RUSSIA: OLYMPICS: Sochi 2014 debuts medals, organisers promise 'magnificent' games despite corruption

Record ID: 331248

  • Title: RUSSIA: OLYMPICS: Sochi 2014 debuts medals, organisers promise 'magnificent' games despite corruption
  • Date: 30th May 2013
  • Summary: RUSSIAN OLYMPIAN OPENING BOX OF MEDALS AND REMOVING GOLD MEDAL, THEN SHOWING TO AUDIENCE BOX OF MEDALS RUSSIAN OLYMPIAN AND SPEED SKATER SVETLANA ZHUROVA SHOWING MEDAL SVETLANA ZHUROVA SAYING IN RUSSIAN 'I WOULD LIKE TO WISH THAT AS MANY GOLD MEDALS AS POSSIBLE STAY IN RUSSIA. AND LET THE BRONZE AND SILVER GO TO OTHER COUNTRIES' THEN PUTTING MEDAL IN BOX GRAPHIC OF MEDAL O
  • Embargoed: 14th June 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA3CSBA9V8UC5VLRVMOADUH9VQK
  • Story Text: The Sochi 2014 Winter Games organising committee on Thursday (May 30) unveiled the designs for the medals that Olympic and Paralympic champions will receive at next year's Games as the man tasked with overseeing the Games promised the Olympics would be "magnificent" despite corruption.
    Sochi 2014 organising committee CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko hosted the ceremony in St. Petersburg, where the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is meeting.
    Russian olympians Svetlana Zhurova and Fedor Tricolich showed the medals which feature the Sochi 2014 "patchwork quilt" pattern, meant to reflect the cultures and ethnicities of the Russian Federation, with Olympic rings on the front combined with depictions of Sochi's mountainscape and sea. The reverse side is engraved with the competition and Sochi 2014 logo.
    Zhurova said she felt the medals would be a worthy reminder to athletes of their triumphs in Sochi, but the 2006 Torino speed skating champion said she would like to keep the gold ones close.

    "I would like to wish that as many gold medals as possible stay in Russia. And let the bronze and silver go to other countries," she said.
    The medals are constructed of metal and polycarbonate and weigh between 460 and 531 grams for the Olympians medals, and between 585 and 686 grams for the Paralympians, according to organisers.
    Paralympic medals were designed with depictions of the Paralympic symbol and the Sochi 2014 logo. Visually-impared athletes will receive medals inscribed in Braille.
    The medals are designed by a team of young Russian designers at the Leo Burnett advertising agency and manufactured by Adamas jewelry company. Each of the 1300 medals will take up to 18 hours to manufacture.
    As the medals ceremony was winding down, IOC Sochi 2014 coordination commission leader Jean-Claude Kelly praised the medals and weighed in on Sochi's progress.
    He said in spite of many difficulties and delays, Sochi would be ready to host the Games.

    "I have no doubts about it whatsoever. What we know is that there still is a lot of work to do, but we obviously, Sochi 2014, has eight months to do it. Construction, most of them are almost completed, as you know. And so we know there is a lot of things to do, but it's going to be done and again, the Games are going to be magnificent," Killy said.
    Killy downplayed reports of corruption and out-of-control spending that put the cost of the Games at $50 billion USD - the most expensive Games ever staged.

    "I've seen Olympics being built, people being used, money being spent. Um, I don't recall of an Olympics without corruption. It's not an excuse, obviously, and I'm very sorry about it. But there might be corruption in this country. There was corruption before. We hope we find ways to go around that. That's one, and two, getting to control the cost of the Games, that's very important," Killy said.
    The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada, cost a mere $3.6 billion, according to an estimate by PricewaterhouseCoopers, though others put the bill closer to $6 billion.
    Killy said the costs could be explained by the massive infrastructure projects required to host the Games, which would be in place for future generations.

    "Those Games were the most complicated to organise, because there was nothing at all to start with, as you very well know. Probably 95 percent of it all had to be constructed., which explains most of the money being spent. That money has been spent for the next...infrastructure, for the next 100 years. A train is a train, and the train will carry people for 100 years I hope," Killy said.
    Though precise figures on who is paying for what in Sochi are hard to obtain, RIA Novosti says private investors have spent nearly $25 billion. Federal and regional budgets have accounted for some $13 billion of the costs incurred to date, according to Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak.
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