The 2014 Olympic Winter Games
The 2014 Olympic Winter Games were the first time that the Russian Federation has hosted the Winter Games; the Soviet Union hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow. The host city Sochi has a population of 400,000 people and is situated in Krasnodar, which is the third largest region in Russia.
The Games were organised in two clusters: a coastal cluster for ice events in Sochi, and a mountain cluster located in the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains. This made it one of the most compact Games ever, with around 30 minutes travel time from the coastal to mountain cluster.
The Sochi Olympic Park was built along the Black Sea coast in the Imeretinskaya Valley, where all the ice venues such as the Bolshoi Ice Palace, the Maly Ice Palace, the Olympic Oval, the Sochi Olympic Skating Centre, the Olympic Curling Centre, the Central Stadium, the Main Olympic Village and the International Broadcast Centre and Main Press Centre, had been built anew for the 2014 Games. The Park ensured a very compact concept with an average distance of 6km between the Olympic Village and the other coastal venues.
The mountain cluster in Krasnaya Polyana was home to all the skiing and sliding sports. The mountain concept was again a very compact one with only an average distance of 4km between the mountain sub-village and the venues.
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There was also a sub-media centre in the mountain cluster.
Sochi was elected on 4 July 2007 by the members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at the 119th Session in Guatemala City.
Seven cities, namely Sochi (Russian Federation), Salzburg (Austria), Jaca (Spain), Almaty (Kazakhstan), PyeongChang (Republic of Korea), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Borjomi (Georgia) - in the order of drawing of lots -initially submitted applications to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games.
Based on the report by a working group, three of the seven cities were unanimously selected by the IOC's Executive Board as Candidate Cities at its meeting on 22 June 2006:
- Sochi (Russian Federation)
- Salzburg (Austria)
- PyeongChang (Republic of Korea)
The final decision on the host city for the XXII Olympic Winter Games was made by the full IOC membership during the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City on 4 July 2007. Sochi was elected in the second round with 51 votes, compared to PyeongChang's 47.
Magic moments: A glance back at Sochi 2014
Alpine skiing
I At 18 years and 345 days,
^ Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) „-h^ became the youngest ever woman to win an Alpine skiing gold. And 24 hours later, Mario Matt (AUT) became, at 34 years and 10 months, the oldest skier of either gender to win an Alpine event at the Winter Games. Earlier, 36-year-old Bode Miller became the oldest ever skier to feature on an Alpine podium at the Games, when he won bronze - his sixth Olympic medal in total - in the men's super-G. Kjetil Jansrud took gold to ensure that with defending champion and favourite Aksel Lund Svindal failing to shine, the title stayed in Norway, while Anna Fenninger (AUT) clinched gold in the women's event.
There were other firsts, too. Tina Maze (SLO) and Dominique Gisin (SUI) had made headlines by becoming the first Alpine skiers in history to share gold, having both clocked 1 minute 41.57 seconds in the women's downhill. Maze then became the only Alpine skier to win two golds in Sochi, as she won the women's giant. Maria Hofl-Riesch (GER) completed a successful defence of her super combined title, while in the men's event Sandro Vileta (SUI) surprised all the favourites to take the gold. Matthias Mayer further contributed to a successful Alpine campaign for the Austrians, by landing the men's downhill, while Ted Ligety (USA) showed just why he is the
undisputed king of the giant slalom, adding Olympic gold to his world title. Biathlon
I In the men's biathlon,
fjr' Norway's Ole Einar Bjorndalen signalled his intentions in the first event at the Laura Cross-Country Ski & Biathlon Centre, winning gold in the sprint. Ten days later he helped the Norwegian quartet take the first ever mixed relay title, and in doing so the 40-year-old - a fixture at the Games since Lillehammer 1994 - became the most successful Winter Olympian of all time, taking his overall medal tally to 13. While Bjorndalen confirmed his status as the king of the biathlon, and indeed the Winter Games, the Belarusian Darya Domracheva laid strong claim to the woman's crown, with three gold medals in the pursuit, 15km individual and mass start.
Back in the men's events, there were golden doubles for Martin Fourcade (FRA), who won the 20km individual and the pursuit, before adding silver in the mass start, and for Emil Hegle Svendsen (NOR), who won the mass start, before helping Norway to victory in the mixed relay, alongside Bjorndalen, Tora Berger and Tiril Eckhoff.
Anastasiya Kuzmina (SVK) made it back-to-back Olympic titles in the women's sprint, while there was an emotional gold medal for the Ukrainian women's quartet (Valja and Vita Semerenko, Juliya Dzhyma, Olena Pidhrushnaja) in the 4x6km relay. On
the penultimate day of competition Russia's men (Alexey Volkov, Anton Shipulin, Dmitry Malyshko, Evgeny Ustyugov) brought the curtain down on the biathlon programme, delighting local fans with a dramatic triumph in their 4x7.5km relay. Bobsleigh
Russia's flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony, Alexander ^^ Zubkov, also led from the front when he swapped ceremonial garb for lycra, as the focus at the Sanki Sliding Centre shifted to the bobsleigh. The 39-year-old became only the sixth athlete in history to complete an Olympic double in the discipline. First, he piloted the Russian two-man sled to gold with brakesman Alexey Voevoda, finishing ahead of Beat Hefti's Switzerland-1 and Steven Holcombe's USA-1. Then on the final day of competition in Sochi, the Russian duo teamed up with Alexey Negodaylo and Dmitry Trunenkov to capture the four-man title just 0.9 seconds ahead of Latvia-1, while reigning champions USA-1, again piloted by Holcombe, were relegated to another bronze.
The women's two-man bob the competition was every bit as close, as Canada-1 pilot Kaillie Humphries became the first competitor to retain the Olympic title in the event. Riding with brakewoman Heather Moyes, Humphries had to withstand a nail-biting challenge from the USA-1 bob, manned by Elana Meyers and Lauryn Williams, who were last to race in the final run. The Canadians clung on to push the Americans into silver medal position by just one tenth of a second after four runs. That represented a notable achievement for Williams, who
had previously won Olympic gold on the track with the US 4x100m relay team at London 2012, and thus became just the sixth athlete in history to finish on a podium at both the Summer and Winter Games.
Cross country skiing
Just as at Vancouver 2010, ' J?' Marit Bjorgen (NOR) was the dominant force in the women's cross country events, adding another three gold medals to her collection. In between taking gold in the skiathlon and topping a Norwegian clean sweep in the 30km freestyle, she teamed up with Ingvild Fliugstad 0stberg to win the team pursuit. Her return now stands at six golds and 10 medals overall from just three editions of the Games, making her the most successful female athlete in Olympic Winter Games history.
Meanwhile, in the men's events Dario Cologna (SUI) proved himself the man to beat, taking gold in the skiathlon before completing a successful defence of his 15km title. When it came to the relays, Sweden were unstoppable, winning the women's 4x5km (Anna Haag, Ida Ingemarsdotter, Charlotte Kalla, Emma Wiken) before adding the men's 4x10km (Marcus Hellner, Lars Nelson, Johan Olsson, Daniel Richardsson).
Their Norwegian neighbours showed yet again that when it comes to speed, they are hard to match, as Maiken Caspersen Falla took the women's sprint title, and Ola Vigen Hatestad claimed gold in the men's event. Justyna Kowalczyk (POL) once again showed herself to be a force to be reckoned with in the classical events, adding 10km gold to the 30km title she
won in Vancouver. Finally, there was unbridled joy for the hosts on the last day of competition, as Russian athletes completed an impressive podium 1-2-3 in the men's 50km mass start, courtesy of Alexander Legkov, Maxim Vyleghzhanin and Ilia Chernousov.
Curling
Canada won their third successive Olympic men's curling title with a powerhouse 9-3 victory over Great Britain in the final at Sochi's Ice Cube, seeing off their opponents within just eight ends.
Canada, who have featured in every final since curling was re-introduced to the Olympic programme back in 1998, went into the gold medal match as firm favourites, having topped the rankings in the round robin stage.
Winning silver represented landmark moment for Great Britain's men, who claimed their first curling medal since winning gold at the inaugural Olympic Winter Games at Chamonix 1924.
World champions Sweden took the bronze edging the third-place match against China 6-4 after an extra end.
Their men's team victory completed an unprecedented curling double for Canada, coming just 24 hours after their female counterparts had taken gold. The Canadian women made history by winning every single one of their 11 matches at the tournament. In the gold medal match they saw off defending champions Sweden 6-3, to end the European team's hopes of their third title in a row.
Meanwhile, Great Britain clinched the bronze, seeing off Switzerland 6-5 after a tense climax to become the
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youngest ever curling rink to win an Olympic medal.
Figure skating
The Iceberg Skating Palace was the scene of a Russian renaissance in the figure skating, with the hosts accounting for three out of the five gold medals on offer at Sochi 2014. They began by topping the podium in the first ever team figure skating event, which combined singles, pairs and ice dance, and threw the spotlight on a familiar face, Evgeny Plus
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