One of the cool things that resulted in hosting the Winter Olympics was the creation of the professional ice hockey team in Sochi, which will immediately start participation in the upcoming KHL season.

The name of the club is “Sochi Leopards” or the HC “Sochi”. Currently there’s very little information about it. There’s an official website, which is offline at the time of writing, and official VKontakte group (Russia’s biggest social network) with very limited info, and KHL’s website has not been updated for the new season yet.

But the great news is that we have a team, the world-class stadium, and since I’m a hockey fan I’m pretty excited that my home town now has a pro hockey team.

AJ Hackett Skypark Sochi will open to general public July 1. The park will feature several extreme adventures, including “worlds highest and longest suspended pedestrian walkway – 207m high/550m”. Though, not all of them will be availabe immediately.

You can view several photos from the test bungy jumps at funsochi.ru

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Russia doesn’t have many places for surfing. Still, this sport is gaining popularity. Here are some recent photos of surfing in Sochi.

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Here’s layout of Sochi Formula 1 track, and where the stands and the spectator tribunes are located:

(click to enlarge)

2014 FORMULA 1 RUSSIAN GRAND PRIX

Race Date: 12 October 2014
First Grand Prix: 2014
Circuit Length: 5.853 km

Russian grand prix Formula 1 tickets sales start May 30, 2014!

45000 Formula 1 tickets will go on sale May 30, 2014 at sochiautodrom.ru!

• 8000 tickets on the main stands
• 7000 tickets in general access zone near “Bolshoi” ice dome
• 3000+ tickets in VIP zone
• 5000 paddock club tickets
• Tickets to temporary stands which can receive 23000 spectators
• General access tickets price will be around 50 euros (5000 rubbles) and will be be valid for all three days of the competitions.

Here are a few photos from the Olympic village in mountain cluster I took a couple of days ago.

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Coastal cluster Olympic park.

“Bolshoy” ice dome – Men’s hockey arena.

“Fisht” stadium – ceremonies, and football stadium for WC2018.

“Adler arena” – speed skating stadium.

Don’t be surprised to see many Greek business names, Greek cousine restaurants, or even meet locals who can speak Greek when you visit Sochi. Especially in Krasnaya Polyana (mountain cluster venues), which was founded by Greek settelers. Sochi, and whole coast of the Black Sea, has very close historical ties to Greece.

A house in Krasnaya Polyana with roof painted as flag of Greece.

Souvlaki is a national Greek food. Its very popular in Sochi, but you won’t normally find it in other Russian cities.

Even McDonalds added Greek sandwitch to their menu in Krasnaya Polyana – Pita Greek.

Those of you who are planning to come to Sochi for the Winter Olympic games may find “2GIS Sochi” (by DoubleGIS) to be a very useful free mobile app.

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A few recent photos…

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As my hometown is preparing to host the Olympics in a few months, we are trying to open up to the World by installing bi-lingual signs around the city. I collect some special translation jobs on this website: stayinsochi.com

Ticket sales to the Olympics games in Sochi will resume October 10, 2013 at 12pm Moscow time — that is 4am in NYC, 9am in London, and 4pm in Beijing.

Official ticketing website is tickets.sochi2014.com. You can purchase tickets only with VISA cards.

In case of online purchase, you’ll have to print out confirmation, and exchange it for real tickets in one of the ticket-distribution centers. List of these centers will be published later.

Vancouver Olympics tickets (c) VancityAllie @ Flickr

As Ice Sledge Hockey Tournament in Sochi come to an end  (congrads Team Canada for winning the Gold!), it has been announced that tickets to the Paralympic Games in Sochi will go on sale this month, on September 27.

You can read more about the Paralympic events in Sochi on the official website.

Tickets will be available at the tickets.sochi2014.com website.

Ice Sledge Hockey Tournament in Sochi, (c) Sochi2014

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With six months to go until the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Sochi2014 organizing committee still has a lot of work opportunities to offer. Many of them do not require a lot of experience. At the time of writing, there are over 180 vacancies posted on the official Sochi2014 website.

Check it out!