The 22nd Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, takes place next month from 7–23 February, followed by the 11th Winter Paralympic Games from 7–16 March, also in Sochi.
Torch En Route
The Olympic torch relay got underway 3 months ago, on 7 October 2013, and is the longest in the entire history of the Olympic Winter Games, travelling 65,000km, passing 90% of the Russian population, with 14,000 successive bearers carrying the torch by car, train, plane, Russian troika, and even reindeer sleigh. The torch, sponsored by Coca Cola, has become the first to space walk, as well as making it to the North Pole, and to the bottom of the world’s deepest freshwater lake, located in Siberia.
Competitions
A number of snow sports are new to the Olympics for 2014, one of which – ski slopestyle – could be very good news for Britain, as its current world champion is Sheffield’s own James “Woodsy” Woods. There has been particular emphasis on investing in our freeskiing athletes, with British funding policy rewarding their success; although conversely our Alpine athletes have had to largely fund themselves. Following the success of skier cross, which is a sport developed from the snowboarding discipline of boarder cross, another ski version of a boarding contest, half pipe, will also be new at the Sochi Games. Women’s ski jumping, a controversial exclusion at the Vancouver Games, will also be staged for the first time at an Olympics.
Competitors
Along with James Woods, BBC Sport has tipped 19-year-old skier Katie Summerhayes, and Jenny Jones and Billy Morgan in the snowboarding competitions, among Britain’s best medal hopes. Inspirational Olympian Chemmy Alcott, who has battled repeated injuries to fulfil her dream of competing in Sochi, will be another Brit to back.
Among the high profile international Alpine competitors, American downhill skiers Ted Ligety are likely to grab the most media attention (the latter battling a recurring knee injury as we went to press). Snowboarding legend Shaun White, who is rumoured to have had a private superpipe built for him in Perisher, Australia, in the autumn sponsored by GoPro, is also one to watch. Lindsey Vonn has been forced to withdraw due to injury.
Another American, 18-year-old World Champion Mikaela Shiffrin is looking good after winning the opening World Cup slalom of the season at Levi in Finland, beating Olympic champion Maria Hoefl-Riesch of Germany, with last year’s overall World Cup champion Tina Maze of Slovenia coming third.
Other competitors who may get some media spotlight include the famous violinist Vanessa Mae, who is hoping to become the first snow sports competitor for her native Thailand.
Venues
Sochi is a city by the Black Sea in southeastern Russia. New venues for ice sports, and the opening and closing ceremonies, have been built in the city, along with a new airport. A tunnel has been built up into the Caucasus mountains, with a new fast road and rail link, where two ski areas, built to world-class standard largely from scratch, will host the Alpine, freestyle and Nordic skiing events.
There are four main Alpine skiing resorts around the original “ski town” of Krasnaya Polyana. These include Rosa Khutor, which will host the Alpine sports events; Laura/Psekhako, which will host Nordic sports, including biathlon; and Alpika (the re-developed original resort, which pre-dates the IOC decision to give the 2014 Olympics to Sochi) and Karusell ski areas, which are not Games venues themselves (although Karusell is home to the media village). See our Olympic Legacy section for more on these ski areas.
Challenges
Staging an Olympic Games in Sochi is not without its challenges. The area is prone to earthquakes, and while snowfall can result in superb powder, the region also can have dry winters, which led to the cancellation of test events staged over the same dates as the Olympics in previous years. At the end of last season venues closed early and stockpiled snow for 2014, they’ve also invested in state-of-the-art snowmaking systems. A further problem is possible terrorist attacks, generally from potential break away states in the region – security will be extremely high, and everyone attending will require a special Games pass.
Sochi 2014 will also have more drug tests than any previous Winter Olympics in history, IOC President Thomas Bach has said. There will be 1296 pre-competition drug tests, and 2453 total at the Games, about a third more than at Vancouver.
The Olympic Run-Up
If you can’t wait for the Games to start, you can get ready for the Olympics by following these World Cup events this month in the run-up to the Games.
17–18 January: Bischofswiesen, Germany – Ski Cross
17–19 January: Stoneham, Canada – Snowboard Multi Events
18 January: Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy – Ladies Downhill
18 January: Gstaad, Switzerland – Freestyle
18 January: Rogla, Slovenia – Snowboard Parallel Giant Slalom
18 January: Zell am See, Austria – Men’s Giant Slalom
18–19 January: Veysonnaz, Switzerland – Snowboard Cross
19 January: Wengen, Switzerland – Men’s Downhill
23 January: Aspen, USA – X Games
25–28 January: Kitzbühel, Austria – Slalom & Men’s Downhill
25 January: Kreischberg, Austria – Ski Cross
29–30 January: Crans-Montana, Switzerland – Slalom
1 February: Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany – Men’s Downhill
Get Involved
If you can’t get to the Games (and let’s face it, it isn’t cheap or easy to do so) Slide 2 Sochi (slide2sochi.org.uk) has been set up to actively encourage people of all ages to get behind Great Britain’s winter sports athletes, and participate in skiing and snowboarding ahead of the Games. The events, being staged at slopes across the country, involve taster sessions for those wanting to give skiing or snowboarding a go, fun competitions on and off the slope, interactive games, giveaways, stalls, and refreshments.
