Sunday, 2 February 2014

IOC President Thomas Bach arrives in Sochi

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

IOC President Thomas Bach arrives in Sochi

©IOC

31/01/2014

International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach has just landed in Sochi where the 2014 Olympic Winter Games are due to take place from 7 to 23 February. Upon his arrival, President Bach was greeted by Sochi 2014 Organising Committee President Dmitry Chernyshenko and President of the Russian Olympic Committee and IOC Member Alexander Zhukov, together with a dozen volunteers coming from all parts of Russia and abroad to support the staging of the Games.

When asked about his expectations for the Games, President Bach said: ‘It will be great Games for the athletes. They will have state of the art sports facilities. Most of them will be able to walk from their beds to the competition venues. They are very excited about it. I had the opportunity to speak to some of them during the flight and they are all looking forward to the beginning of the Games’.
President Bach will chair a series of meetings in the coming days including the IOC Executive Board (2 February) and the 126th IOC Session (4-6 February) where he will lead the whole IOC membership in addressing a number of important items and take key orientations that will shape the future of the Olympic Movement.

“History will be made” at Russia’s first Olympic Winter Games

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

“History will be made” at Russia’s first Olympic Winter Games

01/02/2014

With just one week to go until the Opening Ceremony of Sochi 2014, the Russian seaside resort is abuzz with excitement as it prepares to host the country’s first ever Olympic Winter Games.

While the Russian capital, Moscow, hosted the Olympic Games in 1980, Sochi 2014 will mark the first time that the Winter Games have been held in the world’s largest country – and Sochi 2014 President Dmitry Chernyshenko is among those who are eagerly awaiting the start of the Games.
“I am looking forward to welcoming the world to my hometown and to showing them all that modern Russia has to offer,” he says.
Approximately 2,800 athletes will arrive in Sochi over the next week, ahead of the Opening Ceremony on 7 February.
“We are very excited to be hosting the world and particularly athletes from all around the world, so history will be made,” adds Chernyshenko. “The only thing remaining is the Games themselves, so we are ready to start.”
Athletes and fans will enjoy a unique experience in Sochi – the Games will be extremely compact, and where, for the first time, a purpose-built Olympic Park – referred to as the Coastal Cluster – will be home to all ice competition venues, each within a short stroll of one another.
Each of the venues has been purpose built for the Games, while other large-scale infrastructure projects have seen Sochi transformed since 2005, when the city won the right to stage the Games. Chernyshenko says he is “proud” to see the improvements that have been made to the city as a whole, including upgraded infrastructure, new roads, environmental initiatives and new jobs, as well as the construction of the Olympic venues.
“It is my passion,” he says. “Me and my family, my parents, my friends are so proud and so excited to see how our hometown has changed and how Sochi became the role model, role city, blueprint for the rest of the country to follow.”
Fans attending the Games will also be able to experience the best of Russian culture, with the four-year Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad set to reach its conclusion, offering the best of Russian arts, ballet, music and theatre.

The finale will bring together highlights of the previous four years, with more than 5,000 artists from 70 regions of Russia performing at numerous venues around the two Games centres. Games-time performances will include a ballet gala, throat singing from the Chukchi region in eastern Siberia, lezginka dancing from Dagestan and traditional Kuban Cossack tunes. The Sochi Art Museum will also host an exhibition charting the history of sport in Russia and the favourite sporting pastimes of historical Russian figures.
Visitors to the Olympic Park will also enjoy an extensive entertainment programme, including an exhibition highlighting the cultural diversity, folklore and crafts of various ethnic groups within Russia.
With every element in place, Chernyshenko is looking forward to welcoming athletes and fans from around the world to Sochi for the Russia’s historic first Winter Games.
“Over the past several years, we have worked hard to further develop Sochi and to deliver a warm and passionate Russian welcome for athletes and fans from home and abroad,” he says. “I believe that our efforts will be appreciated by all those attending the Games and, as seeing is believing, I look forward to seeing you in Sochi this February for the experience of a lifetime!”

Experience the Sochi Games at The Olympic Museum

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Experience the Sochi Games at The Olympic Museum

©IOC/Arnaud Meylan

02/02/2014

If you are in Lausanne between now and 9 March, come to The Olympic Museum to celebrate the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi. One month after its reopening, The Olympic Museum is letting its visitors discover the Russian city on the shores of the Black Sea by hosting, from 24 January, an exhibition called “Sochi Live”.

In an atmosphere obviously inspired by Russia, visitors will discover Olympic locations such as the Olympic Park and its stunning venues (the Iceberg Skating Palace and the Bolshoy Ice Dome), as well as the 12 new events making their debut at the Sochi Games.

They can learn about the design of an Olympic downhill course, as explained by the famous ski slope designer and Olympic downhill champion, Bernhard Russi, and discover the symbolic icons of the Games, such as the torch (they can get their photo taken with it), the medals, the mascots, the emblem, the pictograms and the route of the longest ever relay in the history of the Winter Games (123 days).

This will also be the opportunity for them to discover the soul of Russia through the Look of the Games, a patchwork inspired by Russia’s most famous craftsmen.
Ceremonies, competition and culture
True to its mission to enable as many people as possible to take part in the Olympic experience, The Olympic Museum will broadcast the Opening and Closing Ceremonies – to be held on 7 and 23 February 2014 respectively - live on a big screen, as well as the Olympic competitions in Sochi. In conjunction, cultural events will be held every weekend from 8 to 23 February, such as a Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky concert, a presentation of Russian culture in collaboration with the Association Léman Russe or discovering Russian gastronomy at the TOM Café. There will also be the chance to meet the French adventurer, writer and filmmaker, Nicolas Vanier, who will be present on 27 March to speak about his incredible Siberian odyssey by dog sled, a voyage of more than 8,000 kilometres from Lake Baikal to Moscow.

Finally, until 11 May 2014, through an exciting exhibition, the public can also discover how, in the 1920s and 30s, sport became a source of inspiration and a field of study for Avant-garde artists in Russia, in particular in the fields of cinema, photography and design. For this project, The Olympic Museum is cooperating with the Swiss Film Archive (Cinémathèque suisse) which is showing a cycle of eight films dedicated to Avant-garde Russian directors who took sporting activities as one of their themes.
The Museum also present in Sochi
As for every edition of the Games, The Olympic Museum will be in Sochi to collect donations from athletes – objects retracing Olympic history: equipment worn or used during the competitions, hi-tech material and everything that symbolises the spirit of the Games through fair play or friendship.

Some of these donations are exhibited at The Olympic Museum or loaned to other Olympic museums throughout the world. Another area of this collection of items will concern the intangible legacy, i.e. interviews with athletes. They will be asked about their experiences and memories of the Games, as athletes, as well as about their career and childhood.

See the full “Sochi Live” programme here.

Olympic Games Knowledge Management programme supports organisation of the Games

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Olympic Games Knowledge Management programme supports organisation of the Games

©Getty Images

02/02/2014

The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Games Knowledge Management (OGKM) programme plays an important role in the organisation of each edition of the Games by ensuring that future host cities have access to the latest knowledge that has been gained from the hard work and experience of the previous Games hosts.

The programme was created during preparations for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and since then has evolved into an integrated platform of various knowledge services, which assists organisers in their Games preparations, lets them compare their progress and success, and helps them to define the future of their own Games.
The OGKM resources provide invaluable support to Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (OCOGs) during their planning and preparations, according to Gilbert Felli, the IOC Executive Director for the Olympic Games.
“Managing knowledge is at the core of our mission,” he says. “Carefully documenting what Games organisers do, sharing best practices and making available everything we’ve learnt from the recent past has become an invaluable support to the OCOGs and their partners. Successful knowledge management and transfer are about checking there is always enough high-quality oil in your engine. It enables you to perform and it contributes largely to organisational excellence.”
An integral element of the OGKM platform is the IOC Observer Programme, which allows future Games organisers to attend an Olympic Games and observe the operational demands of hosting such an event.
This experience represents one of the key components of the knowledge transfer process, providing a unique opportunity to live, learn and observe real Olympic Games operations through a number of visits to various Olympic sites during Games-time.
The programme allows each future Organising Committee to not only witness how things are done, but also study specific areas so that they can learn and improve upon those subjects within their own organisational and cultural context.
During the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the Observer Programme will involve more than 300 participants from three Organising Committees of the Olympic Games (Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and Tokyo 2020) and five Applicant Cities for the Olympic Winter Games in 2022 (Krakow, Oslo, Almaty, Lviv and Beijing).
From 4-24 February, participants will take part in 66 visit sessions, including 10 roundtables, visiting almost all competition and training venues, with the main purpose to observe and discuss the Games-time operations and activities of different functional areas.

Saturday, 25 January 2014

Rio 2016 announces Organising Committee budget

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Rio 2016 announces Organising Committee budget

©RioTour

24/01/2014

The Rio 2016 Organising Committee has announced that its budget for organising the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2016 will be balanced at BRL 7 billion. The funding will come from only private sources such as sponsorship, ticket sales, licencing and a contribution from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

IOC President Thomas Bach said, "We congratulate Rio 2016 on announcing a balanced Games budget. We are happy to be contributing over USD 1 billion to the Games and to see that Rio is aiming to deliver its operations with only private financing. They conducted a very thorough budgeting process to reach this result and we believe that they can look forward with confidence, as they work to deliver successful Games in 2016. "

The budget covers all expected revenue and expenses of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee, as it works to deliver both Olympic and Paralympic Games. This endeavour is the equivalent of organising 65 Olympic and Paralympic championships, with 16,000 athletes and officials from 204 National Olympic Committees, 4,500 technical officials, 70,000 volunteers, and over 25,000 media representatives, along with all of their logistical needs in terms of accommodation, food and transport.

Rio 2016 Organising Committee President Carlos Arthur Nuzman said, “Our obligation to Rio de Janeiro, to Brazil and to the worldwide sporting community is to deliver a memorable Games, since we are talking about the biggest celebration of sport in the world. We are undertaking the mission of planning and organising the Games in a responsible manner.”

The Rio 2016 Committee confirmed its commitment to balancing revenues and expenses during the budget announcement. Sidney Levy, Chief Executive Officer of Rio 2016, noted that “the good results achieved with sponsorship and licensing allow us to forecast sufficient private revenue to cover the costs outlined in the budget we are presenting today”.

More information can be found at www.rio2016.com/transparencia .

IOC awards Sochi 2014 broadcast rights in Caribbean

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

IOC awards Sochi 2014 broadcast rights in Caribbean

22/01/2014

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has awarded the exclusive broadcast rights in the Caribbean* to International Media Content Ltd. (IMC), the parent company of SportsMax, for the XXII Olympic Winter Games in 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

IMC has acquired exclusive English language broadcast rights on all media platforms, excluding internet and mobile rights.

IOC President Thomas Bach said: “This agreement is another step in ensuring the universality of the Olympic Games. Having worked with IMC to broadcast both the Vancouver and London Games, we are very pleased to be able to rely on their expertise once again in Sochi.”

IOC member Richard Carrión, who led the negotiations, said: “IMC will provide live and delayed coverage on their own SportsMax channels, and work with free-to-air broadcasters across the Caribbean, ensuring daily coverage of the Sochi Games for sports fans.”

SportsMax will provide live coverage of the Games on SportsMax and SportsMax2, starting with the Opening Ceremony on 7 February straight through to the final competition day on 23 February.

Chairman of IMC, the Hon. Pat Rousseau, OJ, stated that: “This is part of IMC’s commitment to delivering to the Caribbean the most premier sporting events in the world. The addition of Sochi 2014 to IMC’s programming makes for an incredibly exciting broadcast year, with the 2014 FIFA World Cup also coming from IMC.” He added: “In 2010, IMC broadcast the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in the region, and we are expecting a similar strong response from our subscribers for Sochi 2014.”

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* Includes: Anguilla, Antigua-Barbuda, Commonwealth of the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cooperative Republic of Guyana, Cuba, Dominica, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Surinam, Turks and Caicos, Trinidad and Tobago

For more information, please contact the
IOC Media Relations Team: Tel: +41 21 621 6000 e-mail: pressoffice@olympic.org, or visit our web site at www.olympic.org

IMC/SportsMax:Tanya Lee, Regional Marketing Manager, SportsMax Limited Tel:(876) 757-6361 (Tel), (876) 901-8133 (Fax), tlee@sportsmax.tv.

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Friday, 24 January 2014

SaraShankha, Dantan, West Midnapore, West Bengal, India

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

SaraShanka, the huge aqua tank or reservoir, is a famous name in Indian history. The Pandava Ghat describing in the Mahabharata is related to the SaraShankha. The greatest watercress with an ecosystem in biodiversity and environment is one of the largest and oldest formation of water ponds in the planet. This is called 'SaraShankha Pushkarini or Dighi or Pokhar or Gadiya or Tala' in many local languages. During the mid - January every year the Sankranti or Makar Sankranti Mela, the SaraShankha Fair is held where a big crowd congregate. SaraShankha is a sanctum. The christian, buddhist, hindu, muslim, jain, persi, naturist, shikh, tao or dao, shinto believe the place a naive regarding religious prosperity. The Sankhawar, the people belong to sankhawar gotra or clan, avestan and svatesvatara regarded Sarashankha one of the holiest destinations in the world. The holy bath water tank reminds 'the city lost into water' - the Mahata civilization of Kharbela or Khadwal in Mahad or Magad dynasty. The connectivity to the great pond - 1. Dantan Railway Station in South Eastern Railway and 2. National Highway 60. I take pictures on 23rd January, 2014. Camera : SONY DSC-WX200.