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Dmitry Kozak, the current Regional Developement Minister has been appointed as the Deputy Prime Minister who will be overseeing the preparations for the Sochi 2014  Winter Olympics.

Considered to be a highly efficient crisis manager in Putin’s team, he is well respected by his peers and authorities. Kozak will be managing the entire construction preparations for the Winter Olympics where his responsibilities would include the construction of sporting facilities. Read the complete Post.

The Mayor of Sochi, Vladimir Afanaskenov participated in the first Geberal Assembly of the World Union of Olympic Cities, which was held in Switzerland between October 9 and 11. Read the complete Post.

Much to the delight of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics organizers, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved all of the sites that will be used as venues for the Winter Games in Sochi 2014. Due to environmental issues, some venues had to be relocated, raising speculations over the possibility of meeting the construction datelines.

With most of the sites having to be constructed from scratch, the Sochi organizers are sighing in relief, over the fact that they can finally proceed with the planning and construction of the sites. Read the complete Post.

The Olympics Council approved to have the rail and highway links for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics reduced, which is said to ease the impact on the environment. Proposed by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, these changes were introduced in order to regain cordial relations with environmentalists who have been criticising the negative effects the Olympics events would be having on the environment.

While the light-rail system that links the venues would have one track instead of two, the highway that connects the sites will also be reduced from four lanes to three. Read the complete Post.

Two of Sochi’s most popular nightclubs faced closure when they became targets for unprecedented fire safety inspections on the eve of the gay and lesbian film festival. It was reported that these nightclubs were shut down as they broke the fire code.

The organizers of the festivals were utterly distressed and indignant as the sudden fire safety inspections have caused the closure of the nightclubs. Therefore, the festival will not be held at these venues.

The festival, that has “Look Broader, Be Kinder”, had been facing numerous hurdles  that include the termination of contracts with other organizers. The organizers have been implying indirectly, that the authorities in Sochi have been displeased with the concept of the festival ever since it was initiated. The representative from the organizing company, Sergeyeva said that the tickets for the festival will be refunded at the venues and alternative arrangements are being made to relocate the festival to other venues.

In the meanwhile, the nightclub, The Place, has been sealed and will remain closed for at least ten days.

Sochi 2014 has revealed its plan to introduce a revolutionary education plan, which will be focussing on promoting long term benefits for the Russian society and the rest of the world. This education plan contains two education plans that include public and specialist education. Read the complete Post.

Moscow will witness the world’s best alpine skiers compete on January 2 next year,
which is conducted primarily to motivate Russians much ahead of the Sochi 2014
Winter Olympics. Held near the Moscow State University Building, where the
Freestyle and Snowboard World Cup events took place last season, the competition
will be amongst the top ten World Cup slalom participants from last year’s Val
d’Isere and two wild-cards entry Russians; Alexander Khoroshilov and Stepan Zuev.

The ramp for the competition will be erected on an artificially pre-built slope
that can accommodate around 30,000 spectators. Standing at a staggering 60m in
height and spanning for 150 meters, the ramp is reportedly 25% larger than the
previously built ramp that was used for the Freestyle and Snowboard World Cup
events.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in a reception that was held in Kremlin to celebrate the success of the Russian Paralympic team at the Beijing Paralympics, declared that the Paralympic Games is one of the best sporting concepts of the twentieth century.

Having bagged a total of 18 gold, 23 silver and 22 bronze medals at various events this year; the athletes did fare much better than they did at Athens in 2004. While only 61 athletes participated in Athens, the strength of the Russian team in Beijing was a remarkable 145.

President Dmitry, who incidentally is also the head of the Presidential Council for Sochi 2014 and Paralympics Winter Games, believes that they would definitely inspire thousands of physically challenged individuals across the country.

The athletes of the Beijing Olympics were joined by the president for a photography session to honor the occassion, sealing the spectacular event in history.

Mikhail Terentiev, a Russian Paralympic champion and the General Secretary of the National Paralympic Committee, communicated to physically challenged children via a video conference at the Sochi 2014 Joint Information Center in Sochi. Speaking from Beijing, Mikhail stressed that sports can add value to the lives of these children and that this awareness has to be spread throughout the country.

The youngsters responded by displaying images of possible mascots which they had designed for the upcoming Sochi 2014 Winter Games. The enthusiasm in the atmosphere was reflecting in their communication as most of them wanted to know where and how disabled children can participate in sporting events. 

Mihkail, who was afflicted by a spinal injury at the age of 16, went on to pursue a degree in Economics after a gruelling rehabilitation program. With multiple gold, silver and bronze medals to his credit, he soon became a hero for many youngsters in Russia.

With the infrastructural planning and operation for the Sochi Winter Olympics well on its way, its now the turn of the environmental experts to evaluate and monitor the flora and fauna that surround the site of Sochi 2014. Joined by a group of scholars from the People’s Friendship University in Russia, they studied and recorded zoological and botanical information that are present in the recreational area of the Sochi National Park. This is an effort to maintain a regular update of the records of existing wildlife in the Krasnodar region.
Furthermore, this increases the awareness about conserving the environment amongst the participating students.
Sochi 2014 will also be stressing on the benefits of protecting the environment, thus spreading a green and clean legacy to the rest of the world. Considering the many issues that have been spinning over many parts of the world such as Global warming in recent times, Russia’s attempt to emphasize on environmental awareness and conservation is applaudable.