The head of state examined how work designed to prepare this mountain resort to possibly host the 2014 Winter Olympics is being carried out.
Vladimir Putin and head of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee Aleksandr Zhukov examined the proposed location for several Olympic installations.
Along with this Vladimir Putin emphasised once again that the Sochi resort will develop independently of whether it hosts the 2014 Winter Olympics or not, and do so in the interests of Russians generally. The head of state expressed his confidence that Sochi has the chance to become a year-round resort where millions of people can holiday and relax.
Vladimir Putin also talked to students from the Krasnaia Poliana sports school. He then changed into a snowsuit and skied down the mountain several times with the students.
The head of state then examined one of Sochi’s downhill skiing hills, the Laura villa, where he talked with Olympic champions Karl Shrants and Svetlana Gladysheva, and head of the Russian Olympic Committee Leonid Tiagachev about preparations in Sochi for possibly hosting the 2014 Olympics.
Once he finished examining the resort, Vladimir Putin answered journalists’ questions and shared his impressions of what he had seen.
The Sochi project to host the Olympics provides for building 11 sporting installations that will be divided into two groups. One will be located in the Adlerskii and Khostinskii districts, and another will be in the mountains of the Krasnaia Poliana resort. The alpine sports installations will a 40-minute drive from the Black Sea coast. All coastal venues will constitute a unified Olympic village.