14 DAY TRIAL // With less than 100 days to go until the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Games, Russia's President Vladimir Putin is focusing more and more on boosting national pride by hosting the best games ever.
Well, after investing almost $50 billion (€36.8 billion) and making these games the most expensive Olympics in history, it’s no wonder he’s getting personally involved in the project.
Sochi is undergoing massive changes, with its infrastructure being completely rebuilt in order to match Putin's requirements.
According to the Russian site Rianovosti, Putin said that, “just 214 billion rubles [$6.7 billion / €4.9 billion] will be spent on Olympic facilities and hosting. That leaves around $40 billion [€29.5 billion] for local infrastructure out of the Olympic-record total price tag of 1.5 trillion rubles [$47 billion / €34.6 billion] identified by a government commission, with lavish funding going to an airport rebuild and new road and rail links.”
President Putin even started to rethink some of the Russian laws in order to offer guests the perfect conditions. Concerning the law banning gay relationships, better known as the “gay propaganda law,” Russian authorities made it clear that “all visitors traveling to Sochi for the Games regardless of race, gender or orientation will be welcomed here equally.”
The Sochi Games are the 22nd Winter Olympics and will officially begin on February 7, 2014 and end on February 23. Sochi is the warmest city to ever host an Olympic Winter Games. This is the first time Russia has hosted the Winter Games.
Even though Russia hosted an Olympics back in 1980, when the Soviet Union was still standing, Sochi is receiving more of a special treatment.
Sochi has been considered “the pearl of the Russian Riviera,” being the favorite destination of the Russian Elite. It is a rare subtropical Russian city on the coast of the Black Sea, which includes sand beaches and resorts. The mountain event of the Olympics will be held in a nearby resort town called Krasnaya Polyana.
It is obvious that the amount of pressure on Russia, and on Putin as well, is growing every day. Not only does the city of Sochi have to become an iconic spot in a limited time period, but Russia's athletic team also has to make a stand and win some awards.
Russian pride is in need of a boost so, hopefully, the 2014 Winter Olympics will manage to make it happen.