RUSSIA: OLYMPICS - All Olympic venues in demand after Games - head of Sochi 2014 committee

Record ID: 332104

  • Title: RUSSIA: OLYMPICS - All Olympic venues in demand after Games - head of Sochi 2014 committee
  • Date: 9th April 2014
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (APRIL 7, 2014) (REUTERS) ORGANISING COMMITTEE HEAD DMITRY CHERNYSHENKO ENTERING NEWS CONFERENCE MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ORGANISING COMMITTEE HEAD DMITRY CHERNYSHENKO, SAYING: "Every Olympic venue is already a heritage for somebody else. I can tell you for sure that all the Olympic venues are in demand, every site has a very clear strategy of not only surviving but becoming successful. For the time being all the venues are fully financed and fully supported, so there are no "white elephants". There is a huge interest in using this infrastructure not only from within the country but also from abroad." VARIOUS OF MEDIA CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 24th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAADQXAJF5ZD9TFZB4OS3HV032I
  • Story Text: Two months after the start of the Sochi Olympics, the Russian city thinks about the legacy of the Games to make sure the venues are not abandoned.
    The Games in Sochi, the Black Sea resort where President Vladimir Putin often spends his holidays, were the most expensive Olympics ever with the price tag of more than $50 billion.
    Construction took almost seven years, with some 300 companies from all around Russia engaged in preparations for the Games.
    But now that the Games are over and athletes, tourists, and media left, what is going to happen next to the Olympic venues?
    It is not uncommon that when the Games are over, Olympic venues are scarcely used anymore and sometimes are completely abandoned and left to crumble into oblivion.
    Such is the example of most of the 1984 Winter Olympic venues in Bosnia's capital Sarajevo. Same applies to the venues left after the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
    But Russians are certain that a huge investment that went into the Olympic construction will pay off in the end and show a positive example to other cities in and outside Russia.
    "I think people should see that on TV that there are beautiful places in our country, that we are capable of constructing (things), so that other smaller cities strive for that too," Sochi resident Olga Savelyeva said.
    "(This construction) will justify itself. Some of that has probably already paid off, we don't know, we are not too competent in that, but I am sure it will continue to pay off," another resident Nadezhda Luneva said.
    The head of Sochi 2014 organising committee is also positive about the future of the Olympic venues, saying there are already plans in place for each piece of the Olympic infrastructure.
    "Every Olympic venue is already a heritage for somebody else. I can tell you for sure that all the Olympic venues are in demand, every site has a very clear strategy of not only surviving but becoming successful. For the time being all the venues are fully financed and fully supported, so there are no "white elephants". There is a huge interest in using this infrastructure not only from within the country but also from abroad," Dmitry Chernyshenko told a news conference in Moscow.
    Russia is set to host its first Formula One Grand Prix in Sochi in October 2014 which will take place in the Sochi Olympic park.
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