With less than thirty days before the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selects a host city for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Sochi 2014 announced Tuesday that it will use the remaining days to reveal a reason each day why it should be awarded the Games.
In honour of World Environment Day, Sochi said on its website, “Sochi 2014 will be a ‘Gateway to Green Games’, setting a new standard in environmentally conscious and sustainable development for the whole of Russia. Eleven brand-new Olympic venues will be constructed using only ‘green’ materials and building techniques. This commitment is just one guarantee that Sochi 2014 will leave behind a true benchmark for environmental legacy that Russians and the Olympic Movement can be proud of”.
Tuesday Sochi 2014 officials showed their commitment to the cause by leaving their cars parked at home with the entire bid team reporting for work on their bicycles.
A massive cleaning program was initiated Tuesday in Sochi, mobilizing more than 650 residents to pick up trash and keep Sochi’s forests and beaches “sparking” said a press release. Another program “Clean Air in the City” is stopping motorists and performing routine inspections to verify COCH levels and curb air pollution.
Meanwhile, because of the 2008 Olympic doping scandal, Austria’s parliament Tuesday unanimously passed stricter anti-doping legislation.
Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said after the vote the new laws put a strong focus on prevention, optimization of procedures, and give more independence to Austria’s anti-doping authorities.
Representatives of all five parliamentary parties expressed their support for the new rules that focus on prosecuting not the doped athletes, but the networks surrounding them.
