Russia, Sochi
Olympics in Sochi 2014: opening of the Olympics, regions, Olympic Games 2014, anthem and symbols, dates of the Olympics in Sochi 2014.
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On February 7, 2014, the XXII Winter Olympic Games opened in Sochi. This is the second Olympics for Russia; the first, the 1980 Olympics, is remembered even by those who were just children when it was held in Moscow. But that was summer, and this is winter - everything is completely different, and again the country was worried, as the first time. The fact that Sochi, the resort city and “summer capital” of Russia, was chosen as the venue for the winter sports competition was initially confusing. However, it immediately became clear that this was just another challenge, an additional reason for pride: Sochi became the first city with a subtropical climate to host the Winter Olympic Games.
Sochi's bid to host the 2014 Games was declared the winner at the 119th session of the International Olympic Committee on July 4, 2007. According to tradition, at the closing ceremony of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, the Olympic flag was ceremoniously handed over to the mayor of Sochi, Anatoly Pakhomov, after which the Russian flag was raised over the stadium and spectators in the stands and on TV screens witnessed the presentation of Sochi as the host of the next Winter Olympics. The performance included model Natalya Vodianova, prima ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina, figure skaters Tatyana Navka and Roman Kostomarov, opera singer Maria Guleghina, and the Mariinsky Theater Symphony Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev. At the end of the performance, a huge logo of the Sochi Olympics appeared at the stadium.
The 2014 Games were held at two venues. The Krasnaya Polyana ski resort, 39 km from the city, hosted open-air sports competitions: bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, downhill, etc. Among other Olympic facilities, the Rzhanaya Polyana bobsleigh and luge track and the Rosa Khutor ski complex appeared here. "(its first phase was opened at the end of 2010) and the mountain Olympic village.
And in Sochi itself, a grandiose Olympic park was built to host competitions in figure skating, hockey, speed skating, curling - in general, those sports that require indoor spaces.
The Olympic Park in Sochi included the following facilities:
- Large Ice Arena - hockey, 12,000 spectators,
- Small Ice Arena - hockey, 7000 spectators,
- Skating center - speed skating, 8000 spectators,
- Ice Sports Palace - figure skating, short track, 12,000 spectators,
- Curling arena - curling, 3000 spectators,
- Olympic Stadium, 40,000 spectators,
- Main Olympic Village.
The Organizing Committee of the Sochi Olympics presented the emblem of the Games on December 1, 2009, and on February 26, 2011, the results of the popular vote were summed up and three mascots for the upcoming Olympics were selected - a polar bear, a leopard and a hare. The anthem of the games was a song recorded for Sochi’s application to the IOC by Russian pop stars.
The Olympic Games in Sochi lasted 17 days, 92 sets of medals were competed in 15 sports. The right to host the Olympics in itself means recognition of Russia as a strong player in the international arena. And such a major sporting event always contributes to the development of the infrastructure of the region in which it is held, increasing the level of attractiveness of the region for tourists and the international prestige of the host country.
Sochi became the first city with a subtropical climate to host the Winter Olympic Games.
In order to be involved in the most important sporting event in the life of the country, it was not at all necessary to be a member of the organizing committee of the Games. The Olympic and Paralympic Games could not be organized and held without the participation of enthusiastic volunteers. 25 thousand volunteers were involved in the Sochi Olympics.
Historical trailer from the opening of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi
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winter Olympic Games 2014 (XXII Winter Olympic Games)- an international sporting event that took place from February 7 to 23, 2014 in the Russian city of Sochi.
Select city
On June 22, 2006, IOC President Jacques Rogge named three candidate cities out of seven applicants (Haka, Almaty, Sofia, Borjomi, Sochi, Salzburg, Pyeongchang). They were Sochi, Salzburg and Pyeongchang.
On July 4, 2007, the next, 119th session of the IOC took place in Guatemala, at which the host city of the Olympics was chosen.
Immediately before the voting, presentations of the candidate cities were held. Sochi was represented by athletes: Svetlana Zhurova, Evgeniy Plushenko, Mikhail Terentyev (Paralympian) and Alexander Popov; sports functionaries: Vyacheslav Fetisov, Elena Anikina, Shamil Tarpishchev, Dmitry Chernyshenko and Vitaly Smirnov; politicians: Vladimir Putin, Alexander Zhukov, German Gref, Alexander Tkachev, Viktor Kolodyazhny.
In the first round of voting, in which 97 participants representing IOC countries took part, Austrian Salzburg was eliminated. In the second round, Sochi's application won, beating Pyeongchang by 4 votes (51 versus 47). Thus, Russia became the host country of the Winter Olympic Games for the first time.
Jacques Rogge demonstrates the name of the city that won the fight for the right to host the 2014 Games
Talismans
Polar Bear, Leopard and Bunny were chosen as the mascots of the 2014 Winter Olympics.
They chose mascots with difficulty and adventure. Several votes were declared invalid, winning options were rejected, and voting dates were postponed.
The final voting results were as follows:
Leopard (author Vadim Pak, Nakhodka) - 28.2% of votes
White Bear (author Oleg Serdechny, Sochi) - 18.3% of votes
Bunny (author Silvia Petrova, village of Novoye Buyanovo, Yantikovsky district, Chuvashia) - 16.4% of the votes.
The choice was criticized. In particular, it was pointed out that the composition of the Sochi mascots (Leopard, Polar Bear and Bunny) is almost identical to the trinity of Olympic Games mascots (Coyote, Bear and Hare). The graphic design of the Polar Bear in general, and especially the muzzle and large round head, is more typical of brown bears than of white bears, which have an elongated head. Also noted is the close resemblance to plagiarism between the Polar Bear and the mascot of the Moscow summer bear cub Misha, which is also pointed out by the creator of the latter’s image, Viktor Chizhikov.
The World Wildlife Fund in Russia proposed to the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee to edit the drawing with the Leopard, citing the fact that the color of the fur of the depicted animal is more similar not to a leopard, but to a snow leopard, which has never lived in the Caucasus.
Olympic torch relay
The Sochi 2014 Olympic torch relay is the longest and largest in the history of the Winter Olympic Games. It started on October 7, 2013 and will end on the opening day of the Olympics on February 7, 2014.
The route of the Olympic flame through the regions of Russia was presented by the Sochi 2014 organizing committee exactly a year before the start of the relay. Over the course of 123 days, the torch of the Games in the hands of athletes will travel more than 65 thousand kilometers in cars, trains, planes, as well as on Russian troikas and reindeer sleds in front of 130 million residents of 2,900 settlements in Russia, and will visit the capitals of all 83 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
The design of the torches was developed by the creative team of the Center for Industrial Design and Innovation “AstraRossa Design” under the leadership of Vladimir Pirozhkov and Andrey Vodyanik. 207 million rubles from the Russian budget were spent on the purchase of 15,000 torches.
The entire course of the relay was accompanied by incidents. In the first 24 hours alone, the fire, despite the designers’ assurances that “the torch will not go out either under water or in space,” went out four times. The whole world saw footage of the first extinguishment, when the extinguished torch was set on fire by an FSO officer with an ordinary lighter.
The torch continued to go out throughout the relay. And then it started to explode. So, in Kostroma, a torch exploded in the hands of a 13-year-old girl. The victim received a shallow burn to her arm, but was able to run her leg of the relay.
And a few days later, Santa Claus almost burned to death in Vologda.
The Olympic flame was extinguished in the hands of high-ranking officials. Russian Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky also ran with the extinguished torch.
Then the torchbearers themselves began to burn. Thus, Pyotr Makarchuk, a famous Russian bobsledder, carried the flame of the Olympics in Abakan already at the final stage. During the relay the torch went out several times. And at the finish of the relay, the flame spread to the sleeve of the bobsledder’s jacket. The accompanying people extinguished the torchbearer.
The opening ceremony
The ceremony began at 20:14 Moscow time.
As part of the ceremony, a traditional parade of Olympic Games participants took place. 88 delegations took part in the parade. The Russian team came out last, completing the parade. The delegation was headed by standard bearer Alexander Zubkov.
Alexander Zubkov
Afterwards, the spectators at the stadium saw a theatrical performance that demonstrated the main milestones of Russian history - from Ancient Rus' and the times of Peter I to the Soviet Union.
The opening ceremony was attended by 1,200 dancers and 980 acrobats, as well as 200 aerialists.
During the official part of the ceremony, addresses were made by the head of the Games organizing committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The President of Russia declared the Olympic Games open.
Tennis player Maria Sharapova carried the Olympic flag into the stadium. After this, several more eminent Russian athletes carried the torch, and Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretyak lit the fire in the arena.
Maria Sharapova
Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretyak
The ceremony was also marked by a couple of incidents. So at the beginning of the performance one of the five Olympic rings did not open.
And the former President of Russia, Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev fell asleep right in the middle of the ceremony.
Sleeping Dmitry Medvedev at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Sochi
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony of the XXII Winter Olympic Games began on February 23 at 20:14 Moscow time at the Fisht stadium and lasted for 2.5 hours. The main theme of the show was Russian culture through the eyes of a European. The ceremony was staged by Italian theater director Daniele Finzi Pasca.
At the beginning of the ceremony, the main heroine of the opening of the Games, the girl Lyuba, appeared before the audience, who this time was joined by two friends - Valya and Yura, named after cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova and Yuri Gagarin. First, the children sailed in a boat across the sea, in which 700 people in shiny costumes danced. The dancers in the stadium formed different figures - the yin-yang sign, infinity, starfish. In the end, four groups of dancers stood in the four Olympic rings, and the fifth group huddled in a circle, representing the ring that did not open at the opening on February 7.
After the first part of the performance, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, were introduced to the stadium. To Putin's left this time sat two-time Olympic bobsleigh champion Russian Alexander Zubkov, who was the standard bearer at the opening of the Olympics.
The Russian flag was carried to the Fisht by the Sochi Olympic champions from the Russian team, including Viktor An, Ekaterina Bobrova, Alexey Volkov, Tatyana Volosozhar, Vladimir Grigoriev, Elena Ilinykh, Yulia Lipnitskaya, Dmitry Malyshko, Evgeni Plushenko, Adelina Sotnikova, Alexander Tretyakov, Vic Wilde, Evgeny Ustyugov, Anton Shipulin and others. The anthem was performed by a children's choir conducted by Valery Gergiev and accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Yuri Bashmet. After the official part, the drummer ensemble of the Moscow Military School performed, and then the parade of athletes began. This time, first 88 flag bearers entered the stadium at once, and then all the teams rose from three sides.
After the parade, the last awards ceremony for the 2014 Olympics took place. First, Norwegian skiers Marit Bjorgen, Teresa Johaug and Kristin Steira received their awards, taking the first three places in the 30 km race. Then the winners of the men's 50 km mass start - Alexander Legkov, Maxim Vylegzhanin and Ilya Chernousov - stood on the podium.
After the awarding of the Olympians, the performance continued, in which Russian culture was told through painting, music, ballet, literature and circus art. Part of the ceremony was dedicated to the transfer of the Olympic flag to the capital of the future Winter Games - the Korean city of Pyeongchang. After the presentation of the 2018 Olympics, the president of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, took the stage. He thanked everyone who participated in the preparation of the Olympics and announced that Russia “kept what it promised.” In turn, the head of the IOC, Thomas Bach, addressed those present in Russian, saying: “Goodbye, Sochi!” After this, Bach declared the Olympic Games in Sochi closed. Three Olympic mascots appeared on the stage - Bear, Bunny and Leopard - and three main characters. Reminiscent of , a fragment of Alexandra Pakhmutova’s music “Goodbye, Moscow” was played at the stadium, after which Mishka blew out the Olympic flame.
Some really interesting facts about the upcoming Olympics. How much money has been spent, which countries will participate for the first time, and what role does the Chelyabinsk meteorite play in the Olympics!
The 2014 Winter Olympics begin on Friday 7 February in Sochi and end on 23 February.
The Winter Olympics are not as big as the Summer Olympics. The Winter Olympics include only 15 sports, while the Summer Olympics include 41 sports.
Here are some interesting facts about the upcoming Olympics.
This is the most expensive Olympics in history. Its costs exceeded $50 billion, exceeding the original budget of $12 billion. By comparison, the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver cost $8 billion.
Never before have so many countries participated in the Winter Olympics. A total of 88 countries will be represented. For the first time, Paraguay and Zimbabwe will participate.
The largest countries are sending the most athletes this year. 225 athletes will compete from Russia, 230 from the USA and 220 from Canada.
Three mascots were chosen for the Winter Olympics in Sochi: the Polar Bear, the Bunny and the Snow Leopard. They were chosen by the audience during a vote during the All-Russian competition for game mascots.
Athletes who win gold on February 15 will be awarded special gold medals with pieces of a meteorite that fell in Chelyabinsk on February 15, 2013.
Each medal weighs between 460 and 531 grams and each took approximately 18 hours to produce. These will be the largest medals, the diameter of which reaches 10 cm. In total, 98 sets of awards will be played and 1,300 medals will be awarded.
Gold medals will be made of silver, but they will be plated with gold. Its cost is estimated at $6,000. The last time, by the way, medals made of pure gold were awarded at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.
The Olympic flame covered a record distance on its way to Sochi - 65,000 km. Among the modes of transport in which the Olympic flame made its way were: car, plane, train and even a reindeer team. The torch passed through more than 2,900 settlements, and 14,000 people served as torchbearers.
Sochi will be one of the warmest cities hosting the Winter Olympics. The city is known for its subtropical climate and in winter it is quite warm and the temperature rarely drops below 12 degrees Celsius.
From February 7 to February 23, 2014, the XXII Olympic Winter Games took place in Sochi, which became a real celebration of sports. During the competition, the best athletes on the planet competed for 98 sets of medals in 15 sports. According to many sports officials and the athletes themselves, this was the best Olympics in history.
How it all began
The decision to elect Sochi as the capital of the 2014 Olympics was made at the IOC session held in Guatemala on July 4, 2007 (in Russia it was already July 5). The application of the Russian city was presented by our famous athletes, sports leaders, and famous politicians. Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the IOC members.
Sochi's competitors were the Korean Pyeongchang and the Austrian Salzburg. In the first round of voting, no one received the number of votes required to win (more than 50%). Moreover, Pyeongchang (36 votes) was able to get ahead of Sochi (34 votes). Salzburg (25 votes) became an outsider and dropped out of further competition.
Difficulties of preparing for the Olympic Games
Sochi is located on the Black Sea coast, in a humid subtropical climate zone. For the first time, the Winter Olympics were held in the subtropics, which gave it an extraordinary flavor. The slogan of the games was the expression “Hot. Winter. Yours." The first word reflects both the location of the Olympics and the intensity of sporting passions.
The preparation of Sochi for the Games was complicated by the fact that it was necessary not only to build Olympic facilities, but also to modernize the tourism, transport, engineering and telecommunications infrastructure. As a result, this entire resort region was completely reconstructed.
President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach, speaking at the closing ceremony, noted the enormous amount of work that had been carried out in Sochi in preparation for the Olympic Games. “What has been done for decades in other parts of the world,” said the head of the IOC, “has been done here in 7 years.”
Olympic venues in Sochi
To host the 2014 Olympics, two zones were created, located at different altitudes: a coastal cluster and a mountain cluster.
The first zone housed the Olympic Park, which was created in the Adler region. The following objects are located on its territory:
- – Fisht Stadium (capacity - 40 thousand spectators). This sports arena hosted the colorful opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics;
- – Ice Palace “Bolshoi” (12 thousand), where hockey teams competed;
- – Ice Arena “Shayba” (7 thousand) – another facility for hockey players;
- – “Adler Arena” (8 thousand) became the venue for speed skating competitions;
- – The Iceberg Sports Palace (12 thousand) hosted figure skaters and short track speed skaters;
- – The Ice Cube Curling Center (3 thousand) was built for curling competitions;
- - Olimpic village.
The coastal cluster also includes training arenas for hockey and figure skating, a Media Center, hotels for IOC members and journalists, a Theme Park, an area for the Medal Plaza awards ceremony and some other facilities. All sports facilities are located compactly, close to each other and the Olympic Village. According to Thomas Bach, the Olympics became unique in terms of logistics. Athletes could arrive for breakfast and training on foot or by bike in a few minutes.
The mountain cluster is located in the area of the village of Krasnaya Polyana, which is located 39 km from the seashore, at an altitude of 500 meters. The following Olympic venues were built here:
- – The Laura complex (for 7.5 thousand spectators) became the venue for competitions in biathlon, skiing and combined events (cross-country skiing);
- – The Rosa Khutor complex (17.7 thousand), consisting of a ski center and an extreme park, hosted skiers, snowboarders and freestyle skiers;
- – “Russian Coaster” (7.5 thousand) – a ski jumping complex;
- – Sanki Center (5 thousand spectators) – venue for luge, bobsleigh and skeleton competitions;
- – Mountain Olympic Village.
Extensive preparation is the key to Olympic success
According to the unanimous opinion of IOC leaders, athletes and journalists, the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi were a success. Large-scale preparations for the Olympics and significant expenses were not in vain. An army of volunteers numbering 25 thousand people from Russia and 60 other countries also contributed to the success of the Olympics.
Russia won the unofficial team event at the Olympic Games. Our country's athletes won 33 medals. In total, representatives of 26 countries were able to receive awards at the XXII Winter Olympics.
OK it's all over Now. Three years and nine months after the end of the 2014 Olympics, the Russian team is no longer its triumphant. This is a sport, this happens. Now it happens.
Zubkov, Stulneva, Fatkulina and Rumyantsev disqualified by the IOC
In 2014, this was the goal and task - to show Russia’s sporting superiority at the home Games. Nothing good or bad, just a common and logical desire of the “tops”, and in any country. There was pride and joy. Today, November 24, all that remains is humiliation and confusion. The great victory, no matter how it was obtained, was taken away. So far - without evidence and with an open mockery of the laws of jurisprudence and logic. But only for now.
Which means the automatic deprivation of two gold medals won by Russia in the doubles and fours. And Russia’s no less automatic loss of first overall team place in the home Olympics standings. Then, on the evening of February 23, 2014, this competition delighted, sparkled and shimmered with wonderful lights. We were the best in all major indicators.
Immediately after the end of the Olympics in Sochi, no one had any complaints about its results. At least, no one expressed them out loud. All samples of the Games winners turned out to be clean, and therefore the results were immediately recorded in the annals of sports history. At that time, no one had yet heard about the system of state support for doping in Russia, scratches on test tubes and plumbers from the FSB. If you told anyone, they would twirl their finger at your temple.
Russian athletes who lost medals at the 2014 Olympic Games due to disqualification
Gold
Bobsleigh, doubles - , Alexey Voevoda
Bobsleigh, fours - , Alexey Negodaylo, Dmitry Trunenkov, Alexey Voevoda
Cross-country skiing, 50 km - Alexander Legkov
Skeleton - Alexander Tretyakov.
Silver
Cross-country skiing, relay race - Alexander Bessmertnykh, Maxim Vylegzhanin, Alexander Legkov, Dmitry Yaparov
Cross-country skiing, team sprint - Maxim Vylegzhanin, Nikita Kryukov
Cross-country skiing, mass start - Maxim Vylegzhanin
Speed skating, 500 m - Olga Fatkulina.
Bronze
Skeleton - Elena Nikitina.
But in three years everything has changed dramatically. The first impetus was given by the scandalous film by Hayo Seppelt with the participation of the Stepanov family couple (remember them?), Then there were the McLaren report, problems with the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the neutral flag of track and field athletes, countless courts and commissions. As a result, it came to the point that Russian athletes, without any evidence, were deprived of Olympic awards and banned for life from participating in the Games. For such decisions, commissions must have damning evidence at their disposal. But if they exist, no one is in a hurry to announce them.
Return to 37th. Who will they come for next time?
Unproven arrests of Russians continue. Today it is Olympic champion Tretyakov. And tomorrow - Zaitseva and Shipulin?
In early November, a decision was made to disqualify Russian skiers. All Sochi achievements of Alexander Legkov and Maxim Vylegzhanin were annulled, which deprived the Russian team of four awards in cross-country skiing. On November 22, skeleton athletes also suffered: Alexander Tretyakov lost the title of Olympic champion, and Elena Nikitina was left without a bronze medal. All this led to changes in the medal standings, but there were no major changes. The national team of our country lost its medal record in the entire history of the team’s performances at the Winter Olympics and let the teams of the USA and Norway ahead in the total number of medals, but, according to the European calculation method (gold is counted first), it retained its leadership in the medal standings.
Hit the bobsled for the third time. Of the three possible gold medals in Sochi, the Russians won two: Alexey Voevoda also distinguished himself in the doubles, and Dmitry Trunenkov and Alexey Negodaylo helped the famous Russian pair in the fourth. The double victory was a truly historical success, because even Soviet bobsledders had previously managed to win the Olympics only once - in 1988. The International Olympic Committee has deprived us of a historic achievement. The results of the best Russian crews at the Sochi Olympics were cancelled.
Little consolation can be the fact that in both cases, when the medals are redistributed, bronze will go to the second Russian teams, whose pilot was Alexander Kasyanov. The Russian team, although it is not losing in the number of medals, is noticeably declining in quality: 12 gold medals turn into ten, which means that according to the European counting system adopted by us, our national team ceases to be the winner of the home Olympics. The Norwegian team is in first place with 11 gold medals. The Canadian team comes in second, and the Russians drop to third place.
But nothing seems to be finished yet...