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Sport And Athletes Experience Key To Sochi Success


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The International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Coordination Commission for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, led by its Chairman, the Frenchman Jean-Claude Killy, has brought to a close two days of meetings with the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee in the Russian host city (13-14 May 2009). Joined for part of the trip by the Presidents and Secretaries General of the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations, the Commission was pleased to see that sport and the athletes were playing a central role in all areas of the project’s development and planning.

The Finest Experience
Speaking at the close of the meetings, Jean-Claude Killy said, “The success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is ultimately based upon the Organising Committee’s ability to deliver a high quality field of play and a great experience for all the competitors and visitors during their stay. With that in mind, our colleagues from the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations visited the sites of the competition venues this week and got a detailed understanding of the plans for each one. Along with the Coordination Commission, they were impressed by the plans and will continue to work closely with Sochi 2014 and its new athletes’ commission, chaired by my IOC colleague Alexander Popov, in order to perfect them, as we all continue towards our objective of giving the world’s winter sportsmen and women the finest experience in 2014.”

A Catalyst For Development
Killy also noted, “We must not underestimate the size and complexity of what our Russian friends will achieve here. When we look at the work that is being done in areas such as transportation, infrastructure development and technological upgrades for the whole region, it is absolutely immense. As Deputy Prime Minister for the Olympic Games and Regional Development Dmitry Kozak has pointed out, this project has the full support of the Russian Government because it is part of a much wider regeneration of the region, in addition to being a great way for the Government to invest in this time of economic downturn. The Games are a catalyst for this development but it also increases the organisational challenge, which is why we have a highly competent Deputy Prime Minister in the person of Aleksandr Zhukov, as Chairman of the Sochi 2014 Supervisory Council, looking after the organisation of the Games.” He concluded, “A lot of advances have been made since our last visit and we have also taken some important steps forward during our meetings this week, but as I have said in the past, time is not a luxury that we have to play with on this project. The Sochi team must therefore ensure that it makes its decisions in a timely manner, so as to maintain its ambitious schedule. However, with the high calibre of the people in front of us and the impressive detail of the reports over the past two days, I am confident that Sochi 2014, ably led by its President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko, will deliver.”

Sochi 2014
Sochi was elected as the host city for the XXII Olympic Winter Games at the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City on 4 July 2007. Sochi won the vote against the cities of Salzburg (Austria) and PyeongChang (Republic of Korea) in the second round of voting. The Russian city edged out PyeongChang 51 votes to 47, with Salzburg having been eliminated in round one. The Sochi Games will play host to the seven Olympic Winter sports currently on the Olympic programme and will run from 7 to 23 February 2014.



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