Sochi’s bid for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games has inspired 50 Sochi residents to volunteer their services to the Beijing Organizing Committee during the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympic Games.
Sochi volunteers include students with an excellent knowledge of Chinese and other major languages, which should prove invaluable during the Beijing 2008 Games. After gaining experience at the Beijing Games Sochi 2014 hopes the volunteers will bring their expertise back to Russia to help in preparations for the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, should the bid be successful.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, Sochi 2014 CEO said, “I am heartened by the fact that 50 Sochi residents have already volunteered for BOCOG. This shows the true feelings of good will that exist between our two countries. We learned a lot from BOCOG and Chinese athletes as we prepared our Candidature File and their input as well as willingness to cooperate were invaluable. Russians would be thrilled to welcome volunteers from China to help organize the first Winter Games in Russia’s history”.
Meanwhile the newest survey results for Salzburg’s 2014 bid shows that 92 per cent of all Austrians expect a positive impact from the 2014 Winter Olympic Games being held in Salzburg.
Thirteen hundred interviews were conducted by the Gallup Institute of Austria this month in Salzburg’s Olympic Region (city of Salzburg, region of Salzburg and the Olympic Snow Region Pongau) and in the Federal State of Austria.
Austrian Olympic Committee (AOC) President and IOC member Leo Wallner said “the numbers are highly impressive for a democratic and open society like Austria. It expresses furthermore, that the whole country supports the host of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games 2014 in Salzburg. I am especially impressed by the consensus of the young generation. Ninety four per cent of the up to 30-year-olds surveyed are convinced of the positive impact Olympic Winter Games 2014 in Salzburg would have”.
