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Factbox of 2014 Winter Olympics host city Sochi |
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11:05, July 05, 2007 |
Following are the factbox on the Russian city of Sochi, which won the hosting right for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games at an International Olympic Committee vote inGuatemala on Wednesday:
The resort city is located some 1,500 km south of Moscow on theeastern shores of the Black Sea.
Population: 400,000
Krasnodar region: 5.1 million
Average temperature: for February just above freezing mark at 2degrees Celsius and high at 10. Sochi has proposed to hold the Games between Feb. 7 to 23.
Games bid leader: Dmitry Chernyshenko
Sochi proposed a concept based around an ice cluster, an Olympic park some 25 km outside the city center, and a mountain snow zone 49 km away in the Krasnaya Polyana mountain zone, containing all snow and sliding venues.
Russia, which has never hosted the Winter Olympics, is hoping the Games will turn the Black Sea resort into the country's main winter sports hub.
Sochi will have to build all 11 venues (four existing venues need extensive reconstruction), and chosen to create two main self-contained clusters, one on the Black Sea and in the mountains.
The Olympic Park, next to the Olympic village, will contain allice competitions, the International Broadcasting Centre and the Main Press Centre, the Olympic Stadium and the Medals Plaza.
The mountain cluster has a separate village, the snow and sliding venues at a maximum drive of 16 minutes from each other.
Sochi has a budget of 1.517 billion US dollars for both the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The government has pledged to cover any economic shortfall of organisers.
Travel times between the ice cluster and mountain zone will vary between 50 to 63 minutes. A three-to-four lane highway and a rail line will be constructed to facilitate access to the two sports zones.
Sochi says most athletes will be able to reach their competition venue within 16 minutes and all ice sports athletes within five minutes.
Russia has never hosted the Winter Olympics. Moscow staged the 1980 Summer Games.
Sochi applied for the 2002 Winter Games but did not make the cut as one of the candidate cities. Salt Lake City won that vote.
A poll commissioned by the IOC showed that 79 percent in Sochi and 80 percent overall in Russia supported the Olympic Winter Games to be hosted in their country.
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