A delegation of senior Sochi 2014 officials led by Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, are in Munich Saturday visiting the Munich Olympic Park for a series of meetings with legacy experts to discuss the opportunities for maximizing the positive legacy from the Sochi 2014 Games.
The Munich Olympic Park is one of the best examples of an Olympic Games leaving a enduring sporting and social legacy, said a Sochi 2014 press release.
The high-level delegation wanted to see first hand a functioning example of a sustainable Olympic Park as part of their preparations for the Sochi 2014 Games.
DOSB President and IOC Vice President Dr. Thomas Bach joined the delegation for meetings before the two-hour visit to the Munich Olympic Park, which included a detailed presentation of the Olympic Park and a tour around the Olympic Stadium Olympic Hall, Olympic Swimming Hall and Olympic Tower.
Deputy Prime Minister Kozak said, “our visit has been a valuable opportunity to learn from one of the best existing examples of sustainability. It is an incredible achievement for the Olympic Park to host over 300 successful community sport and entertainment events each year, nearly forty years before the 1972 Olympic Games. The lessons we have learned today have made us even more confident that we can emulate and, hopefully, surpass this achievement with a lasting legacy for our own Olympic Park in Sochi”.
Following the presentations the Sochi 2014 officials visited the Allianz Arena, home to Bayern Munich, to meet the stadium’s top management and discuss the successful experience of maintaining one of the best football arenas in the world. Sochi 2014’s legacy plan says that the Central Olympic stadium, where the Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be held, will become a world class football arena once the Games are over.
The Sochi Olympic Park is being built along the Black Sea coast in the Imeretinskaya Valley, where the ice venues, Main Olympic Village, International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre are being custom built for the 2014 Games.
Dmitry Chernyshenko said “the Sochi 2014 Olympic Park will not only rejuvenate the city of Sochi, but will also contribute significantly to the economic, cultural and environmental development of the entire Krasnodar Region. It will be a catalyst for new standards in ecology, planning and corporate governance. A sustainable Olympic Park will be the beginning of decades of legacy that Sochi 2014 will deliver”.
