The 1980 Summer Olympics were held in Moscow by the Soviet Union, while the 2014 Winter Olympics were held in Sochi by the Russian Federation. Russian athletes have won 426 medals at the Summer Olympic Games and another 120 at the Winter Olympic Games in six visits. They are the current leaders of the total medal count.
Sochi is a coastal city on the Black Sea in Krasnodar Krai. It is home to an international convention center, several hotels, casinos, and restaurants. The city was chosen as the host for the 2014 Winter Olympics after winning an international election in 2007. The opening ceremony will be held on 7 February 2014, with skiing and snowboarding starting on 9 February.
Sochi has been praised for its new facilities and plans to make itself more accessible after years of economic stagnation. However, some Western governments have warned their citizens about traveling to the region because of violence between police and protesters over government policies.
Sochi lies within the territory of the Caucasus Mountains range. The city is located near the site where the ancient Greek geographer Claudius Ptolemy mentioned a mountain called "Chalcis" that may have been the same as the modern-day Sozhia. The area around Sochi has many lakes and mountains that are suitable for winter sports.
Sochi hosts an annual marathon race since 1995.
There are 232 athletes. Russia hosted the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi from February 7 to February 23, 2014. Russia, as host, competed in all 15 sports with a team of 232 competitors. It is Russia's most extensive Winter Olympics squad to date.
The country has been plagued by doping scandals and violations at previous Games. However, Russia has taken steps to combat drug abuse in sport, including creating an independent anti-doping agency in 2013.
Russia has a long history of involvement in international athletics. Soviet athletes dominated world events during the Cold War years, winning two thirds of all Olympic medals awarded. Since then, Russia has become more involved in global athletics, especially since 2004 when Vladimir Putin became president. He had a major role in bringing the Olympics to Sochi.
Sochi is one of Russia's main winter resorts, located on the coast 120 miles east of Moscow. The city was built for the 1936 Summer Olympics but never held any games; instead it was used as a vacation spot by Josef Stalin and other leaders of the USSR. When the USSR collapsed in 1991, Sochi remained under Russian control.
In 2007, the International Olympic Committee voted unanimously to award the Winter Games to Sochi. The deal was finalized in 2009 when President Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree officially awarding the games to Sochi.
The Russian Olympic Committee was established in 1991 and was officially recognized in 1993.
Russia has also participated in every Summer Youth Olympics since its founding in 1976. However, Russia failed to send a delegation to either the 1988 or 1992 Games due to government sanctions imposed over Soviet military activity in Afghanistan.
Furthermore, Russia has never taken part in a Winter Youth Olympics. But they did send a delegation to the first Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria in 1964.
In addition, Russia has also participated in every World Championships in Athletics that it has been allowed to do so. Their first appearance in the event was at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki. So far, they have sent delegations to every single edition of the event.
Russia's national athletics team is known as the Russians after the country's federation called Olimpiada Rossii (Russian Olympiad). The team originally consisted of only athletes who were born in what is now Russia but had no connection with the Soviet Union. These "free agents" included such famous names as Vasily Levkin, Dmitri Bivol, and Gennadi Girya.
The country has previously hosted the Olympics when Moscow held the Summer Games in 1980. In the months preceding up to the Games, Sochi was rife with controversy, as the choice of a city with a moderate climate as a Winter Games location raised questions over whether there would be enough snow cover. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) also had concerns about safety after two recent terror attacks in Russia that killed dozens.
Sochi opened its first major international event, the World Ski Championships, just three months after the Games began. The host nation took home one gold, four silver, and three bronze medals. Despite the victory, the tournament was marked by protests from environmental groups who were critical of Russia's use of fossil fuels for energy and its construction of new oil pipelines that they claimed are needed for national security rather than for transporting oil produced from Siberian fields.
These issues were not lost on observers outside Russia, either. When the country's sports leaders decided that Sochi should host the Games again, many other cities submitted bids including Hamburg, Germany; Prague, Czech Republic; and St. Petersburg, Russia. In the end, only two cities qualified by vote of their respective sport's bodies: Vancouver for winter sports, and London for summer games.
Why did London get the job instead of St. Petersburg? Vancouver is more centrally located while London is closer to Europe and has better transportation facilities.
The Winter Olympics were held in Russia for the first time in Sochi. The country has previously hosted the Olympics when Moscow held the Summer Games in 1980.
Winter Olympics in 2002 The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were held from February 8–24, 2002 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. There were over 2,400 athletes from 77 countries. They participated in 78 different events.
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