Olesya Vladykina, a world record holder, became the Ambassador of the XI Paralympic Winter Games. Dmitry Medvedev welcomed the Olympic and Paralympic Flags and held a meeting on the sports development in Sochi. The highway “Adler – Krasnaya Polyana” is being actively constructed to be finished by 2013. Learn more in the weekly report by FederalPress.
Olesya Vladykina, a world record holder, became the Ambassador of the XI Paralympic Winter Games. Dmitry Medvedev welcomed the Olympic and Paralympic Flags and held a meeting on the sports development in Sochi. The highway “Adler – Krasnaya Polyana” is being actively constructed to be finished by 2013. Learn more in the weekly report by FederalPress.
Olympic events of the week
Olesya Vladykina became the Ambassador of Sochi 2014 Olympics. She is the winner and the world record maker in swimming at 2008 Paralympics.
“I am very much honored to become the Ambassador of the first Paralympics in the history of this country and to participate in such an important event as the ceremony of passing the Paralympic Flag”, she said. Olesya Vladykina is sure the Games will become a powerful stimulus for the whole country.
A two-week intensive training of the Russian soccer handicap team finished last week in Sochi. The team is the world champion in handicap soccer and the winner of the Paralympics. Sportsmen with cerebral palsy get ready for the Championship of Europe which will take place in Scotland. They also plan to participate in 2012 Paralympic Games in London.
Traveling teachers of English, Christina and Coco, arrived in Sochi. The Marco Polo Project by EF (English First) has sent two teachers on a unique world tour which includes 50 countries where EF has learning centers. Sochi is their first destination in this country, with Moscow and St. Petersburg being next on their travel itinerary. Christina and Coco are making a movie about the culture, sights and people they meet.
The Olympic and Paralympic Flags arrived in Sochi last week. They were met by the Organizing Committee members and brought to the City Hall square by the sports champions. The march was headed by the mayor of Sochi Anatoly Pakhomov and the President of the Organizing Committee Sochi-2014 Dmitry Chernyshenko.
President Dmitry Medvedev welcomed the Flags at the City Hall. The Flags will be put up in the entrance hall of the administration building.
Dmitry Medvedev: on Vancouver problems origins
Dmitry Medvedev held a meeting in Sochi on March 26, 2010 devoted to the problems of sports development in Russia. The meeting included two vice-chairman of the Russian government Alexander Zhukov and Dmitry Kozak, presidential envoy in the Northern Caucasus Federal District, Minister of Sports Vitaly Mutko, governor of Krasnodar Region Alexander Tkachev, representatives of sports federations, etc.
The reasons of poor performance of the Russian team in Vancouver go back to long ago, the President stated. Those who are responsible for the preparation of the sportsmen could not have failed to notice problems, but did not act.
Dmitry Medvedev mentioned that 7 out of 12 Presidents of the Russian Sports Federations will be replaced. It is planned to raise salaries for coaches and spare no effort in bringing back eminent Russian coaches, who immigrated to foreign countries in the last 15 years.
Special attention will be paid to technical equipment in such sports as biathlon, bobsleigh, and toboggan.
At the end of the day the President of Russia went to Krasnaya Polyana with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to ski in the last days of the winter season.
Olympic City Duma
The City Duma of Sochi held its first meeting after new deputies were elected. Alexander Tkachev, governor of Krasnodar Region, and vice-governor Murat Akhedjak were also present since this City Duma is going to be the one responsible for the preparation of Sochi for 2014 Olympics.
The regional government has allocated about 30 billion rubles for the preparation, 35 billion rubles were borrowed additionally. Such a great responsibility calls for ultimate attention and hardest efforts from the Duma deputies.
It is expected that Sochi will greatly improve its infrastructure, conditions of the roads and hospitality facilities to bring the city on one level with the world’s best sea resorts.
Dangerous Park
Riviera Attractions Park, one of the most popular entertainment places of Sochi, is the subject of criminal proceedings. A number of attractions used in the Park have been recognized dangerous and life-threatening. Director of the Park was fired. Depending on the court decree, dangerous equipment will be soon dismantled.
Sochi-2014 construction
A new power network will be launched in April 2010 at the mountain ski resort Krasnaya Polyana near Sochi. This newly installed electricity network will provide power for the artificial snow system of the resort.
The construction of the first automobile bridge on the highway “Adler – Krasnaya Polyana” has been finished. It is one of 12 artificial road sections to be built for the 2014 Olympics. This highway will be exploited by both automobile transport and trains.
Automobile road and railway “Adler – Krasnaya Polyana” will connect coastal and mountain clusters of the Sochi Olympic venues. Its construction will be finished in 2013. The total length of the highway will make 50 kilometers and will include 25 bridges.