport, mostly public. Cars with non-Sochi registration must be left outside the zone at park-and-ride facilities. Even Sochi-registered cars are excluded from special Olympic lanes to guarantee the timely movement of athletes and Olympic personnel. The zones are manned by police, interior troops

Easing restrictions Contrary to some expectations that the Sochi security noose would be tightened even further after the bombings, President Vladimir Putin has relaxed some of the restrictions on holding public rallies in Sochi during the Games, with proper permission. But there has

Up to 37,000 police and troops are expected to be on duty to protect competitors and visitors at the Winter Games

Visa rules eased for ticket holders Visitors to Russia for the Winter Olympics and Paralympics can take advantage of simplified procedures for obtaining a visa. The system, which took effect last month, allows visa applicants to have their documents processed at dedicated Olympic windows that have been opened in Russian consular offices around the world, the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee said. Games spectators will receive tourist visas for up to a month, including same-day processing, by presenting tourist confirmation letters (electronic or facsimile copies of confirmations), and either a ticket for Olympic events or electronic confirmation of ticket purchases from the committee or its ticket agents abroad, or a registration card. It is still possible to purchase tickets for events. To check the latest availability and to buy tickets, go to the Sochi Winter Olympic Games official website at www.sochi2014.com

been no rush to request permission to hold rallies in the designated area, which is 12km (seven miles) from the nearest Olympic venues. Mr Putin told Russian and international journalists on January 17 that Moscow was determined to do everything possible to ensure the security of athletes and spectators at the Games. He said: “We’ll try not to make the implementation of security measures intrusive, in your face, so that participants and guests do not feel pressure.” Yet some observers in Russia and abroad are calling the security measures in Sochi unprecedented. However, the statistics may suggest otherwise.

Air, land and sea defences

Word on the street: police have been brushing up on their foreign language skills to better communicate with Games visitors

It is estimated that up to 37,000 police officers and internal troops will be involved in protecting the athletes, visitors and locals. At London 2012 about 23,000 Army and security personnel were deployed in securing the Summer Olympics, but they patrolled a far smaller area. Greater Sochi, which stretches for almost 60 miles, is squeezed between the Black Sea coast and alpine forests. Neither is easy to monitor and secure. Air defence missiles, sonar weapons and highspeed boats featured in the arrangements for London and will do in Sochi. But missile systems have not been deployed on residential rooftops in the Russian resort. A computer surveillance system called SORM will be used to monitor all internet and telephone traffic in and out of Sochi to detect and pre-empt any malicious activity. BT ran a similar exercise during the London Olympics but the biggest threat appeared to come from infected laptops of some journalists who did not bother to maintain proper antivirus software. Aleksey Lavrishchev, a Russian Security Service (FSB) official responsible for security at Sochi, said that Russia had been collaborating with the national security bodies of more than 80 countries, including Britain and the United States. Some of these countries, Mr Lavrishchev said, will send their agents to help implement security measures. To facilitate interaction between Russian and foreign security officials, as well as with athletes and visitors, Russian personnel have undergone crash courses in several foreign languages including English and French. There is also a call centre where Russian police officers will be able to get on-the-spot interpreting while dealing with foreign visitors to the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Carry-on liquids banned Russia’s aviation regulator has imposed a ban on all liquids in carry-on baggage on passenger flights departing from all the country’s airports. Rosaviatsia, the Federal Air Transport Agency, said the measure was taken as a security precaution because of the heightened threat of terrorist attacks in the run-up to Sochi 2014 and during the Games. The ban does not cover medication and other liquids considered essential to passenger health during a flight.

But such substances can only be taken on board after they have been inspected by airport security. Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said the exemption might also cover such items as baby food, telling reporters: “Air safety officials will have the right to open [an item] and make sure there is really medicine inside. If the official has any doubts, he won’t let that liquid” [on board]. The rules are due to remain in force until after the Paralympics in March.

Snap-friendly decision

THE NUMBERS

countries are working with Russia to ensure safety at the Olympics. Some of the most significant co-operation is with the UK and the US.

miles – the length of the traffic exclusion zone in Greater Sochi, open only to transport with special permits.

miles from the nearest Olympic venue – the area designated by the authorities for demonstrations during the Games.

Journalists at the Sochi Olympics will be able to take photographs and shoot videos for personal use without worrying about loss of accreditation, the International Olympic Committee announced via the Russian news agency R-Sport. Photographs taken by participants and other accredited individuals

during the Games may be published on social media, but cannot be sold or used for any other commercial purpose – except by officially accredited photographers. Video may be taken for personal use, but posting them on social networks, blogs and websites is prohibited.

Looking trim with fur At the official presentation of Russia’s Olympic team uniforms, the women wore fur-trimmed coats in the colours of the Russian national flag – blue, white and red – and decorated with traditional folk patterns. Russia’s men sported double-breasted overcoats with sheepskin trim and traditional Russian hats with earflaps. The athletes’ informal wear in the Sochi 2014 collection is decorated with the RU abbreviation for Russia, in the stylised shape of two mythological characters, Pegasus and a griffin. They are said to bring good luck.

Read in Special issue

SOCHI BLOG

Excitement grows as preparations near the finish line Richard Winterbottom VOLUNTEER

These days Sochi meets a lot of guests. The Olympic rings hang proudly outside its iconic central railway station; bilingual signs adorn every street corner; and small groups of brightly clad volunteers can be seen flocking around the Greater Sochi area. The stadiums and most of the hotels are complete, though the city still hums with activity in the mad dash to get the finishing touches done in time for the opening ceremony on February 7. It is hard not to be impressed by the scale of building work that has been carried out. The sleek ice-sport stadiums of the coastal cluster form a stylish ring on the coast of the Black Sea, and are most impressive at night when they are beautifully lit up. Televised aerial views, especially of the opening ceremony, are sure to be stunning. Paths and roads connecting this cluster to the newly built Olympic Park railway station, however, are still being worked on and may be finished only just in time. The centre of Sochi, which will not host

any sports, has been massively revamped. The last bricks have been laid in a new pedestrian zone and a new dancing fountain and human-scale statues of the 2014 mascots greet guests outside Sochi State University. The finishing touches are being put to the Sochi 2014 “live sites” that have been placed in several key points around Greater Sochi. Large screens will show live broadcasts of the sporting action, and stages will host the cultural programme. Exactly how these will work is unclear at the moment, but even just their existence is causing interest among the local population, who seem to be feeling more and more pro-Games as the clock counts down. An army of new Sochi 2014 branded buses is already zooming along the Olympic lanes of the city’s newly improved roads, which means local marshrutkas (minibuses) are slightly less crowded than they were. Modern, comfortable Lastochka high-speed trains, whose tracks were laid specially for the Games, are also running smoothly, efficiently and cheaply between major venue clusters and transport hubs. Most impressive of all is the route up to Krasnaya Polyana, host to the snow and

Sochi is buzzing with international guests and it’s hard not to feel like the whole world is looking on

mountain sports. Just 10 minutes from Adler station, the train comes out of the third tunnel and you suddenly find yourself deep into snow-covered mountains, far from the palm trees of the coastal cluster. The change is instantaneous. The scale of work that has been completed in the mountains equals that on the coastal cluster. Alongside the sports venues and ski lifts, new streets, pedestrian bridges and squares have been filled with hotels, restaurants and shopping centres, all built from scratch in a quasi-European style. Local shopkeepers across Sochi are now willing to be patient with English and badRussian speakers as they browse the array of Olympic souvenirs. Along with the toys, mugs and Russian dolls that you would expect to find, you can also pick up Sochi 2014 dog clothes, sunflower seeds, potato peelers and even soap dishes. Fans of collectible merchandise will not be left wanting. Sochi is buzzing with international guests and it is hard not to feel like the whole world is looking on. Excitement and anticipation can only get stronger as February 7 approaches and Sochi shows how ready it is to host a wonderful Olympics.

- Sochi 2014: Two trials for Russia - The scale and score of Sochi`s modernization program - Security threats & policy recomendations - The Paralympics as a model for success - Top10 Twitter accounts for #Sochi

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Paralympics In the beginning

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Rome hosted the first Paralympics in 1960, and the first Winter Games took place 16 years later in Örnsköldsvik, Sweden. The Soviet Union refused to host the Summer Paralympics in 1980, so the Games were held in Arnhem, Netherlands

Paralympic prowess can raise respect Parasport Acceptance and wider integration of people with disabilities have followed in former host nations OLEG BOYKO RUSSIA DIRECT

Russia will host the Paralympic Winter Games for the first time, an event that will gather 1,350 athletes and team members from 47 countries. Over the past decade, Russia has made incredible progress, gaining top positions in the team events since 2006. What has caused this success and what kind of results can the Russians expect to achieve in Sochi at the 2014 Paralympics, held on March 7-16? The Paralympic movement started to develop in Russia only 17 years ago with the creation of the Russian Paralympic Committee. In most Western European countries and the US, involving disabled people in sport dates back to the Fifties. Paralympic sport in Russia was in its infancy in the Nineties and lacked infrastructure and financial support. Programmes had to be set up swiftly to prepare coaching staff and experts in adaptive physical culture; training bases for disciplines needed to be established; equipment and logistics issues resolved. The efforts helped Russia to make a monumental breakthrough in Paralympic sport and become a centre of the international movement. In a short time, the rest of the world began to talk about the “phenomenon”of the successful Russian Paralympic team. Russian athletes first took part in the Paralympics in 1988 on the wave of perestroika (“restructuring”) in the Soviet Union. Back then, only visually impaired athletes competed. They won gold medals solely in track and field and the team finished 12th overall. Since 2006, Russia has consistently taken medals in winter sports team events. At the London Paralympic Games in 2012, Russia produced its best ever performance in summer sports, both in terms of the number of medals won and its table position. The team gained 102 medals (36 gold, 38 silver, 28 bronze) in individual and team disciplines overall. Fortytwo athletes won gold, and 14 world records were set in swimming and athletics. The number of Russian athletes taking part has also risen sharply. The summer team in London had 182 members, compared with the 60 who represented Russia in Atlanta in 1996. As for winter sports, only 26 Russian athletes competed in the Paralympics in Salt Lake City in 2002, while the country’s sporting delegation in Sochi will be 162-strong, including 64 sportsmen and women. For the first time, Russia will participate in all events.

People power

Pushing forward: the grit shown by Paralympians has already started to raise the profile of people with disabilities in Russia

Reaching new heights in 2014

The Paralympic effect Experience shows that the Paralympic Games ultimately do improve the situation for disabled people in the host country. Among the

best examples is China, where in the five years after the 2008 Paralympics, Beijing made enormous efforts to integrate people with disabilities into the community. It is greatly hoped that Russia’s hosting of the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games will help change stereotypical attitudes to disability in society. Official statistics from the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection show there are 13 million people in the country with disabilities, equivalent to 9 per cent of the population. The US is home to 56.7 million disabled people (19 per cent) and England has eight million disabled people (18 per cent). China’s official data suggest it has 83 million disabled people, or 6.3 per cent of the population. In 2012, Russia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and is implementing the Accessible Environment programme, although it remains quite localised. Russia is facing considerable challenges in the rehabilitation of disabled people because of inadequate social infrastructure and a lack of unified approaches and standards for an accessible environment. It remains the case that only 20 per cent of Russians with dis-

GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK

The Sochi programme of events will set new Paralympic records: in nine days of competition, 72 sets of medals will be awarded in five sports (compared with the 64 that were up for grabs at the Vancouver Games in 2010). Parasnowboarding will make its debut as a downhill skiing discipline. Russia’s main rivals in Sochi will be Germany, Canada and the US. In all three countries, the rights of disabled people have been a priority since the middle of the last century. These nations, alongside Britain and its pioneering Stoke Mandeville Games, founded the global Paralympic movement.

These impressive results and the active development of parasports in Russia have come about first because of the athletes’ motivation. For people with disabilities, a sporting career and taking part in the Paralympics are great opportunities to prove to themselves that they can strive for excellence. For Russian athletes, participation and victory in the Paralympics are seen as a springboard to a fuller life and recognition in wider society. Development of disability sport in Russia has also been driven by management co-operation between the Ministry of Sport and the national Paralympic Committee, whose tasks extend beyond developing and supporting Paralympic sport in Russia. It also involves organising assistance for disabled children, promoting the ideas of the international Paralympic movement, training sports professionals to work with the disabled and creating jobs. The success of the Russian Paralympic movement is also underpinned by the joint support of government and business. The Chinese Paralympic team, the undisputed leader in summer sports, is financed from the public purse, while their US counterparts, for example, are funded by the private sector. Business plays a key role in promoting Paralympic sport. It supports the educational side by organising events to honour Paralympians, raising public awareness of their sporting prowess and nurturing a sense of recognition and respect in society at large. The Parasport foundation, together with the Paralympic Committee, holds the Return to Life annual national awards ceremony to celebrate the contributions of athletes, coaches and doctors to the development of Paralympic sport.

ITAR-TASS

From roots to records

abilities are in employment, according to the Ministry of Labour.

Employment challenges The employment of disabled people is a social problem faced by all countries. In 2012, according to the US Bureau of Labour Statistics, only 17.8 per cent of people with disabilities were in employment, compared with 63.9 per cent of people without disabilities. In the UK, according to the Papworth Trust disability charity, in March 2013 the employment rate among people with disabilities in the UK was 49 per cent compared with 81.8 per cent for nondisabled people. The Paralympics often function to remove the psychological barriers between people with disabilities and wider society, a turning point in assisting their integration and socialisation. In Russia, there is still a barrier, especially emotional, between the disabled and the able-bodied. And in most cases, the barrier is erected on both sides. Many parents of disabled children hesitate to send them to educational institutions with an inclusive approach, where“normal”children study side by side with

their disabled contemporaries. In Russia, the integration of children with disabilities into mainstream education only began in the 2000s, and presently just 2 per cent of Russian schools practise this inclusive approach. All these hurdles must be overcome. The Paralympics are not a panacea, but should be seen as a real opportunity to change attitudes to people with disabilities, and to draw public attention to the problems of their social integration and rehabilitation. It is hoped that the 2014 Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi will nudge Russia further towards improvements for people with disabilities. Oleg Boyko is the president and shareholder of the Finstar Financial Group investment holding. Finstar Group operates in financial markets, perfumery and cosmetics retail, entertainment, commercial and retail property. In 1996, Mr. Boyko suffered a serious spinal injury. Today, he heads the Commission for Development of the Paralympic Movement in Russia under the Russian Paralympic Committee. In 2005, he set up the Parasport Foundation in support of the Paralympic movement.

MULTIMEDIA

Scan code for an interview with International Paralympic Committee president Philip Craven.

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PROFILES

Irek Zaripov IMAGO/LEGION MEDIA (2)

AGE: 30 PARALYMPIC GOLD MEDALS: FOUR

Irek Zaripov was the leading individual Russian athlete at the 2010 Paralympics in Vancouver, winning four gold and one silver in skiing and biathlon. The 30 year-old will defend his titles in Sochi before retiring from competitive sport. He says: “I hope my farewell will be positive. I plan to start a political career. But now, of course, all my thoughts

are on my performance at the Paralympics.” Zaripov is confident, successful and strong. But there was a time when he could not find his place in life. At 17, he lost both legs in a car accident. After many operations and hospital stays, Zaripov had two years of despair and loneliness. He laid in bed, just eating, drinking and sleeping, and his weight ballooned.

His parents forced Zaripov to pull himself together. He took up sport – athletics, swimming, skiing – and drove for miles in his wheelchair with biathletes on roller skis. Then a coach noticed him. “When I started doing sport, I realised that it was my world,” Zaripov says. “Life is not dull. I had a goal: to achieve the maximum level in sport.” He has now reached

the heights of human achievement – and not just in sport. “I am absolutely happy,” he says. “I have my parents, wife, children, a great job. What more do I want?” And the secret of his success? “You need persistence for daily workouts. You should not forget your goals. And on the track, fighting with your rivals, you can turn on your ambitions.”

Anna Milenina

AGE: 27 PARALYMPIC GOLD MEDALS: THREE

Anna Milenina (formerly Burmistrova) suffered a trapped nerve at birth, which caused partial paralysis of her arm. With such an injury, her doctors forbade her to do any sports. But Milenina was from an athletic family: her mother is a master of sports in crosscountry skiing and her father is also a skier; her parents even met on the track. Her aunt is a

sports trainer and took on the responsibility of coaching Milenina in defiance of medical opinion. Milenina took up sport at six years old. She was drafted into the national team when she was 14; by the age of 19, she had appeared in Turin at her first Paralympics. Milenina became a champion straightaway, in the 10km ski racing,

and a triple silver medallist in crosscountry skiing and biathlon. At Vancouver 2010, she took two golds, a silver and a bronze. Back home, a surprise awaited: her boyfrend (now husband) Viktor Milenin, proposed to her. He is also a Paralympian and won bronze in volleyball at the Beijing Olympics. A year after the

wedding, the couple had a son. She says: “Life is procreation. So I want to be not only a good athlete, but also a good mother and wife. I think children should always be in the foreground.” And the secret of her success? “Training, training and more training,” Milenina says. “You have to overcome yourself and run until the end.”

History Misha the pioneering 1980 bear

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Seaside paradise of the Soviet workers Retro resort Stalin saw the potential of the Black Sea coast as a playground for the masses and allocated vast state funding SVETLANA SINEPOSTOLOVICH SPECIAL TO RBTH

Modern Sochi owes much of its existence to Joseph Stalin. In 1934, the Soviet leader ordered the allocation of more than a billion roubles towards infrastructure projects in the city, an enormous sum at the time. The health resort’s main road, now called Kurortny Prospect, was originally named Stalin Avenue. A water supply was established, parks were laid out, many sanatoriums were set up, and the nearby Matsesta region was modernised because the Soviet general secretary was especially fond of the healing qualities of its sulphurous waters.

between the rift of the Matsesta river and the Agursky waterfall. Later, the estate became the location of Stalin's rural dacha, Zelenaya Rosha (“Green Grove”). Today it is a museum and mini-hotel, all part of the Zelenaya Rosha sanatorium complex. The Soviet ruler travelled to the region on his personal train from Moscow. Several carriages bearing the number “1” would travel on the railway track to prevent people identifying the one containing Stalin and his security team. Security was also paramount at the Sochi dacha, with three protective cordons around the leader. Even his furniture was built by special order and filled with horsehair thick enough to halt a bullet should anything go wrong.

LORI/LEGION MEDIA

Misha was the first commercially successful mascot of a sports event, appearing in opening and closing ceremonies, on merchandise, in a cartoon film and TV series, now common practice for sports mascots

When Stalin went green in Sochi

War and peace

The general secretary himself returned to his dacha in 1945 when the country could finally celebrate its war victory

The leader’s residence Stalin stayed on the Mikhailovskoye estate when he first started coming to Sochi. The buildings were set on a mountain ridge

Sochi quickly became the Soviet Union’s main holiday resort. Many important decisions were also made here. English historians, citing information from British security services, recently stated that Stalin was on holiday in Sochi just before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, though official statements placed him in Moscow. Perhaps it was one of his body doubles on the Black Sea coast: there were said to be four in total. During the war, Stalin’s family lived at his Sochi residence. The general secretary himself returned to his dacha in 1945, when the country could finally celebrate its victory in the war. Stalin was not feeling well and was being treated by three doctors after

Miron Merzhanov, a young Soviet architect, designed Stalin's residence, ensuring fresh sea and mountain air flowed through the rooms. The kitchen was

located in a separate building as the Soviet ruler could not bear the smell of food and clatter of tableware. Steps to the second floor were set low because Stalin's rheumatism meant he could not take big steps. The façade of the building was painted emerald green to blend with the surroundings – a security measure to make the dacha less visible, since Stalin was concerned about assassination attempts.

suffering a stroke. During the evenings, he would sit and watch black-and-white films, such as the comedy Volga-Volga, and performances by Charlie Chaplin in his personal movie theatre. He planted lemon and tangerine trees and was happy when they started to bear fruit.

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The Soviet leader also ordered eucalyptus trees to be planted all around Sochi as part of a campaign to eradicate malaria sickness among the local population. The local administration started laying out parks,

squares and flower gardens once more. The city’s sanatoriums, which had been used as hospitals during the war, returned to being holiday resorts for Soviet workers. Among the best known were Voroshilova, Ordzhonikidze, Frunze, Pravda and Metallurg, located in monumental buildings that had been erected at Stalin’s command, and which have been preserved to this day. They resemble real palaces with pillars and decorative ceilings, in line with Stalin’s belief that every Soviet citizen should be able to relax and restore their health in wonderful surroundings so they would work even harder when their holiday was over.

August and September retreat Stalin began spending more time in Sochi, from August until September, which meant that government leaders had to come to him from Moscow. Stalin Avenue was thoroughly washed three times a day, and people were not allowed to drive along it if the vehicle had dirty tyres. On one occasion, in September 1947, Stalin surprised holidaymakers by arriving unexpectedly at the Kavkazskaya Riviera sanatorium in the centre of Sochi. The general secretary got out of his limousine and went straight to the café, where he asked the guests what they thought of the sanatorium, whether the food was of good quality and how they liked Sochi. Local children who surrounded Stalin were rewarded with a gift of chocolate sweets from the leader himself.

How ingenuity outran the Moscow boycott Soviet success The organisers of the 1980 Games weathered the American-led embargo VASILY ANDREYEV

In 1980, Moscow became the first Eastern Bloc capital to host the Olympic Games. The historic decision had been taken on October 23, 1974, at the 75th session of the International Olympic Committee in Vienna. Los Angeles and Moscow were the contenders in the final vote, which went in favour of the Soviet Union by 39 votes to 20. The country began preparing for its first Games and for the first Soviet Olympic torch relay. The torch began its journey on June 21 in Athens, and continued from the Greek capital into the communist bloc via Sofia, Bucharest, Chisinau, Kiev and Kharkov until finally reaching Moscow. The Soviet Union had just five years to prepare for the Games and the organisers seemingly managed to do the impossible in that time. More than 90 Olympic facilities were built, including the Olimpiysky Sports Centre, a rowing canal and velodrome in Krylatskoye, the Sheremetyevo-2 airport terminal, the Cosmos hotel, the Olympic village, a new building at the Ostankino TV centre, and the Olympic press centre, which now houses the RIA Novosti news agency. In addition, the Izmailovo hotel complex was built, which made it to the Guinness Book of Records as Europe’s biggest hotel, capable of housing 10,000 guests. Supplementing the newbuild venues was the Central Lenin Stadium (now the Luzhniki), the country’s largest sports arena. The Moscow metro was given a facelift for the Olympics as well. To foreign visitors it seemed like a veritable museum, beautiful and grand. Its impressive architecture was augmented with rapid escalators and electronic clocks; new fluorescent lamps were installed in the carriages. Station announcements were made in Russian and English, while travel cards were printed in English, German and French. Most of the facilities that were built for the 1980 Olympics continue to be used to this day, demonstrating that the legacy of the Moscow Games has served the public well for decades after the original sporting event. Sheremetyevo-2 is now one of Moscow’s main air hubs, while the Ostankino television centre is used to full capacity, and the Cosmos continues as one of Moscow’s more affordable hotels. There is a widely held view that the USSR had to borrow heavily from abroad to finance

GETTY IMAGES/FOTOBANK

KOMMERSANT

Face of triumph: Sebastian Coe wins 1500m Moscow gold ahead of his British rival Steve Ovett, who took bronze

the building of the infrastructure for the 1980 Olympics. That is not true. To raise funds for the “construction project of the century” and to avoid strains on the state budget, the Soviet leadership took an unconventional step for a centrally planned economic system: they decided to hold a national sports lottery. Eight draws were held across the USSR and half the revenues went to fund the preparation of the Soviet teams for the Games. Millions of people took part in the Olympic lottery, making their contribution to the success of Moscow 1980. The US-led boycott of the 1980 Olympics by a number of countries, in response to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, produced an unexpected technological legacy for the Games.

THE NUMBERS

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sets of medals were awarded in 21 different sports in Moscow, with 80 golds going to the Soviet Union.

countries boycotted the Olympics as a protest against the entrance of Soviet forces into Afghanistan in 1979.

countries sent teams to Moscow, including 24 African nations that had boycotted the previous Olympics in Montreal.

It had originally been planned that equipment for the live TV transmissions would be supplied and installed by leading American specialists. However, when the companies concerned complied with the US boycott, the Soviet Union was forced to resolve all the technological questions by itself. As a result, television studios, video cameras, video recorders and monitors were all manufactured by Soviet factories. Their efforts at producing highquality equipment won high marks from foreign colleagues in leading TV and radio companies. Everybody noted the improvements in Moscow before the Games, as well as the surge in patriotism and enthusiasm for sport that the Olympics generated. “Everything was impeccably clean, there were smartly dressed people in the streets. Everything was organised at the best possible level,” says Tatyana Kochergina, a handball champion at the Games. Foreign athletes were also impressed by how well the Moscow Games were organised. For instance, Elisabeth Max-Theurer, the 1980 Olympic champion in individual dressage from Austria, admitted that she was in tears when “the big Russian bear was floating away into the sky” at the closing ceremony. The symbol of the Moscow Games, Misha the bear, is still considered to be one of the best sports mascots in Olympic history, as far as his emotional impact and the memories that he generated. For the people of the Soviet Union, the Olympics became the main sporting event of their lifetime, presenting them with an opportunity to become part of Games history and to showcase their country’s culture for the rest of the world to see. Internationally, the Moscow Olympics considerably boosted the Soviet Union’s image in the political arena. Contrary to expectations, the USSR demonstrated its ability to conduct global-scale events. Economically, long-term contracts were signed with partners in the West and East, serving to improve Soviet relations with other countries.Yet the main outcome of the Games was that a curtain of mistrust and misunderstanding was lifted: the 1980 Olympics allowed many foreigners to see the Soviet Union in a new light. Summing up the results of the Games at a session of the International Olympic Committee executive board in Lausanne in October 1980, its newly elected chairman, Juan Antonio Samaranch, said that Moscow had set a new benchmark for the staging of the event for the quality of organisation and technical support, the cultural programme and working conditions for the media.

Days before the Opening Ceremony, keep your finger on the Sochi pulse with our special section

Comment & Analysis Britain at the Winter Olympics

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Great Britain has competed at every Winter Olympics since the event was established in 1924, despite not being renowned as a winter sports nation. Its athletes have won just 22 medals from the past 21 Games, including 9 golds

ART OF DIPLOMACY

THE BOYCOTT CALL FLOPPED: NOW SEE WHO WILL BE THERE

Sochi: new beginnings when the party is over

Gevorg Mirzayan POLITICAL ANALYST

Alexander Yakovenko AMBASSADOR

KONSTANTIN MALER

The Winter Olympics, a landmark event for Russian elite and people alike, open in Sochi in a few days’ time. The run-up to the Games has been marred by an extremely negative campaign driven by media, politicians and civil society activists in the West, who have called on world leaders to boycott the Olympics. The reasons given have included allegations of widespread corruption during the construction of Games facilities; the cruelty of the Russian authorities towards the population of the North Caucasus; the treatment of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and a ban on gay pride parades; numerous human rights violations; and the conflicts between Russia and Europe over Ukraine and Syria. The campaigners said that President Vladimir Putin had to be punished. At first glance, it seems the campaign has been a success because a number of VIPs have decided to stay away. President Dalia Grybauskaite of Lithuania, explaining her absence, said: “When I see human rights violations and the behaviour towards eastern partners, economic sanctions, including against Lithuania, I see no political possibility of attending the Sochi games.” The EU Commissioner for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship,Viviane Reding, declared: “I will certainly not go to Sochi as long as minorities are treated the way they are under the current Russian legislation.” President Joachim Gauck of Germany, a regular critic of Russia’s rights record, has also refused to visit Sochi. Other leaders have declined to attend without giving any clear explanation, including the presidents of the US, France, Poland, Estonia and Moldova, as well as the German Chancellor and the UK, Belgian, Canadian and Israeli prime ministers.The media began to talk of a repeat of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, when the US led a boycott of the Games in protest at the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979. In reality, the leaders’ absence from Sochi is not a tragedy for the Winter Olympics. First, there is no boycott. Unlike in 1980, all the teams will take part, even Georgia – despite its continuing territorial dispute with Russia over Abkhazia, a few kilometres from Sochi. Second, only second-rank political leaders publicly connected their absence with rights violations in Russia. The refusal of others to attend can be explained by the lack of “a special relationship”with PresidentVladimir Putin rather than political animosity – they just do not feel a need to make an exception for him. “Barack Obama was not in Vancouver or in London despite the fact that Canada and the

Unlike in 1980, all the teams will take part, even Georgia – despite its dispute with Russia

United Kingdom are the closest allies of the United States,” Russian political analyst Sergei Markedonov said. “Angela Merkel has not been to any Olympics during her eight years as German Chancellor. British prime ministers also rarely come to the Winter Olympics – the UK never had a strong team in winter sports.” Both David Cameron and Mrs Merkel have strongly condemned any idea of a Sochi boycott as counterproductive. Analysts argue that a mass stayaway would only strengthen Mr Putin’s support among the Russian public, who would regard such behaviour by western leaders as disrespectful to him and Russia. Much more important than the absence of Mr Cameron and Mr Obama is, for example, the presence of the Dutch Royal Family. Moscow and Amsterdam argued last year over attacks on diplomatic personnel and the detention of the crew of a Greenpeace vessel in the Arctic, but King Willem-Alexander will be in Sochi. Georgia’s limited political participation is

telling. Despite the mutual distrust between Georgia and Russia, Irakli Garibashvili, the Georgian prime minister, offered his help with security. The presence of President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and Alexander Lukashenko, the leader of Belarus, two countries planning to join the proposed Eurasian Union, is also very important. There will be around 20 European leaders, among them the Italian and Finnish prime ministers and the Austrian Chancellor. It is possible that Mrs Merkel will change her position and come to Sochi. President Xi Jinping of China will be in Sochi, and a high possibility that Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, will attend. Given the current situation in East Asia, Tokyo needs to show Mr Putin respect and enlist Moscow’s support for any future conflict with Beijing. The failure of a boycott means that the Olympics will not be a symbol of isolation but a means to promote peace between peoples. Just like it was in ancient times.

Team GB hope bulldog spirit can translate to record medal haul

Timur Ganeev

No one would dispute that Britain is better at summer sports than winter ones. The figures speak for themselves: Team GB failed to bring home a single medal in seven of their 21 Winter Olympics. At Vancouver 2010, British athletes managed just one, when Amy Williams struck gold in the skeleton. Moreover, only Russians who are well versed in the various World Cups played out in winter are likely to know the names of the British athletes, even those coming to compete in Sochi. This is against a background of Britain’s hugely successful performance in the 2012 Summer Games on home territory, where the team won 29 golds. It is also true that the winter team currently has no stars with the profile of Andy Murray, Mo Farah, Chris Hoy or Bradley Wiggins. The Sochi Olympics are a chance to put that right. Elise Christie, for example, in short-track speedskating, is very strong over 1,000m while Lizzie Yarnold and Shelley Rudman have big medal chances in the women’s skeleton. Rudman, now 32, is a former track and field athlete who was so impressed by Alex Coomber’s bronze in the Salt Lake City Games in 2002 that she switched to skeleton racing herself. Of course, the standard of competition on the starting lines could upset all preOlympic expectations but, even if none of the above wins, Britain has a good chance of adding to its medal haul. Scotland and

KONSTANTIN MALER

SPORTS JOURNALIST

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Curling… heaven only knows why the Scots are so enamoured of this particular sport, but their team does better year after year

curling come to mind first. Heaven only knows why the Scots are so enamoured of this particular sport but their team does better year after year, and the competition among players for places might be envied even by Canada, a country with more than 1,000 curling rinks. Scotland’s women won the 2013 World Championship in Latvia and the men have been among the medal winners at three recent international competitions, with two silvers and a bronze. There will be competition from Sweden and Canada and,

EUGENE ABOV PUBLISHER, PAVEL GOLUB CHIEF EXECUTIVE EDITOR, MARIA AFONINA EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF WESTERN EUROPE, ILYA KROL EDITOR, UK EDITION, ALEXANDRA GUZEVA ASSISTANT EDITOR, TONY HALPIN GUEST EDITOR, OLGA DMITRIEVA ASSOCIATE EDITOR (UK), PAUL CARROLL SUBEDITOR, SEAN HUGGINS SUBEDITOR, ANDREY SHIMARSKY ART DIRECTOR, MILLA DOMOGATSKAYA HEAD OF PRE-PRINT DEPARTMENT, ANDREI ZAITSEV PHOTO EDITOR, SHAUNA MASSEY PROOFREADER

in the women’s event, even from Russia, but Britain’s chances of a medal have never been better. Britain’s 2012-13 ice dance champions, Penny Coombes and Nick Buckland, who are both 24, could also be in with the chance of a medal, according to Russian bookmakers. Their overall bronze at the European Championship may prove misleading, however; the medals will most probably go to Russia, Canada, the US or France. Britain is not even competing in the most eagerly awaited contest of the Games – the ice hockey. Sadly, this sport, which is so popular in Russia, is not a favourite with the British public. Will there be much demand for it among British television viewers? Probably not. It takes place in the middle of the English Premier League season when Russian owner Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea will once again be trying to top the table under second-time-around manager, José Mourinho. This all goes to show that the Winter Olympics could be lost on the British viewing public all together. Big wins generate interest and there have been none so far. In this respect, the Sochi Winter Olympics could be a turning point. Just imagine: gold in the skeleton, two silvers in curling and two bronzes in the skeleton and ice dancing. Just five medals. It would be Team GB’s biggest achievement ever at the Winter Olympics. Another outcome is also possible for Team GB – winning only one or two medals or even none at all. In that case, it will be very difficult to win young people over to winter sports. So, there is a mighty mission ahead for Team GB. Will it be mission accomplished? We don’t have long to wait until we find out.

E-PAPER VERSION OF THIS SUPPLEMENT IS AVAILABLE AT WWW.RBTH.RU TO ADVERTISE IN THIS SUPPLEMENT CONTACT SALES@RBTH.RU © COPYRIGHT 2014, ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALEXANDER GORBENKO CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, PAVEL NEGOITSA GENERAL DIRECTOR, VLADISLAV FRONIN CHIEF EDITOR.

Letters from readers, guest columns and cartoons labelled “Comments”, “Viewpoint” or appearing on the “Opinion” and “Comment & Analysis” pages of this supplement are selected to represent a broad range of views and do not necessarily represent those of the editors of Russia Beyond the Headlines or Rossiyskaya Gazeta. Please send letters to the editor to UK@rbth.ru

n little more than a week, the Winter Olympic Games start in Sochi, but the prospects after this landmark event are visible now. I am talking about the development of the region and the increased attractiveness of Russia for foreign investors. A successful Games, organised on the principles of sustainable development, will leave a rich legacy. This legacy means positive changes in social, economic and environmental areas after the Games. Construction of all Olympic venues in Sochi is successfully accomplished. The Olympic legacy today is more than 400 building projects, 140 of which will be owned by the city. During the preparation for Sochi 2014, more than 220 miles of roads and 125 miles of railways, and more than 100 bridges and 22 tunnels were built in the region. Many innovative approaches are applied in Sochi: the city is the first in Russia to introduce the “zero waste” principle. Both municipal landfills are closed and all waste is removed outside the resort. Direct investment for the specific preparation of the Olympic Games in Sochi comes to approximately £4bn; the overall cost for getting the Sochi area into shape for the Games is £30bn. British Prime Minister David Cameron was able to see in person the progress made in Sochi, when he visited the city in May 2013 and met President Vladimir Putin. As practice shows, the economic impact of the Games becomes feasible only after three to five years, but if foreign investors want to take advantage of this huge opportunity they should act now. In other words, the warm subtropical Sochi climate could turn into a good investment climate. Many British companies are already contributing to Sochi’s Olympic preparations in such sectors as construction, design, ecology, security, power supply, legal and financial services, education, marketing and PR. They include Mace, Populous, Arup, JCB and Aggreko – a few dozen in all. Russia demonstrates the intention to increase the pace of co-operation with foreign companies and already has all the necessary conditions for that. Tourist agencies now offer excellent travel packages to Krasnodar – the region in which Sochi is located. Those who have never been to Russia, and shape their views on the basis of newspaper and television reports, or even rumour, should take this opportunity to see the country for themselves. For example, the largely critical reaction of some western countries to the new Russian legislation banning promotion of non-traditional sexual relations among minors is largely caused by the lack of understanding of the details of this law. Simply put, it is not a prohibition of nontraditional relationships in Russia, but a guarantee that they will not influence the younger generation, which has the right to make their own choice. In this regard, the fears expressed by many people that gay Olympic athletes will be in danger upon arrival in Russia have no basis whatsoever. When Sochi was chosen as an Olympic host, it became part of a brand which draws on the recognition, success and reliability afforded to previous Olympic cities. This brand is a guarantee of worldwide recognition for investors. Summing up, we emphasise that now is the best time for foreign companies intending to launch new business projects or to increase their presence in Russia. Many Russian regions are ready to provide favourable conditions for investors. The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi will begin in a week, but the competition for promising new projects in Russia has already begun. And the results of these “games” will benefit more people by far.

Alexander Yakovenko is Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom. He was previously Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

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TATYANA RUBLEVA RBTH REPRESENTATIVE IN UK TATYANA.RUBLEVA@RBTH.RU

Features Marine rooms with a view

P8_Tuesday, January 28, 2014_www.rbth.co.uk

Seven cruise liners are being turned into floating hotels for the Sochi Olympics. Four will be docked at the Bolshoi Sochi Port and three at the Sochi Imeretinsky Port. They have three to five-star ratings

The four seasons: just another winter’s day in sultry Sochi Weather guide Sochi does not fit the stereotype of freezing Russian winters so come prepared for a range of elemental challenges LILIA STEFANOVA SPECIAL TO RBTH

You should take sunglasses. You will find it will be much easier on a sunny winter day to admire the reflections on the surface of the sea or the sparkling snowflakes on the slopes if you have a decent pair of shades to cut down the glare.

In winter, in Sochi you definitely need an umbrella because it rains more often than it snows. It is extremely rare for the city to get frosts; even in lofty Krasnaya Polyana, the temperature can be as high as 10 degrees. So don’t expect to find yourself in a Siberian-style snow storm.

You should definitely come with comfortable, waterproof footwear. Just in case, take both rubber insulated boots and warm leather boots.

If you are going to Sochi, it is worth taking both a warm furry coat and a light jacket with you. Nobody will be able to tell you what to wear the following day, though; winter in Sochi is magical, unpredictable and quite often fools the weather forecasters. If your coat is made with fur, then it is better to have it warming you from the inside of the garment. Otherwise, the high humidity levels can quickly make your furry collar or fur coat appear more like a wet, shaggy dog.

Despite the fact that you are travelling to the south, take a hat, scarf and a pair of gloves. If you are going to spend most of the time in Krasnaya Polyana, you cannot do without these things. Headgear does not need to be very warm, but snug enough to protect you against the wind.

One more tip. You will probably see people sunbathing on the beach or even swimming in the winter sea. Don’t feel obliged be as plucky: the weather is deceptive. Even if the air is warm enough, the sea temperature can be as low as 10 degrees. The bathers are almost certainly Sochi locals, who have had years of practice at swimming in the sea in any weather. So if you have no experience of cold-water bathing, it is better to relax on the shore.

Some like it hot: the amazing alpine view from the British Banya spa complex in Krasnaya Polyana

Coolest hotspots that promise personal peaks of perfection

MIKHAIL MORDASOV (4)

Sochi is known as the summer capital of Russia because President Vladimir Putin’s summer residence is situated in the city. It boasts a rare “natural cocktail”: a combination of alpine zones and a Mediterranean climate, which are only 50km (30 miles) apart. The weather in Sochi is created both by the Caucasus Mountains and the Black Sea. The mountain range protects the resort from the cold winds from the north and east, while the sea acts like a living organism – in summer it absorbs heat and gradually warms up, then cools in winter as it releases its accumulated warmth. In fact, every winter in Sochi is a surprise. One year, fashion conscious young women worry that they will not be able to wear their new fur coat as it is too warm; the next comes a real winter with lots of snow and strong winds. There is also the humidity to contend with. However, winter in Sochi lasts only for a brief time, and it often happens that the second or third day of “winter” sees the beginning of a thaw, when babbling streams appear on the streets, the sun shines brightly and the birds start chirping. In Sochi, like in any sub-tropical area, rain is never very far away. The rainfall increases during the colder seasons and peaks in December. The level of humidity also changes as well and can reach 70 per cent in winter. This is an amazing sight: as you walk about, there is a cloud around you. The average winter temperature in the city is 6-7 degrees, while at night it sinks to zero. The temperature is markedly cooler in the nearby mountain region of Krasnaya Polyana, which can be 10-15 degrees cooler. However, there are a few general rules that apply both to Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana, so here are a few tips to help you dress for the weather.

Covering the cultures: the British Banya has…

…a range of therapies from all around the world, including the chance...

Spa treatments Let Sochi’s soothing array of saunas, banyas, baths and healing sulphur springs combine to ease your cares away SVETLANA SINEPOSTOLOVICH SPECIAL TO RBTH

Joseph Stalin’s favourite resort continues to offer an impressive array of health centres, saunas, sanatoriums and swimming pools to suit every taste. If you do not have time to visit the sanatoriums in Sochi, do not to miss the chance of a banya, a Russian sauna: it would be a crime not to experience it. The only sort of sauna hotter than the Russian is the Finnish (50-70C), but the Russian is one of the most humid, at 80 to 100 per cent humidity.

Russian saunas The British Banya is a spa complex right in the heart of Krasnaya Polyana, founded in 2007 by a couple of enthusiasts. He is British and she is Russian. Now only the name remains from its British roots. But it is still a brilliant place to take a rest and feel the beauty of the Caucasian weather. Komsomolskyi St, Krasnaya Polyana. Phone: 8-(918)-607-66-11 The Banya Land health complex in Krasnaya Polyana offers several types of steaming based on Russian traditions. The heated steam is a full-body “massage” with four bunches of oak twigs and a contrasting dousing with freezing water. There are also specialists who provide steam saunas for children. The process for children is more like a game, but an excellent way to acquaint them with Russian traditions. 74 Zapovednaya St, Krasnaya Polyana. Phone: 8-(862) 243-70-44; 8-(918)-408-45-12 The Parus thermal health complex is a threelevel aquazone with waterfalls, swimming pools

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...to get into the swing in a suspended hot tub

and the world’s most popular types of steam rooms.Visitors can choose from a range of baths: Russian, Finnish,Turkish, Roman, Arab and herbal. There is also an infrared health sauna room, where special lamps directly heat the body. After the rigours of the procedure, a dunk in the icy fountain or the relaxing“shower of impressions” with a different style of water stream will help you cool off. The complex serves tea made from Krasnaya Polyana’s high- mountain plants. 86/3 Kurortny Prospekt, Sochi. Phone: 8-(862) 246-82-30

between the water, air and body offers an unimaginable cornucopia of sensations and feelings. One of the best known pools is at the Grand Hotel Zhemchuzhina; at 50m (164ft) long, 25m wide and more than 4m deep, it is the biggest in Sochi. There is also a 20m square children’s pool that is no more than 1.2m (4ft) deep. Both pools are outdoors, but are open all year round, and the water temperature is kept at 27C. 3 Chernomorskaya St, Sochi. Phone: 8-(862) 266-83-93

The sauna at the Chetyre Vershiny guesthouse offers traditional steaming under prairie hay with bunches of eucalyptus or oak twigs. Old Russian massages and a bath in a pool of the cleanest mineral water help to produce utter satisfaction and complete relaxation. Services for guests include many additional health procedures, along with massages and a phyto bar with a roaring fire. 10 Esta-sadok, Krasnaya Polyana. Phone: 8-(862) 243-92-22; 8-(988)-239-88-83

Sulphur springs

The sauna at the Melodiya Gor hotel offers guests the chance to experience first-hand all the charm of Russian steam traditions – a massage with honey and salt, steaming, a hot wrap with oak leaves, and immersion in wooden barrels filled with freezing water. Unforgettable sensations and a feeling of lightness are provided by the distinctive soapy massage using eucalyptus twigs. The wooden cabin where the sauna is located provides a perfect setting for both solitary relaxation and socialising. 77/2 Estonskaya St, Krasnaya Polyana. Phone: 8-(862) 2439-202; 8-(928)-665-54-11; 8-(862) 295-51-20; 8-(862) 295-51-22

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Seawater swimming pools

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Sochi has several outdoor swimming pools with heated seawater. The temperature difference

The Matsesta river, famed for his healthy waters, flows through Sochi. The healing properties of the sulphur springs were discovered in the last century and, ever since, the waters have attracted patients with a wide range of ailments. A cup filled with Matsesta water is in the centre of Sochi’s official seal. The Matsesta spa is open all year. It has several unique procedures on offer: in addition to the sulphur baths, there is iodine-bromine balneotherapy, which makes use of the local mineral springs. Bathing in mineral-rich warm water is believed to have a positive effect on the cardiovascular and nervous systems, improving overall immunity. More traditional health procedures are complemented by mud treatments. The Matsesta spa offers plenty of ways to sink from head to toe in choice healing mud that is heated to a comfortable temperature, and contains sulphur, iron, potassium, sodium, magnesium, nitrogen and more. This procedure is thought to relieve aching joints and make varicose veins fade. The cost of a treatment depends on the quantity and types of bath. Average prices run from 5,000 (£90) to 20,000 roubles. A hotline is available for people to call if they have questions: 8-(800) 200-04-34. The call is free from any Russian phone number. 14 Cheltenkhem Ave, Sochi.

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