[bigmig19]

I swear, last thing on the olympics, at least from me.

But did anyone hear about Sochi 2014 on NPR? I had no idea where it was, but basically its a subtropical city in southern Russia. Not a single solitary hotel or structure is in place or has been built to date! Surprisingly, corruption abounds (allegedly). I guess this is Putin's baby and hes going to throw biliions at it no matter what. I would hold my breath but they they didnt think athens would come off either.
Something stinks about this town beating out Salsburg.

 

[Henry Porter]

I swear, last thing on the olympics, at least from me.

But did anyone hear about Sochi 2014 on NPR? I had no idea where it was, but basically its a subtropical city in southern Russia. Not a single solitary hotel or structure is in place or has been built to date! Surprisingly, corruption abounds (allegedly). I guess this is Putin's baby and hes going to throw biliions at it no matter what. I would hold my breath but they they didnt think athens would come off either.
Something stinks about this town beating out Salsburg.

I know nothing about that city, if it's subtropical, how are they doing the winter games?

"In subtropical climates the winters are relatively warm, but not as hot as the summer season. These climates rarely—if ever—see frost or snow, and plants such as palm, citrus and many broadleaf evergreens flourish, in contrast to the hardier deciduous and coniferous trees which dominate midlatitude climates. As one moves toward the tropical side the slight winter cool season disappears altogether, while at the poleward threshold of the subtropics the winters become much cooler."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtropics

 

[kytyree]

Looking at it on google it doesn't look to be that large of a city, at least not one ready for the world to descend on it quite yet.

 

[2cflyr]

wiki already has some stuff.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Winter_Olympics

 

[Windermere]

I have no idea why you think something stinks.

The IOC have been clear that they want to push the Olympics into "lesser developed countries" or regions.

It spurs development and corruption.

Do you think it was a miracle the Beijing got the Olympics? It casts the world's spotlight on a city or region.

As to "no hotels" - nonsense.

Sochi is a long established resort and playground for the nomenclatura in the USSR or now - Russia.

It is a city of over 300,000 people on the shores of the Black Sea - a famous resort area.

Not all that surprising at all.

 

[Henry Porter]

I have no idea why you think something stinks.

The IOC have been clear that they want to push the Olympics into "lesser developed countries" or regions.

It spurs development and corruption.

Do you think it was a miracle the Beijing got the Olympics? It casts the world's spotlight on a city or region.

As to "no hotels" - nonsense.

Sochi is a long established resort and playground for the nomenclatura in the USSR or now - Russia.

It is a city of over 300,000 people on the shores of the Black Sea - a famous resort area.

Not all that surprising at all.

For all the glory that the Olympics athletes create, the governing body is one of the most corrupt out there. Frankly, most of their decisions stink.

 

[Windermere]

For all the glory that the Olympics athletes create, the governing body is one of the most corrupt out there. Frankly, most of their decisions stink.

Did you even read my post?

I didn't think so.

 

[kytyree]

Sochi has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification Cfa) at the lower elevations, with an average January temperature of 6 °C (42.8 °F) and winter temperatures rarely falling below freezing. The average summer high temperature ranges between 25 °C (77 °F) and 28 °C (82.4 °F) with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 40 °C (104 °F). Average annual precipitation is about 1,500 mm.[9][10][11] Sochi lies at 8b/9a hardiness zone, so the city supports different types of palm trees. Sochi is situated on the same latitude as Nice but strong cold winds from Asia makes winter less warm. In fact, temperatures drop below zero every winter for one or two days. The last year of first 2000 decade was one of the warmest in the history of Sochi. Mean year temperature was about 14.7 °C.

From wiki, yes there are mountains nearby but considering we're talking about the Winter Olympics I'd say its a surprising choice.

 

[mohair_chair]

I was looking at Sochi yesterday on Google. It's right on the border of Georgia, or should I say The Republic of Abkhazia, which Russia recognizes, but most of the world doesn't. And just two years ago, there was a shooting war there. But hey, all their problems will be solved by 2014. No security problems to worry about.

 

[Mapei]

I remember hearing that Sochi is Putin's personal go-to ski area.

 

[rward325]

Nearest airport is a significant distance from this city in Adler. Quite a distance to the host city.

 

[terry b]

It was Stalin's favorite resort.

 

[snapdragen]

It has a cute name. We need to make a Care Bear named Sochi.

 

[atpjunkie]

and the thought

It was Stalin's favorite resort.

of having my Olympics spoiled by Russian Mob Corruption doesn't sound like a good idea

went to the games and had my bank accounts emptied, oh joy!

 

[bigmig19]

Yea, they are building a road that apparently costs 50x more per KM than a road in the US. Corruption city. It was the vacation area for old Soviet brass apparently.
As far as hotels and what not, they (the organizers) did say there are NO rooms available because the hotels they are supose to build for the olympics are not started yet. In their own words, "wait list only". I too read that Sochi has like 300000 people (it looks small on a map but its 90 miles long!) so I assume the hotels that must already be there are old and falling apart or something. They probably promised to build all new hotels when they bid. There are mountains nearby but as the article and NPR explained, not one structure has been built. They stated they are farther behind than Athens. Sochi has palm trees!!

 

[MG537]

Yea, they are building a road that apparently costs 50x more per KM than a road in the US. Corruption city. It was the vacation area for old Soviet brass apparently.
As far as hotels and what not, they (the organizers) did say there are NO rooms available because the hotels they are supose to build for the olympics are not started yet. In their own words, "wait list only". I too read that Sochi has like 300000 people (it looks small on a map but its 90 miles long!) so I assume the hotels that must already be there are old and falling apart or something. They probably promised to build all new hotels when they bid. There are mountains nearby but as the article and NPR explained, not one structure has been built. They stated they are farther behind than Athens. Sochi has palm trees!!

OK so they have palm trees, mountains and a large body of water nearby, but do they have a McDonald's?

 

[weltyed]

can coolhand sticky this so we can remember this thread in 4 years?

 

[Plum]

can coolhand sticky this so we can remember this thread in 4 years?

The Lownje never forgets, or always forgets. I can't remember.

Plum

 

[azpeterb]

According to Wiki:
"Russia will provide nearly 327 billion rubles (approximately US$ 10.85 billion[14]) for the total development, expansion and hosting of the Games. 192.4 billion rubles must come from the Federal budget and 7.1 billion rubles — from the Krasnodar Krai budget and from the Sochi budget."

That would be $5.85 billion to pay for the Games and $5 billion to pay for the kickbacks, bribes, and the H&B parties that the IOC likes to throw.

 

[Love Commander]

Who gives a crap? We're all dead at the end of 2012, anyway.