Russia ahead of schedule for 2014 winter Olympics

The second annual Global Sport Industry Congress took place on Monday in London. Amongst the participants of Congress are representatives of the IOC, symptoms National Olympic Committees, bronchi International Sports Federations, and Sports Editors from some of the world’s leading media outlets.

The major themes discussed at the Congress include the opportunities and challenges associated with ‘Emerging Sport Nations,’ the vision and the mechanics behind preparations for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the future direction of world football.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, the President and CEO of Sochi 2014 presented a progress report which covered all elements of the preparation for the Games in Sochi:

“All of the work is being carried out in accordance with the schedule, approved by the IOC. More than 20,000 people are working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, creating a base for the most innovative Games that the world has ever seen. By the year 2012, all of the competition venues will be put into operation so that we can ensure that two full-seasons on test competitions can be held before the opening of the Games.”

The program of test competitions will include 74 races, including 29 international and 5 World Championships. There will be over 5,000 athletes participating in the test events in front of more than 250,000 spectators. The first “test” will be the European Cup in alpine skiing, which will be held in Sochi in February 2011.

Speaking about financing for the preparation for the Games in 2014, Dmitry Chernyshenko praised the success of the Sochi 2014 marketing program committee:

“Sochi 2014 has attracted major sponsors and broken Olympic sponsorship records with a commercial program worth more than $1bn. Our commercial program is so successful, we self-financed the 2009-2010 financial year, without Government support,” he said.

Touching upon the topic of media coverage of the 2014 Games, Dmitry Chernyshenko said, that journalists visiting Sochi will have their expectations “met and exceeded”.