A high-level delegation from Sochi 2014 arrived this morning at the International Olympic Committee Headquarters in Lausanne, two days ahead of schedule, to deliver their finalized Candidature File, Sochi’s visionary proposal to host a technically excellent Winter Games.

According to Sochi 2014, 150 people worked nearly 70,000 hours over a 17-month period to produce a “highly comprehensive and technically excellent plan”.

Russian TV channel NTV had a nice video clip talking about the event. I’ll post a few screenshots below.

According to NTV report, 100 copies of the Candidature File three volumes each were delivered to IOC. Second volume describes in details where and what will be constructed for the Olympics, and how everything is going to look. Two complexes are planed – seaside and in the mountains, and new roads in between.

Some time ago I’ve read that seaside venues will be located in Nizhne-Imeretinskaya Valley in Adler district (not far from the airport) and will include hockey arenas and everything that requires a large building, and the mountains will be home to all ski and slide venues. Olympic village is planned in Adler district. There’s also sportsmen rehabilitation center is planned in Khosta district, and opening and closing ceremonies are planned somewhere in Central district. Ah, I really wish I could get my hands on that “Volume 2” of the Candidature File :)

The bid documents also included a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin, and federal government’s $12 billion commitment to develop Sochi as a year-round tourist destination.

PyeongChang is submitting its bid documents to the IOC on Tuesday and Salzburg on Wednesday Jan. 10, the deadline day for submission.

This was an important step toward the Olympics. The next important dates to look forward to are February 20-23 – IOC Evaluation Commission in Sochi, and IOC Vote 2014 in Guatemala on July 4.

Here are the promissed NTV screenshots with my comments:

The next two pictures are Sochi Bid committee’s vision of how Sochi’s center is going to look by 2014. Hm, kinda looks like Manhattan :) I’m not sure yet if I like the idea of my beautiful green city becoming big megapolis. Anyway, what we see here is Sochi’s main sea port area: the port itself looks the same as it is today (check out Google Maps), but there are a lot of new tall buildings that do not exist today.

The next screenshot shows part of the map for the proposed ski and slide venues.

The next two pictures are mountains views in Sochi.

Skiers in Krasnaya Polyana. There was lots of snowfall there these past holidays.

Next up is Radisson Peak Hotel – first 4* hotel in Krasnaya Polyana.

Next is new terminal at the Sochi airport:

Viktor Kolodyazhny, Sochi mayor. A lot more popular among city residents then his predecessor Mostovoy.