The 2014 Winter Olympics which is officially known as the XXII Olympic Winter Games, will be the upcoming Winter Olympic games to be held between February 7 to February 23, 2014 in Sochi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city was elected for the purpose on the 4th of july, 2007, during the 119th International Olympic Committee(IOC) Session held in Guatemala City, Guatemala. This would be the first time in Olympic history that the Russian Federation will be hosting the Winter Olympics after the Soviet Union hosted the Summer Games in Moscow in 1980.

The Events are scheduled to be organized within two clusters, a mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana and a coastal cluster in Sochi. Thousands of participants from various nations all over the world are expected to take part in the games of Sochi 2014.

VENUES:
The Sochi Olympic Park will be built in the Imeretin Valley by the Black Sea coast. The venues that have been listed below are new and need to be built. The venues will all be clustered around a central water basin and the Medal Plaza will be built on it.

• Bolshoi Ice Palace for the Ice hockey games, with a capacity for about 12,000 spectators.
• Maly Ice Palace – for ice hockey, with a capacity of about 7,000 spectators.
• Sochi Olympic Oval – for speed skating, this can accommodate 8,000 spectators.
• Sochi Olympic Skating Centre – for figure skating and short track speed skating, with a capacity of 12,000 spectators.
• Sochi Olympic Curling Centre – with a capacity of around 4000 spectators.
• Sochi Olympic Stadium – with a capacity of over 69,000 spectators.
• Main Olympic village

Sports

The sports that have been included in the Sochi Olympic Games include:

• Alpine skiing
• Sledge hockey
• Cross-country skiing
• Biathlon
• Wheelchair curling

Additional events

Several other events have also been submitted by their respective sports federations for inclusion into the official program of the Olympic Games. The events are:
• Half-pipe skiing
• Mixed relay biathlon
• Team alpine skiing
• Women’s ski jumping

On November 28, 2006, the Executive Board of the IOC took a decision of not to include the following games

• Ski-orienteering
• Winter triathlon
• Ski mountaineering

MARKETING:

There was an unofficial referendum held in Sochi on March 2, 2008 to elect the mascot for the 2014 Winter Olympics along with 2008 Russian presidential election,. 270,000 voters voted for the cause. The four mascot candidates were: Ded Moroz, a polar bear, a snowflake, and a dolphin. The majority of Sochians voted for the dolphin, according to a representative of Sochi city administration. The mascot is to be elected not earlier than 2011 and the logo to be elected in the middle of 2009. The organizing committee for the Sochi 2014 games also pointed out, that the final version of the mascot should be on the consent of the citizens and would be worked upon by designers and market analysts hence after. The official 2014 Winter Olympic logo was released on 1st December 2009. It was an creative, appealing and innovative logo with attractive and sporty look. The place of Sochi is a meeting point of the sea and the mountains. As the main component of the Sochi 2014 emblem, the Olympic rings sit large with flying colours on it to represent the progress of the Olympic Movement and to depict the enthusiasm of the Olympic Games.

SECURITY: As part of the large-scale security measures The Russian military have offered to provide the S-400 Triumf advanced surface-to-air missile system when the 2014 winter Olympics will be going on in Sochi.

Financing: According to Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee , the successful commercial and partnership programs will allow to use the funds generated by Sochi 2014 for the 2009-2010 development period, postponing the need for the state funds that have been guaranteed by the Russian Government. It was confirmed by him that the Organizing Committee of the Olympics has successfully generated an amount of more than $500 million within the first five months of the year 2009 through the marketing program. It has been known that Russia will provide approximately US$ 10.85 billion for the total expansion, development, and hosting of the Games.

Organizing Committee
The Organizing Committee for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games was established on October 2, 2007 by the Russian Olympic Committee, the Federal Agency for Physical Culture and Sports and was also presided by the Administration of the City of Sochi.

Construction
The Olympic infrastructure is being constructed according to a Federal Target Programme (FTP). In June 2009 the Games organizers reported they were one year ahead in starting building the main Olympic facilities as compared to all of the latest Olympic Games. So it is expected to see some magnificent structures during the 2014 Games.