KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

IOC Executive Board meets in Sochi ahead of Olympic Winter Games

©IOC/I. Jones

02/02/2014

With only five days to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, the IOC Executive Board (EB) convened today in the Host City and received its final update from the local organisers.

Sochi 2014 President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko provided the EB with an overview of the progress that Sochi has made since its election seven years ago, and outlined its readiness to deliver the Games. This readiness includes the recruitment and training of 25,000 volunteers for the Games, the construction of an Olympic Park that can accommodate around 80,000 people and the ability to feed 185,000 people a day, as well as 600 personnel to ensure snow removal. IOC President Thomas Bach, Coordination Commission Chairman for Sochi 2014 Jean-Claude Killy and the Executive Board all restated their full confidence that the hosts will deliver successful Games.
The EB also heard reports from the Chairs of the IOC Coordination Commissions for the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 and in PyeongChang in 2018, as well as from the IOC administration and Olympic Movement stakeholders.
NOC mattersWith regard to the currently suspended Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the EB noted that the National Olympic Committee (NOC) had set 9 February 2014 as the date for its next General Assembly and elections for a new board. The elections are to fully respect the recently passed NOC constitution, which complies with all IOC requirements, including the clause that no person convicted or charge-framed can run for a position within the organisation. IOC member Robin Mitchell will act as the official IOC observer during the General Assembly. Should everything proceed as expected by the IOC, the EB may reconsider the suspension of the NOC in the near future.
Concerning issues of government interference in the NOCs of Pakistan and Egypt, the IOC was recently approached by government representatives of both countries after several weeks of silence. The EB sees their willingness for dialogue as a positive step. However, it reserves its right to take strong measures should such dialogue not bear fruit in the very near future.

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KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Claudia Bokel re-elected as Chair of IOC Athletes’ Commission

©IOC/J. Evans

03/02/2014

At today’s meeting of the IOC Athletes’ Commission in Sochi, Claudia Bokel was re-elected as Chair of the Commission, which is the voice of the athletes within the IOC and the Olympic Movement.

As such, Bokel, a former fencer and silver medallist (team) at the Olympic Games in 2004, will also remain as a member of the IOC Executive Board. Angela Ruggiero was elected Vice-Chair. Ruggiero is an Olympic champion in ice hockey and has played more games for Team USA than any other man or woman.
Claudia Bokel said after the meeting: “I would like to thank my colleagues for their trust in my work, and am looking forward to continuing my mission of bringing athletes’ views to the attention of the right people in the Olympic Movement. It is great to know that I can count on the continued support and valuable input of my Commission members for this important task.”
In Sochi, all athletes participating in the Games are encouraged to vote for two of their peers as representatives on the IOC Athletes’ Commission.  They will replace Rebecca Scott and Saku Koivu, whose mandates are coming to an end after eight years.
Learn more about the elections and all the candidates here.
About the IOC Athletes’ Commission
The IOC Athletes’ Commission is currently composed of 22 members, who are past or active Olympians. They are the voice of the athletes within the Olympic Movement and are defending their interests. As the link between the athletes and the IOC, the Commission members are involved in many key IOC activities, such as the process for evaluating Candidate Cities seeking to host the Olympic Games, the composition of the sports programme for the Games and the fight against doping. The Athletes’ Commission also oversees the IOC Athlete Career Programme, established in 2005, to facilitate education as well as job opportunities for athletes during and after their sporting career. The Commission’s Chairperson also sits on the IOC Executive Board.
Follow updates on the IOC Athletes’ Commission elections here.

KALYAN KUMAR MAHATA The true appellation of Apu.

Sochi offers much for tourists to enjoy

©Getty Images (3), IOC (1)

31/01/2014

Sochi, situated on the south-west tip of Russia and on the northern shore of the Black Sea, has long been the nation’s most popular holiday resort, with visitors drawn to the warm weather and palm-fringed avenues of a city that stands as far south as Nice on the French Riviera.

“Sochi is a very special place, even for Russians,” explains Russian Olympic swimming gold medallist and IOC Member Alexander Popov. “For a very long time it has been regarded as one of the most prestigious resorts in the country.”
While Sochi has long been regarded as a summer destination, thanks to its seemingly endless pebble beaches, there are many other sights and attractions for visitors to enjoy.

Popular parks include the Dendrarium, where visitors can take a cable car to the top of the hill to enjoy panoramic views of the coast, and Riviera Park, the biggest and most popular park in Sochi, which features restaurants, bars, sports facilities, leisure centres and a cinema. Other attractions include Sochi Art Museum, which features more than 5,000 pieces from myriad artistic styles.
Many visitors also make the trip to the observation tower at the top of the 700-metre Mount Akhun, which is the highest point of the coastal area and offers spectacular views of the local countryside. There are also many ancient caves in the area around Sochi, with the most famous being those in Vorontsovka village, in the Khosta district, which consist of three interconnected cave complexes with a total length of around 11km.

Sochi is also well known for its tea production, boasting some of the most northerly plantations in the world. Many tourists choose to visit the Dagomys Tea Plantation, where they enjoy a tea party in a traditional wooden ‘izba’ (country log home), along with a performance of Russian folk songs while drinking tea from a traditional Russia ‘samovar’.
During the Games, visitors will also be able to enjoy a number of arts, ballet, music and theatre events as part of the conclusion of the four-year Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad, which has so far attracted more than three million spectators.
More than 5,000 artists from 70 regions of Russia will perform at numerous venues around the two Games centres during Sochi 2014, and many events will be free. 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. Sochi Art Museum will also feature an exhibition charting the history of sport in Russia and the favourite sporting pastimes of historical Russian figures.
While the world-class sporting action will be the main attraction in Sochi during the Games, the city is set to continue attracting more and more visitors even once the Games have left town.
Currently, around one million people visit Sochi each year, although that figure is expected to rise after the Games, when the city will become a year-round destination thanks to the venues that have been constructed and new transport and engineering infrastructure that have been put in place.  In addition, a total of 42 new hotels with 27,000 rooms have also been constructed.

After the Games, the Rosa Khutor Alpine Centre, for instance, will be used to develop Russian winter sport and will also be the basis for the main leisure and relaxation centre in Sochi, attracting tourists from all over the world.
"The key achievement of the Sochi Winter Games will be that Sochi is no longer regarded simply as a summer resort, but as a place where people can visit all year round,” explained Sochi’s mayor, Anatoly Pakhomov, last year. “Sochi has 300 days of sunshine a year. It has a unique sub-tropical climate, so in March and April you can come skiing here and still find people sunbathing on the coast. It can be 10 or 15 degrees below freezing in Krasnaya Polyana and 15 degrees on the coastline.
"This is really a unique place. Sochi has always had the capacity to be an all-round resort, not just the most popular Russian summer resort. We never had the infrastructure or the conditions to make it happen before – but the Winter Games have prompted us to take that opportunity.”

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.

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!”

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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.

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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.

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