The Sochi 2014 Supervisory Board: 2012 Year in Review

The final meeting of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Supervisory Board has been held under the chairmanship of the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov.

(PRWEB) January 03, 2013

The final meeting of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Supervisory Board has been held under the chairmanship of the President of the Russian Olympic Committee, Alexander Zhukov. The Supervisory Board makes strategic decisions relating to the preparation and staging of the Games. The main topic on the Supervisory Board agenda was a summary of Organizing Committee's activities during 2012, presented by the Sochi 2014 President, Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Sochi 2014 Test Events

One of the key highlights of the year was the start of the test events program, the "dress rehearsal" for the Sochi 2014 Games.

During the 2012-2013 season, Sochi 2014 organizes 22 international test events. Members of the Organizing Committee are already checking the operational readiness of the venues and testing the services and procedures. Around 50 representatives from federal, regional and municipal services, investors and contractors, have also been recruited to work at the test events.

Two international test events were completed in December at the Olympic venues in the Coastal and Mountain Clusters – the "Iceberg" Skating Palace and "RusSki Gorki" Jumping Center. The ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and the FIS World Cup stages in ski jumping gathered approximately 200 athletes from 20 countries and were hosted by Sochi 2014 together with international and national sports federations. More than 500 Sochi 2014 representatives worked on the test events and all functions and services at the venues were tested.

Recruitment of Sochi 2014 Volunteers

On 7 February 2012, Sochi 2014 launched a program to recruit Sochi 2014 volunteers, and to date more than 150,000 applications have been made to volunteer at Russia's first ever Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

Sochi 2014 Marketing Program

In 2012, the Sochi 2014 Marketing program was even more successful, having attracted about 1.3 billion dollars in funding for the Organizing Committee. The Organizing Committee signed agreements with 10 new suppliers, meaning that today there are 43 different Partners and Suppliers in the Sochi 2014 team. A total of 47 licensing contracts have been signed in 41 categories, adding up to more than 20 million dollars.

"500 Days To Go"

In 2012, we celebrated two significant dates: 500 days before the start of the Olympic Games, and 500 days before the Paralympic Games.

As part of the 500 Days To Go to the Olympic Games celebrations, sports and musical events were held in 17 cities across Russia. The culmination of the celebration was a country-wide flashmob, the main participants of which were volunteers from the 26 Sochi 2014 Volunteer Centers who represented the 14 regions of Russia. Over 12,000 volunteers took part in the construction of giant Olympic pictograms, forming a total of 22 images of all the winter sports, in squares, stadiums and in sports complexes across Russia.

The Paralympic 500 Days To Go celebrations centered around the launch of a unique web project, the Accessibility Map, which will enable people with a disability to find local sports facilities and barrier-free environments in their home cities. Internet users and Sochi 2014 volunteers have already added more than 4,500 venues to the Accessibility Map.

Olympic Torch Relay

On 7 October 2012, a year before the arrival of the Olympic flame in Russia, the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee presented the route that the Torch Relay will follow over the course of 123 days through 2,900 Russian cities and towns. 14,000 torch bearers will carry the Olympic torch and it will travel more than 65,000 km by car, train, plane, and even by Russian troika and deer. Around 130 million Russians will be able to see the Torch, uniting the country in the Olympic celebrations.

The Sochi 2014 Games Slogan

In 2012, the organizers presented the slogan of the Sochi 2014 Games: "Hot. Cool. Yours." It accurately reflects the national character of Russia, the values of the Sochi 2014 brand, as well as a progressive and innovative approach to the organization and staging of the Games. According to a survey of over 1,000 people held between 14 and 21 November 2012 (conducted by the Nielsen company – world leader in the evaluation of customer behavior), 67% of Russians like the slogan, and, in their opinion, it is bright, catchy, and evocative of positive emotions and appropriate for the Sochi 2014 Look.

Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad

In 2012, the Year of Music was held as part of the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad. The Year of Music was a great success with almost half a million spectators across the country viewing more than 1,000 events.

The Marathon of the Russian Regions took place in two cities simultaneously – Sochi and London – for the first time. This formed part of the Russian cultural program at the London 2012 Games. The "Class Mira" competition continued the Cultural Olympiad events aiming to actively integrate people with a disability into Russian society, including children and teenagers. The Cultural Olympiad and Sberbank, a Games General Partner, presented a unique musical compilation, "Hits of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Games." And the debut concerts of the newly created All-Russian Youth Orchestra, under the patronage of Yury Bashmet, Sochi 2014 Ambassador and People's Artist of the Russian Federation, performed a brilliant finale to the Year of Music.

Dmitry Chernyshenko, President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, also told members of the Supervisory Board about plans for 2013. The Sochi 2014 Ticketing program will be launched; the Olympic and Paralympic torches will be presented; the torchbearers will be selected; the Olympic Torch Relay will commence; and the last Sochi 2014 volunteers will be recruited.

President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, noted:

"On the whole 2012 was a successful year for the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee: we implemented a number of interesting projects and reached the final run up to the Games of 2014. There remains only one year until the Games, and 2013 will prove to be the most important and decisive for us as the organizers of such a massive, large-scale event. In 2013, test events will be a serious exam for us; we will complete the recruitment of 25,000 volunteers for the Games in Sochi, select torchbearers and start the torch relay, which will unite the entire country and will illustrate that the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi are the Games for everyone! I hope that 2013, the last year before the Games, will prove to be really special for us and will bring great Olympic success."

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