RUSSIA / UNITED KINGDOM: OLYMPIC GAMES - Russia's winter resort of Sochi launches its official bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games interview with Alexander Popov

Sochi, a Russian resort overlooking the shores of the Black Sea, launched its world communications campaign to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games on Monday (October 2). Located near the Caucasus Mountains, Sochi is warm in summer with beaches nearby but in the winter the lifts take skiers up the slopes for winter sports. The launch took place in Russia, and in London Alexander Popov, International Olympic Committee (IOC) member and fourt times Olympic medallist, spoke in support of the bid. "It is a funny situation that Russia has never hosted a winter games being totally a winter country," Popov said. Popov added that Russia has improved its infrastructure since Moscow's unsuccessful bid to stage the 2012 summer Olympic Games. "A lot of unifications between Russian governing bodies you know like the administration of the president of Russia, the minister of sport, the Russian Olympic committee, IOC members, Russian Athletics, even the Russian public want the games to be in Sochi, Russia. This brings a lot of responsibilities to us you know to organise ourselves, organise the procedure, organise things in a proper way, in the best way that is possible and we cannot fail," he said. Sochi will compete with Pyeongchang in South Korea and Salzburg in Austria for the right to host the winter games. The IOC will announce the successful bid in July 2007.

ITN Source | October 3, 2006

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