Monday Memo - Sochi Co-Comm; Tuesday Talk with Olympic Museum Director

Sochi Co-Comm

The IOC Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014 conducts its eighth inspection of preparations in the Winter Olympic city this week.

Co-Comm chair Jean-Claude Killy leads the IOC delegation checking on all aspects of Sochi’s progress.

Others involved include Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli as well as IOC members Ottavio Cinquanta, Rene Fasel and Gian-Franco Kasper, each of whom heads a winter sport federation.

According to Sochi 2014 president and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko, the Black Sea resort is currently the biggest construction site in the world. As well as six new venues going up on the coastal Olympic Park, 370km of new roads, 200km of railways and tunnels and tens of power stations are being constructed for the Games.

The 12,000-seat Iceberg Skating Palace, venue for figure skating and short-track events, opened over the weekend as Sochi’s first arena for 2014.

The 40,000-capacity main stadium, venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, is slated to be fully operational in August 2013.

IOC inspectors will be in town Tuesday through Thursday.

Tuesday Talk

This week’s Tuesday Talk is with Francis Gabet, director of the Olympic Museum.

In a wide-ranging interview conducted last week in Lausanne, he discusses ongoing renovations and his vision for the future with ATR Editor Ed Hula.

Written by Matthew Grayson

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