Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of Sochi 2014, yesterday made a presentation to the IOC Truce Foundation Board on a series of actions that Sochi 2014 will take to embrace the Olympic Truce concept.
Presenting to Jacques Rogge, President of the IOC, and fellow members of the International Olympic Truce Foundation Board, which aims to promote peace, friendship and international understanding, Chernyshenko explained that Olympic cultural collaboration is a strong means of fostering peace and stability in the region where the 2014 Winter Games will be held.
The Cultural Olympiad will be held from 2010 to 2014 in Sochi and will be an Olympic action of friendship and collaboration, with a large number of participants, and involving the local community. There will be around 3,000 events in the Cultural Olympiad, including 200 in the main program.
Chernyshenko also outlined how Sochi 2014 sees education as an important way to promote understanding and collaboration between Russia and the world. Sochi 2014 has a fully fledged education programme, whose flagship project is the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU). The University will become alma mater for students and staff from more than 200 countries of various ethnic backgrounds and cultures.
At the meeting, Chernyshenko presented President Rogge with a letter penned by world-famous conductor, Maestro Valery Gergiev, who is a Sochi 2014 Official Ambassador and extremely active in promoting peace initiatives in Russia. Maestro Gergiev’s letter congratulated the IOC on its outstanding achievements in the process of promoting peace and offered his support for future initiatives.
As part of the letter, Valery Gergiev said: “I believe that sport, like music, is a common language to all; it transcends barriers of race, religion, social class or wealth.
“We are not constructors, nor designers, but we can work alongside the organisers of the Games to contribute to the reputation of Sochi 2014.”
