Head of Sochi games learns from London Olympics 2010
The organizers of the London 2012 Olympics may feel they have their work cut out, however head of Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, Dmitry Chernyshenko is facing a very huge task.
His team faces the challenge of transforming the Black Sea resort of Sochi, and its surrounding area, into a wintersports arena.
This means the construction of a new winter community in the North Caucasus mountains, the construction of 300 kilometres of roads, 100km of rail, 39 tunnels and 24 thermal and hydro power stations.
"We are well on track," asserts Mr Chernyshenko, a native of Sochi who was handed the games’ baton five years ago.
"Our construction site is now probably competing in terms of size with London’s," he says. "It is a most challenging situation."
A few weeks ago organizers provided an update to the president of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Medvedev, on a visit to Sochi region.
And, according to Mr Chernyshenko, the president was satisfied with progress to date.
A worker at the construction site of a Grand Ice Hockey Arena for Sochi 2014 Olympic games A huge building programme is under way around Sochi in the south of Russia
Mr Medvedev and organisers discussed ways of overcoming any raising of global temperatures, which could potentially leaving Sochi facing some of the problems that hit the Winter Games in Vancouver in February his year.
Those games suffered weather postponements and delays at the alpine events in Whistler, and cancellation of 28,000 standing-room tickets at Cypress Mountain due to warm weather and lack of snow.
"The Vancouver winter games allowed us to learn a lot about how unpredictable weather can be, they had not had weather like that for 130 years," observes Mr Chernyshenko, a graduate of the Moscow State Technological University.
To tackle such possibilities, Sochi organisers are planning to use an artificial snow system called "hot snow" to ensure ideal conditions are guaranteed.
"One of the most crucial facts for success is rehearsal and more rehearsal, to create comprehensive test events," adds Mr Chernyshenko.