I knew this was gonna happen......Sochi 2014 is the Beijing 2008 of the Winter Games, and Vancouver 2010 will remain as the Sydney 2000 of the Winter Games.
USOC, Chicago 2016 Not Consulted On Resolution To Kill Sochi 2014 Olympic Games
Associated Press
August 7, 2008 5:30 p.m.
Pressing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to revoke the planned Sochi 2014 Olympic Games from Russia is a "particular and special action" to a "very serious conflict" U.S. Representative Allyson Schwartz told GamesBids.com Friday.
On Thursday Schwartz, along with Representative Bill Shuster, announced intentions to introduce a resolution to Congress calling on the IOC to react and punish the Russian Federation for the invasion of the Republic of Georgia that commenced during the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympic Games.
"This is just one of a number of possible reactions to the situation", said Schwartz referring to how the United States will deal with the crisis.
"We are voicing the opinion of several members, and if the resolution passes, the entire congress.
Schwartz and Shuster are actively recruiting members' support and are reportedly asking for legislators in other countries to follow suit.
But the IOC would face huge risks should they change venues at this time. Despite the resolution's claim that "...there is still sufficient time to designate a new host city ... and to allow a new host city adequate time to prepare to host a successful Olympics" - with five-and-a-half years remaining organizers are already under severe time pressure. The IOC Coordination Commission's Jean-Claude Killy in April announced that not a single day could be wasted.
A similar resolution was introduced to congress in 2001 when Representative Tom Lantos condemned China's human rights record and urged the IOC not to elect Beijing to host the 2008 Olympic Games. However, the resolution wasn't passed and House Majority Leader Dick Armey said that he believed the IOC would not be influenced by a house vote against China. This didn't concern Schwartz however, "Each situation has to be taken on its own" she said.
Chicago is currently bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games and a team in Beijing is actively lobbying IOC members for their support - but Schwartz admitted that she has not been in contact with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) or Chicago 2016 and has not heard any reaction from them.
"I'm not the first one to draw [the IOC's] attention to the conflict; it is a difficult and threatening situation. We do this with the greatest respect to the Olympic Games and the International Olympic Committee.
There has been tension between the United States and the IOC since 1999 when Senator John McCain - an outspoken critic of the IOC - used the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee he chaired to pressure the IOC to reform and for the President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, to resign in wake of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal. IOC resentment has been partially blamed for the dismal results of New York's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Earlier reports that Georgia was encouraging the U.S. resolution was denied by the Congresswoman and she said things could still change.
"It depends what happens with Russia's compliance [to the ceasefire]. It could change over the next couple of weeks but this is a very serious conflict that has recently escalated."
Georgia unrest poses problems for Sochi 2014
By Roger Blitz in Beijing
Published: August 11 2008 04:25 | Last updated: August 11 2008 04:25
Russia’s preparations for hosting the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi are likely to face difficulties on two fronts because of its support for the separatist movements in the breakaway regions of Georgia.
First, Sochi, the Black Sea resort, has been the scene of two unexplained explosions in the past six weeks that have killed four people, and the suspicion is that they may have been caused by disaffected elements from nearby Abkhazia, one of the breakaway regions, wanting to sabotage Sochi’s Games preparations.
On Wednesday, an explosion killed two people and injured 13 on a beach in Sochi prompting President Dmitry Medvedev to send an envoy to the city. It follows an explosion last month in an apartment building which killed two people.
Secondly, much of the construction work required to make the Games a reality is meant to be carried out by foreign companies from countries such as the UK and the US, both of which yesterday expressed alarm about Russia’s actions.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, chief executive of Sochi 2014, on Sunday said in Beijing he was unconcerned about the conflict affecting Sochi, which is a 15-minute drive from Abkhazia. ”This has nothing to do with the preparations for the Games,” he said. ”There is nothing funny in what’s happening. It is very sad what’s going on in the world.”
Sochi is the pet project of Vladimir Putin. The Russian prime minister turned up in person to sway members of the International Olympic Committee meeting in Guatemala City last year to decide the venue for the 2014 winter Olympics and has been at the forefront of its preparations.
He was in Beijing on Friday for China’s Olympics opening ceremony, meeting IOC members already nervous about the possibility of Georgia pulling its team out of the Games, and no doubt trying to dispel their anxieties about the effect of the conflict on the Sochi preparations. The following day he flew straight to a Russian city adjoining the separatist Georgian region.
Jean-Claude Killy, the IOC’s chief inspector for the Sochi Games, said the organisation had total confidence in Sochi.
For Russia, hosting the 2014 Games marks far more than the conversion of the Black Sea resort, for decades a favoured retreat of Kremlin hierarchy, into a world tourist destination. As with China’s Beijing Games, Russia believes that the Olympic brand gives it a stamp of international approval and respectability and an opportunity to instil nationalist pride.
And like Beijing, Russia’s government is committing vast amounts of money to build the infrastructure required for the 2014 Games, upwards of $12bn. Some 240 projects are planned, 75 of which are related to the Games.
Sochi, 1,500km from Moscow, Sochi has limited road access, a poor sewage system and an inadequate port. The regeneration of Sochi and the Krasnodar region in which it sits requires the building of more than 100km of railway lines, 75km of federal highways, 19 flyovers, 20 tunnels, 5,000m of mooring installations, a new waste processing plant, and a port for a capacity of 10 ships and 300 yachts, plus goods terminals and port stations.
The Games are six years away, and Russia has little time to waste in its preparations. While they can call upon companies like Gazprom and Vladimir Potanin’s Interros Holding Co to lend support to projects in the Krasnodar region, Sochi’s organisers acknowledge that they need a vast army of contractors, some 200,000 of them, and many of these will come from outside Russia.
IOC chief inspector for the Sochi Games, Jean-Claude Killy, a former Olympic champion, said the Games would be a success.
"We are totally confident they are going to make magnificent Games," Killy told a crowd at an event co-hosted by Sochi and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics organizing committee.
Sochi moved some of its planned venues recently following an environmental report, and has pledged to start construction of all venues no later than 2009 and complete them by 2012 to allow sufficient time for testing.
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