Sochi Olympic venues

Recommendation points

• Coastal cluster
• Olympic Stadium Fischt”
• Big Ice Palace “Bolshoi”
• Ice Arena “Puck”
• Curling Center “Ice Cube”
• Palace of Winter Sports “Iceberg”
• Speed ​​Skating Center “Olympic Oval”
• Mountain cluster
• Complex for competitions in cross-country skiing and biathlon “Laura”
• Ski Center “Rosa Khutor”
• Ski jumping complex “Russian Gorki”
• Luge Center “Sanki”
• Snowboard Park and Freestyle Center “Extreme”
• New residential complexes in Sochi
• Construction financing
• Problems of preparation for the Olympics

Now, with just over two years left before the start of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi (recall that the Olympics will begin on February 7, 2014), the resort capital of Russia has become the country’s main construction site..

As you can see, in the City cluster, special attention will be paid to the construction of roads and the repair of buildings; it is also planned to build and reconstruct 15 terminals of the Seaport of Sochi.

Coastal cluster

The main, most significant object of the Coastal cluster will be the Central Olympic Park, which will unite the park area, all the sports facilities of the cluster and infrastructure.

For the first time in the history of the Winter Olympic Games, all ice arenas where competitions will be held will be located within walking distance from each other.

Kholin Dmitry. Embankment in Sochi. Morning on the Black Sea. 2007

Sochi Olympic Park is designed for 75 thousand visitors. This large complex of competitive objects will include:

Olympic Stadium Fischt”

The capacity of this significant building is 40 thousand people. It is here that the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games will be held; the main feature of the building will be a translucent polycarbonate roof, which will give it the image of a snowy peak, in honor of which the stadium got its name. Fisht – in the Adyghe language means “White Head” or “Gray-headed”, this peak, clearly visible to all spectators of the stadium, rises to a height of 2857 meters above sea level and is one of the most popular in Russia. The construction of the stadium will be completed in 2013, after the end of the Olympics, the facility will be used for football matches of the Zhemchuzhina-Sochi club and other sports competitions. The forecasted cost of the object is $ 63.5 million.

Big Ice Palace “Bolshoi”

Hockey matches will be held in the Ice Palace, in December 2012 the Euro Hockey Tour stage will be held here, and in 2013 – the World Junior Championship. The large ice arena is designed for 12 thousand visitors, and will later become the main sports, entertainment and concert center of the city. From above, the “Big” Ice Palace resembles a frozen drop of water, which has become mainly structures. Estimated cost of the project – $ 300 million.

Ice Arena “Puck”

The small business arena for Olympic competitions, designed for 7 thousand people, is a collapsible object, which can then be dismantled and moved to another city in Russia (Krasnodar, Nizhny Novgorod or Vladikavkaz) to be used as an ice palace. Prior to the 2014 Olympics, it will host the World Junior Championships (2013), the Ice Sledge Hockey World Championships (May 2013), and the Women’s Ice Hockey Tournament (October 2013). The preliminary cost of the Small Ice Arena is $ 35.5 million.

Curling Center “Ice Cube”

Another collapsible object of the Olympics with the possibility of transferring to another place after the end of the competition, most likely to the new Moscow curling stadium. Designed for 3 thousand people and has a simple, discreet design. The World Wheelchair Curling Championship will be held here as a test event in 2013.

Palace of Winter Sports “Iceberg”

Figure skating competitions will be held in the winter palace designed for 12 thousand spectators. Already in December 2012, the Iceberg will host the Grand Prix Final in Figure Skating, after the 2014 Olympics and the 2014 Paralympic Games the palace will also be dismantled and moved to another city in Russia, most likely to Stavropol.

Speed ​​Skating Center “Olympic Oval”

The oval stadium, which will host speed skating competitions, is designed for 8 thousand visitors. After the end of the Olympic competitions, the building is planned to be used as a trade and exhibition center, which will become the largest in the south of Russia. The forecasted cost of the object is $ 32.8 million.

Mountain cluster

Oleinik Arkady. Krasnaya Polyana. Cable car. 2009

The Mountain Cluster, which is actively preparing for the 2014 Olympic Games, includes:

Complex for competitions in cross-country skiing and biathlon “Laura”

The complex consists of 2 separate stadiums with start and finish zones, 2 separate track systems for biathlon and cross-country skiing, a shooting range, as well as areas for preparing for the competition. “Laura” is designed to receive 9.6 thousand spectators, is located 10 kilometers from Krasnaya Polyana. In January 2012, the FIS Cross-Country Cup Stage and the European Biathlon Cup Stage will be held here.

Ski Center “Rosa Khutor”

This Olympic facility is one of the very few whose construction has already been completed, a complex capable of accommodating 10 thousand people, after the Olympic Games will become part of a prestigious ski resort located on the Aibga ridge, in the Krasnaya Polyana region. The total cost of the construction of all routes of the complex is more than $ 300 million.

Ski jumping complex “Russian Gorki”

Located next to the village of Esto-Sadok, between two mountain ranges, the complex, designed for 9.6 thousand people, after the end of the Olympics will become a National training center for skiers.

Luge Center “Sanki”

In February 2013, the Bobsleigh and Skeleton World Cup Stage will be held in the center located at the Alpika-Service ski resort, Krasnaya Polyana and stretching to the finish zone, which is located on the territory of the Rzhanaya Polyana tract. “Sleds” can accommodate up to 9 thousand people, after the completion of all stages of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, a National Training Center will open here. Estimated Construction Cost $ 135.7 Million.

Snowboard Park and Freestyle Center “Extreme”

This facility is located to the west of the Rosa Khutor plateau and will host the 2014 Olympics freestyle and snowboard competitions. As a test competition in 2012, the complex will host the Stages of the European Cup in snowboarding and freestyle. After the end of the Olympic competitions, “Extreme” will become a place for training athletes from all over the country, competitions of world and national importance will be held here.

In addition, two Olympic villages will appear in Sochi – the main one, ready to receive 3 thousand guests and a mountain one, designed for 2.6 thousand inhabitants..

New residential complexes in Sochi

The construction of Olympic facilities is also accompanied by the rapid development of the construction sector in Sochi as a whole. In terms of housing construction, the resort capital is now already in second place after Moscow. At the same time, the cost of elite residential complexes in the resort area has already reached (and in some cases exceeded) Moscow standards..

So, in such elite residential complexes as Gorki Gorod (which will house the media center of the future Olympics), Russian Riviera, Premier, Winter Palace, Ideal House and Sea Palace housing prices reach 170-200 thousand rubles per square meter.

Of course, all the new residential complexes in Sochi and Krasnaya Polyana are distinguished by beautiful views from the windows and a developed infrastructure, including swimming pools and spa salons, but so far there is no influx of people who want to become the owners of such expensive real estate.

Construction financing

According to the initial program for the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi, the total investment amounted to 195.3 billion rubles, of which budgetary funds amounted to 80 billion rubles, and the rest of the investments must be provided by private investors..

Pavlov Nikolay. Southern seaside, Sochi. 1993

Then a new, more “expensive” plan for preparing the city for the Olympics was presented, according to which all expenses exceeded 17.7 billion dollars, that is, about 550 billion rubles. The construction of the new Adler-Krasnaya Polyana highway alone will cost investors and the state budget 242 billion rubles (about $ 7.8 billion). For comparison: the Winter Olympics in Nagano (1998) cost only $ 1.1 billion, the Winter Games in Salt Lake City (2002) – $ 1.9 billion, the Olympics in Turin (2006) – $ 1.7 billion dollars, the Olympic Games in Vancouver (2010) cost the organizers $ 2.2 billion. Against this background, Russian spending looks amazing..

The Adler – Krasnaya Polyana highway is only 48.2 kilometers long, the section is undoubtedly difficult, implying the construction of 12 tunnels 30 kilometers long, several dozen flyovers and bridges. However, the cost of 1 kilometer of this route will eventually amount to 5 billion rubles, or about $ 161 million, which exceeds the cost of building 1 kilometer of the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland, for which it was also necessary to break through rocky ground.

For comparison: the average cost of building a four-lane highway in the USA is 4-5 million dollars, a first-class autobahn in Germany is 8 million euros, and in China the construction of 1 kilometer of a 4-lane highway costs only 3 million dollars..

Not so long ago, information appeared in the press that the calculations for the preparation for the 2014 Olympic Games were made inaccurately and hastily, and during the construction the real estimate increased more than 3 times.

In addition, many private investors, having calculated the construction costs, were convinced that they simply would not be able to return their funds after the Olympics and offered the government to buy out the Olympic facilities or provide soft loans from a state bank..

According to officials, the reason for exceeding the original estimate was the requirements of the International and Organizational Olympic Committees, which put forward additional conditions for the arrangement of sports facilities..

Other experts accuse the company “Olympstroy” of exceeding costs, which did not provide the investors with the necessary infrastructure, as a result of which they had to build it at their own expense..

Also, the cost of preparing for the Olympics increased the need to relocate residents of the Imereti Valley, who had repeatedly protested against the low valuation of their houses, insufficient amounts of compensation and poor quality of housing provided to them in exchange for the abandoned.

In general, experts agree that the high cost of preparing Sochi for the Winter Olympic Games is due to three main factors:

• corruption;
• wrong choice of the venue for the Olympics;
• low efficiency of construction contractors.

Problems of preparation for the Olympics

Environmentalists have become the most active opponents of the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi and the holding of winter competitions in the vicinity of the resort city. Even during the announcement in Guatemala of Russia as the winner in the competition for the right to host the Olympic Games, the “greens” protested against this decision, noting that the construction of numerous facilities would be a disaster for the ecology and nature of the region.

So, only during the construction of the Adler-Krasnaya Polyana highway, which, according to ecologists, was carried out carelessly and too quickly, the habitats of dozens of rare plant species were destroyed.

Also, ecologists note that many areas of the Sochi National Park were allocated for construction, and the river Mzymta, important for Sochi, was also under threat. In general, such a large-scale construction will have disastrous consequences for the nature of the region – experts emphasize..

The authorities emphasize that during construction all the requirements of Russian environmental legislation, as well as IOC standards and regulations, proposals and recommendations of public environmental organizations are observed. In particular, treatment facilities and an incineration plant will be built, tens of thousands of new trees will be planted to compensate for the felling. Such statements of officials have not yet been able to calm the “green”.

Such a large-scale construction will have disastrous consequences for the nature of the region – experts emphasize.

Another problem of the region today has become a decrease in the flow of tourists associated with large-scale construction of facilities – Russians do not want to rest in the center of a huge construction site, and many residents of the region who lived by receiving travelers suffer significant losses, as well as sanatoriums and boarding houses in Sochi and Adler.

In addition, the preparation of personnel for the 2014 Olympics also implies teaching English, but so far the investment of this process is not provided for by the budget..

In general, despite all the problems, the construction of Olympic facilities in Sochi continues actively, albeit with a slight delay on schedule. Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Kozak noted that in February and March 2012 test competitions will be held at ready-made sports facilities, which will become a dress rehearsal for the 2014 Olympics and will show how successful the chosen project is..

It is hoped that all huge investments will guarantee the highest level of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and will be able to pay off, if not completely, then at least partially..