The IOC’s Coordination Commission for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games has said it is pleased to see that sport and the athletes were playing “a central role”.
The comments - referring to the project’s development and planning - came after two days of meetings with the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee in the Russian host city yesterday.
“The success of the Olympic and Paralympic Games is ultimately based upon the Organising Committee’s ability to deliver a high quality field of play and a great experience for all the competitors and visitors during their stay,” said Jean-Claude Killy, chairman of the Coordination Committee. “With that in mind, our colleagues from the International Olympic Winter Sports Federations visited the sites of the competition venues this week and got a detailed understanding of the plans for each one.
“Along with the Coordination Commission, they were impressed by the plans and will continue to work closely with Sochi 2014 and its new athletes’ commission, chaired by my IOC colleague Alexander Popov, in order to perfect them, as we all continue towards our objective of giving the world’s winter sportsmen and women the finest experience in 2014.”
The IOC also expressed its pleasure with Deputy Prime Minister Kozak’s announcement that the Russian government will be implementing new green construction guidelines on the Olympic project, in part due to Sochi 2014’s close collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme and various environmental NGOs.
The two days of meetings gave the Commission updates on a number of Games-related areas including athletes’ services, venue construction, transport, legacy, environment, the Paralympic Games, media services and technology.
