FEA TURE — SOCHI WINTER OL Y MPICS
President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, in contrast to the cultural programme of the London 2012 Summer Olympics, which is mainly aimed at promoting contemporary art, Sochi’s programme will be dedicated to the traditional Russian culture.
Benefits & Risks Despite the numerous benefits that are associated with the organisation of a Winter Olympic Games, there are also a number of potential risks. According to some experts, there is the possibility that the new facilities will not attract patrons post-Games due to the generally low popularity of winter sports in Russia, as well as the spe- cific geographical location of Sochi and its status as a sub-tropical resort. In addition, the ever growing rates of Olympic construction may create the risk of damage to the City’s ecosystem. Dmitry Kaptsov a representative of Environmental
Watch in the North Caucasus commented: “The situation with the Olympic Games in Sochi remains very difficult in terms of environment. This is ever reflected by the continuing damage to the Sochi National Park, and the City’s main river, Mzymta, as a result of a massive Sochi construction. Finally, the process of resettlement of local people from the Imereti Valley with simultaneous buying of their plots is also associated with serious problems.”
Prospects & Security Despite the fact that the investment in the Moscow Sum- mer Olympic Games in 1980 was not paid off, all of the sports facilities that were built are currently still in use. In addition, many of the modern Moscow luxury hotels
were constructed at that period of time. In this regard, the Russian government hopes that all the Olympic facil- ities will continue to be used after the Olympics, as has been the case in Moscow. According to the estimates of the analysts from the
international Noev-kovcheg business paper, the Sochi Olympics is expected to be recouped within 5-10 years. The selling of broadcasting rights will allow organisers to earn only USD$1-1,5bn, another USD$1,9bn will be brought in by the 7,000,000 tourists (which are expected to visit Sochi during the Olympics) as a result of their spending. Much will also depend on how effectively the Olym- pic facilities will be used in the future. At present, Sochi is still mostly considered in Russia as a beach resort, despite all the recent attempts of the government to position itself as a winter resort. In the meantime, some of the Russian analysts have
already warned the government about the possibility of a repetition of the scenario of Athens post its hosting of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, after which the over- seas debt of Greece amounted to 50,000 euro per capita. This was mainly the result of overstated investments in preparation for the Games and low revenue earned as a result of their organisation. Finally, in addition to the development of infrastruc-
ture, significant attention is expected to be paid to secu- rity issues, not least as Sochi is not far from Chechnya and other separatist republics. According to Vladimir Pronichev, the Director of the Russian Border Guard Serv- ice, a new system of maritime security is expected to be adopted for the Black Sea by 2014. ✪
The Sochi Olympic Stadium will expand from an initial capacity of 30,000 seats to 45,000 seats for the Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup™ and then reduce to 25,000 seats
in legacy mode. IMAGE: POPULOUS
20 th AN N I V ER S AR Y
P AR T
II/ S U M M ER 1 2
P AN S T AD I A
19
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164 |
Page 165 |
Page 166 |
Page 167 |
Page 168 |
Page 169 |
Page 170 |
Page 171 |
Page 172 |
Page 173 |
Page 174 |
Page 175 |
Page 176 |
Page 177 |
Page 178 |
Page 179 |
Page 180 |
Page 181 |
Page 182 |
Page 183 |
Page 184 |
Page 185 |
Page 186 |
Page 187 |
Page 188 |
Page 189 |
Page 190 |
Page 191 |
Page 192 |
Page 193 |
Page 194 |
Page 195 |
Page 196 |
Page 197 |
Page 198 |
Page 199 |
Page 200 |
Page 201 |
Page 202 |
Page 203 |
Page 204 |
Page 205 |
Page 206 |
Page 207 |
Page 208 |
Page 209 |
Page 210 |
Page 211 |
Page 212 |
Page 213 |
Page 214 |
Page 215 |
Page 216 |
Page 217 |
Page 218 |
Page 219 |
Page 220