The Winter Olympics Of 2014 In Sochi: History, Organization And Concerns

Bidding process and organization

Question:

Discuss about the Analyis Of Sochi’s Winter Olympics.

The bidding process of for the Olympics started in the year 2007 during the 119^th session of International Olympic Committee in the city of Guatemala. Salzburg, Austria; and Pyeongchang also bid for hosting the Olympics of 2014 but Sochi won the bid and was elected to host the winter Olympics of 2014.The emblem of the  winter Olympics of 2014 reflected designs of landscapes of Russia and the words ‘’Sochi ‘’and ‘’ 2014’’ mirrored one another vertically (Müller 2014).  Votes from public were received through online platform and text messages and these votes were accountable for the decision of the mascot of Sochi’s Winter Olympics.  The 10 finalists of these votes were aired in Channel One and snow leopard, polar bear and snow hare were chosen as official mascots of 2014 Winter Olympics. Five 100 days prior to the beginning of Winter Olympics of Sochi on 25^th September 2012, the official slogan- Hot. Cool. Yours for the Olympics was chosen (Orttung & Zhemukhov, 2014).   This slogan reflects the heated competition of the athletes of the Olympics game, the cold climate of Sochi and the idea of belongingness (Arnold & Foxall, 2014).    The gaming company Nintendo released official video games of this Olympics both on android platform and Facebook. These games were Mario & Sonic series, Sochi 2014: Olympics Game Resort.  Special coins and 100-rubles notes games were released by the Bank of Russia and postage stamps which reflected venues, mascots and athletes of the Olympics were released by Russian Post (Müller, 2012).   In the year 2009, during a seminar energy experts from Russia built a strategy to increase the supply of power in Sochi and the power demand expected to increase by 340 MW to make Sochi ready or Olympics. Funds were allocated for the construction of roads and hotels to make Sochi ready to host the Winter Olympics game (Alekseyeva, 2014).  The opening of six post offices at the center of the Olympic park enabled these post offices to be open till late night during the Olympics. In 2011, $1.2 billion sponsorship was raised and the Olympics building was constructed by 55,000 workers (Andreff, 2013).

HDTV satellites, fiber-optic cables, TETRA MOBILE radio communications were infrastructures that were built for the game.  Avaya supplied telecommunication equipment to Organizing Committee of Sochi.  US$ 580 million was spent to improve telecommunication and infrastructure in Sochi.In the year 2013, design of medal for the Olympics was unveiled.  Russian Armed forces and police forces were allotted to improve the security of Sochi.  The Coca Cola Company, General Electronics, Procter and Gamble and many other notable multi-national enterprises sponsored the 2014 Winter Olympics.  Volkswagen group,  Russian Railways and many other national companies partnered with the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. In the year 2013, International Space Station has sent the Olympic Torch of the Sochi Winter Olympics to space.  On 7^th October 2013, torch relay of the Olympics commenced at Moscow (Gronskaya & Makarychev, 2014). .This relay covered 83 cities of Russia and arrived at Sochi on 7^th February, 2014-the opening day of the Olympic ceremony. For the first time in the history of Olympics this torch was passed to space and International Space Station was decorated with the emblem of the game (Persson & Petersson, 2014).

Mascots, slogan, and events

On 7^th February 2014, the opening ceremony of Winter Olympics of 2014 was held on Fisht Olympic Stadium. The scenes of the Olympic ceremony reflected arts and history of Russia. Age of Soviet Union, the Russian Revolution, ballet and classical music were part of the opening ceremony. Notable sports celebrities like Maria Sharapova lit the Olympic torch and the Olympic cauldron situated at the middle of the Olympic park was also jointly lit by celebrities. 88 nations participated in the Winter Olympics of 2014 at Sochi and seven nations like Togo, Malta, Timor-Leste, Dominicia, Tonga, Zimbabwe and Paraguay debuted in Sochi’s Olympics. 98 events of seven sports were staged in the Sochi’s Winter Olympics.  Some of the medal events which were contested in the Olympics were Snowboarding, Alpine skiing,  Luge , Speed skating , Ice hockey, Ski Jumping, Curling, Bobsleigh, Cross- Country Skiing, Short track Speed Skating,  Biathlon and few more.  The broadcasting rights were given to NTV Plus, Channel One and VGTRK in Russia, NBC Universal got the right to broadcast the Winter Olympics in the United States of America, Network 10 received the broadcasting rights in Australia from the International Olympics Committee. On 23^rd February 2014, closing ceremony of Sochi’s Winter Olympics took place at the Fisht Olympics stadium (Trubina, 2014).  Medalists paraded and 33 medals were won by athletes from Russia and 28 medals were won by participants from America. 26 medals were won by Norway.  During the games, national houses were allotted for countries like China, Canada, France, Italy, Russia and few more where athletes, supporters and followers met (Petersson & Vamling, 2013). Few athletes were injured in the event (Soligard et al., 2015). Doping was also a major concern of the event (Sobolevsky et al., 2014).

1) The Sochi’s Winter Olympics had adverse effects on environment. The construct work in Sochi has blocked the routes of migration for animals like the brown bear. There was dumping of waste which was illegal, there was scarcity of drinking water for the residents of Sochi and the quality of their life decreased. The recommendation is that the environmental concerns should not be ignored to build construction, roads and transportation for the Winter Olympics. Waste management procedures and waste recycling methods should be adopted by the organizers to address the issue of environmental sustainability. The construction methods and wastes should be carefully handled to avoid collapse of buildings, flow of mud and landslides.

Broadcasting, sponsors, and medal counts

2) The biodiversity was also lost in Sochi and national park in Sochi was habitat of plants and animals and some parts of this national park were damaged.   The events of sports are recommended to be relocated away from the World Heritage site of UNESCO. The preservation of biodiversity is of paramount importance and it is recommended that constructional work, building of roads and transportation should not hamper the livelihood of animals and plants. There were reports that stray dogs in Russia were poisoned before Olympics. Such cruelty against animals should be strictly avoided.

3) Doping was a concern of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics. Athletes from Russia were doped to deliver excellent performance in the Olympics. The recommendation is that strong measures should be taken by International Olympic Committee to prevent such illegal procedures which can tarnish the reputation of a prestigious sports event. Investigation of the athletes should be conducted and their urine should be tasted to administer the prevention of doping.  The anti-doping officials should follow rules and regulations and monitor the athletes strictly to prevent doping. Also the Winter Olympics of Sochi held in 2014 was one of the most expensive Olympics with , these cost overruns should be avoided and measures should have been taken to eliminate corruption among government officials in Sochi. There were reports that the Olympics ring malfunctioned and there were problems like the flush in the toilets did not work. The recommendation is that hygiene should be maintained well during the staging of the Olympics game and technical errors should be avoided. The concerns for stakeholders should be addressed by organizers of Olympics.

Reference

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Andreff, W. (2013). Economic development as major determinant of Olympic medal wins: predicting performances of Russian and Chinese teams at Sochi Games. International Journal of Economic Policy in Emerging Economies, 6(4), 314-340.

Arnold, R., & Foxall, A. (2014). Lord of the (Five) Rings: Issues at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games: Guest Editors' Introduction. Problems of Post-Communism, 61(1), 3-12.

Gronskaya, N., & Makarychev, A. (2014). The 2014 Sochi Olympics and" Sovereign Power" A Political Linguistic Perspective. Problems of Post-Communism, 61(1), 41-51. 

Müller, M. (2012). Popular perception of urban transformation through megaevents: understanding support for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 30(4), 693-711.

Müller, M. (2014). Introduction: Winter Olympics Sochi 2014: what is at stake?. East european politics, 30(2), 153-157.

Orttung, R. W., & Zhemukhov, S. (2014). The 2014 Sochi Olympic mega-project and Russia's political economy. East European Politics, 30(2), 175-191.

Persson, E., & Petersson, B. (2014). Political mythmaking and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi: Olympism and the Russian great power myth. East European Politics, 30(2), 192-209.

Petersson, B., & Vamling, K. (Eds.). (2013). The Sochi predicament: contexts, characteristics and challenges of the Olympic Winter Games in 2014. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Sobolevsky, T., Krotov, G., Dikunets, M., Nikitina, M., Mochalova, E., & Rodchenkov, G. (2014). Anti?doping analyses at the Sochi Olympic and Paralympic Games 2014. Drug testing and analysis, 6(11-12), 1087-1101.

Soligard, T., Steffen, K., Palmer-Green, D., Aubry, M., Grant, M. E., Meeuwisse, W., ... & Engebretsen, L. (2015). Sports injuries and illnesses in the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Br J Sports Med, 49(7), 441-447.

Trubina, E. (2014). Mega-events in the context of capitalist modernity: the case of 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. Eurasian Geography and Economics, 55(6), 610-627.