Just days before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announces its short list for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, four of the seven bid cities are promoting their bids in various ways.
From Bulgaria there’s an announcement that it plans to invest more than one billion leva in enlarging Borovets ski resort with 140 km of ski tracks and new hotels with 25,000 beds. Also several of Bulgaria’s football stars, including the national teams’ captain Stilyan Petrov, gathered in support of Sofia’s 2014 bid.
The Federal Target Programme for the development of the Sochi region recently approved the modernization and expansion of Sochi International Airport. Sochi 2014 called it an integral part of Sochi’s 2014 Olympic and Paralympic bid. The program has a budget of $11.7 billion USD and is aimed at developing the region into a year-round world-class resort destination. The airport is reachable via a one to two-hour flight from most of the capital cities in the Mediterranean, and a two-hour flight from Moscow. It is also within close proximity for flights from Western Europe and the Middle East.
Salzburg 2014 said on the eve of Austria hosting the United Nations European Youth Leadership Summit it has committed to using the 2014 Games as a catalyst to inspire greater understanding among the world’s youth. Fedor Radman, CEO of Salzburg 2014 said, “reaching out and inspiring the youth of the world, not just to embrace Winter Olympic and Paralympic sports, but to build understanding across nations, is something that Salzburg 2014 is 100 per cent committed to. If we are fortunate enough to be granted Candidate City status later this month Salzburg 2014 will work hard to explore the most effective ways we can help promote these elements both within Austria and globally”.
The Quebrantahuesos bicycle race that took place in an area where Jaca would host the 2014 Games if selected, had a record number of participants this year. 7,907 cyclists took part in the event and 7,142 completed what is considered Spain’s top race in its field and the third in the world.
