SOCHI, Russia — One year before Russia hosts its first Winter Olympics, this Black Sea resort is a vast construction site sprawling for nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) along the coast and 50 kilometers (30 miles) up into the mountains. After arriving at Sochi’s new airport, there’s no escape from the clang and clatter of the drilling, jackhammering and mixing of cement that drowns out the hum of the sea and the birdsong.
For Russia and its leadership, the 2014 Sochi Games are not just a major sports event but a point of national pride. President Vladimir Putin has made the Olympics his personal project and, determined to use them to showcase a powerful and prosperous Russia, has spared no expense to make sure the games are a success.
Today, Putin will be in Sochi to preside over a lavish celebration marking the one-year countdown to the opening ceremony on Feb. 7, 2014.
“The project is under his permanent control and we enjoy the full government support,” Sochi organizing committee head Dmitry Chernyshenko said. “This really is his games because he recognizes the power of these games, the greatest ever catalyst to accelerate positive change.”
The current overall price tag for the 2014 Games, which runs through Feb. 23, is $51 billion, more than four times as much as Russia estimated when it was awarded the Olympics in 2007. This would make Sochi the most expensive Olympics in history, surpassing the $40 billion that China is believed to have splashed out for the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.
Most of the sports venues have already been completed or will be in the next few months, while armies of workers are busy building hotels and additional Olympic facilities, including two of the three athletes’ villages and the media center.
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