Sochi 2014 officials left their base camp in Antigua Guatemala Friday, where they have been based since their arrival June 24, en route to Guatemala City for the final stage of their campaign to host the 2014 Winter Olympic Games
In Antigua the bid team prepared for their “crucial” presentation to the International Olympic Committee on July 4.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of Sochi 2014 said, “we leave Antigua for the final leg of our two year quest to host the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games with new friends and supporters for our bid. We were very keen to get to know Guatemala culture during our stay in the same way as we have incorporated the learning from every country we have had the honour of visiting during our journey. We are running our own race and are now ready to face the final challenges that await us in Guatemala City.
“Sochi 2014 will be the Gateway to the Future for millions of Russians and will benefit members of the Olympic Movement around the world. It is our dream to host the Winter Games, but it is realistic and we hope to welcome the world to our beautiful city in seven years time”.
Meanwhile more than half of all Russians believe that Sochi will win the bid, Yefim Bitenev, the regional director of Sochi 2014 told Itar-Tass. He said the figure was taken from a most recent opinion poll organized by the Public Opinion foundation.
Bitenev added the number of those having faith in Sochi’s victory has risen by 15 per cent in the past six months since the previous poll.
Itar-Tass reports the idea of Sochi hosting the 2014 Winter Games is supported by 80 per cent of Russians with only four per cent of respondents saying they are against the bid. Those four per cent against Sochi hosting the Games believe preparations for the Olympics will mean an unnecessary waste of money, while one per cent fear that construction works in the Sochi area will damage the fragile ecology of the place, where snow-capped mountains are located in just a forty minutes’ drive from the seashore.
Former head of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev issued a press release supporting Sochi’s Olympic bid. His statement said in part, “the Winter Olympic Games in Russia for the first time in our history stand as a historic opportunity for the Olympic Movement to make Russia’s future forever. Russia continues to change and grow. Such a process is never easy in the world’s largest country but I am confident that the Games would serve a as a source of progress, boosting our all important transition and brining all the Russian people together around the Olympic ideals”.
