Russian Black Sea resort Sochi this weekend marked two years of progress since being appointed host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics.
The ‘Sochi – YES!’ festival, held on 4 July, celebrated the achievement and looked forward to the Winter Games in five years with Russia’s biggest names in sport and music, joined by thousands of local residents and tourists.
In the two years since its winning bid, Sochi’s infrastructure has changed dramatically including brand new roads, tunnels, power substations and amenities, as part of a major ongoing transformation project. 8.2 kilometres of the 17.7 kilometre Sochi bypass has been built and construction of a new 2.6 kilmetre tunnel, as part of the Sochi bypass, has been completed.
The festival was supported by worldwide Olympic Partners Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, Panasonic and Samsung, in addition to Sochi 2014’s tier-one sponsors MegaFon, Rosneft, Rostelecom and Sberbank.
The festivities included a football match between the city’s top youth teams at the Sochi Central Stadium for the Sochi 2014 Cup, followed by a friendly game between a Sochi 2014 side and a ‘Druzhba’ team of Russian football legends. The Sochi 2014 team was made up of members of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and the Olympstroy State Corporation, responsible for Olympic-related construction.
