Sochi Olympic Park

Coordinates: 43°24′20″N 39°57′17″E / 43.4056472°N 39.9545917°E / 43.4056472; 39.9545917 (Sochi Olympic Park)

Sochi Olympic Park is an Olympic Park that was constructed for the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics. Located in the Adler City District of Sochi, Imeretinsky Valley, on the Black Sea (about 4 km, or 2.5 miles) from Russia's border with Abkhazia/Georgia), the Olympic Park houses the main Olympic Stadium used for the Games' ceremonies, and the venues that were used for indoor sports such as hockey, figure skating, curling, and speed skating. It also houses training facilities, the Olympic Village, the international broadcasting centre, and other amenities. The park was designed so that all of the venues would be accessible within walking distance of each other. The venues are situated around a water basin containing a fountain known as "The Waters of the Olympic Park"; designed by California-based WET (which also designed the cauldron for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City), the fountain measures 5.3 meters in diameter with a capacity of about 700,000 gallons of water, featuring more than 250 nozzles and jet systems that can create fog and choreographed water displays set to music.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

History

Construction of the complex began in 2007. Most of the venues were completed by 2013.

Facilities

Current

Map of the Olympic Park during the 2014 Olympic Games, with all venues gathered around the Medals Plaza (Note: This map does not include the Sochi Autodrome, which was not finished at the time of the Olympics. This map also does not account for any other post-game modifications to the Olympic Park. While included in the map, the cemetery is not labeled)

• Adler Arena Skating Center: This 8,000-seat arena hosted the speed skating component of the Olympics.^[6] There are plans to potentially transform this arena into an exhibition hall for a more sustainable post-games use.^[7]
• Bolshoy Ice Dome: This 12,000-seat arena first opened in 2012. This venue hosted the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships and the 2013 Channel One Cup. During the Olympics Bolshoy Ice Dome played host to matches of the ice hockey competition. It was the main venue of the men's tournament, as well as the medal round of the women's tournament. The arena was designed to resemble a frozen water droplet. Its signature feature is its roof, which contains LED lights on its outer shell that illuminate the arena at night.^[8] The Ice Dome will be converted into an entertainment centre and concert venue.^[9] The primary tenant of the arena is currently HC Sochi, a member of the KHL. Has also hosted other events, including the Channel One Cup in 2013.
• Fisht Olympic Stadium: This was the Olympic Stadium of the 2014 games, hosting the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, as well as the opening ceremony and the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Paralympics. For the winter games the stadium held a capacity of 40,000 spectators.^[10] The venue will be one of eleven arenas to host matches in the 2018 FIFA World Cup^[11] and one of four to host the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. The stadium will seat 47,659 when it hosts these matches. It will be transformed from a domed stadium into an open-air venue during its World Cup renovation.
• Ice Cube Curling Center: This 3,000-seat arena hosted curling component of the Olympics, as well as the wheelchair curling component of the Paralympics.^[12]
• Iceberg Skating Palace: This 12,000-seat arena hosted the figure skating and the short track speed skating events of the Olympics.^[13] There have been plans to transform this venue into a track cycling velodrome for its post-game use.^[7]
• Shayba Arena: This 7,000-seat arena hosted some matches of the ice hockey competition during the Olympics, and was the venue for the ice sledge hockey tournament during the Paralympics.^[14] Shayba Arena and the Bolshoy Ice Dome are located 300 metres (980 ft) apart.
• Sochi Autodrom: This 5.848 km Formula One racing street circuit loops around the Sochi Olympic Park, and has a capacity of 55,000 spectators. This venue was opened September 21, 2014.

Other Facilities

Aerial view of the park.

• Olympic Village: The main Olympic Village of the 2014 games is within the Olympic Park. It was built by Basic Element. The village consists of 47 buildings and is designed for three thousand people. Athletes, journalists and members of the Olympic family were housed there. Plans are for the Olympic Village be an off-season resort complex Sochnoye' ("Juicy").^[15]
• Sochi Medals Plaza: This plaza previously accommodated 20,000 standing spectators^[13] for the victory ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic games. Portions of the venue now remain as a legacy feature of the Olympic Park.
• Sochi Media Center: This venue served as the IBC for the 2014 Olympic games. Also hosted the World Chess Championship 2014. There have been plans to transform the media center into a shopping mall for a more sustainable post-games use.^[7]
• Sochi Park: A theme park themed around the history and culture of Russia, Sochi Park is the country's first theme park. The park is 20.5 hectares, and features its own adventure park, and a hotel complex which is themed to a medieval-era castle. The park first opened only to spectators and athletes of the Olympic Games (during which it received 140,000 visitors). The park was opened to the general public on International Children's Day June 1, 2014, with an official opening on June 28, 2014.

Cemetery

Within the Olympic Park lies a 2-acre cemetery, which predates the Olympic venues by nearly a century. The cemetery, which dates back to 1915, contains the graves of individuals that belonged to the Old Believers faith. The cemetery is located between the Iceberg Skating Palace, Fisht Stadium, and the medals plaza. It is located in a circular grove, but is largely obscured by plants. During the Olympic and Paralympic games, Canada and the United States had National Houses located near the graveyard on the end opposite to the medals plaza. Dmitry Chernyshenko, the president and CEO of the Sochi Organizing Committee, claimed in a September 2013 New York Times interview that the cemetery was retained both in good-will, and due to Russian law forbidding the moving of the graves. A cemetery needs to have had no new burials for at least a half-century, and only through the decision of relatives of those buried could a cemetery be considered for relocation. Burials are still ongoing at the cemetery.^[16][17][18]

Former

• Hockey Training Rink- This was a training venue for Ice Hockey during the Olympics
• Ice Skating Training Rink -This was a training venue for Figure Skating during the Olympics

Transportation

On the north end of the Olympic Park is the Olympic Village Station, and on the south end of the Olympic Park is the Olympic Park Station (the main transit hub of the Olympic Park). Both stations are stops on the Abkhazian railway. Just south of the Olympic Park is the M27 highway.

For the Olympics, a railway line was built connecting the Olympic Village with the airport, Sochi Olympic Village, central Sochi, and the station in Krasnaya Polyana (home to the mountain-cluster of Olympic venues). A highway was also built alongside this to further connect the Olympic Park to this area.

The Olympic Park was originally going to be serviced by several stations along the planned Sochi Metro, before that project was cancelled.

Events

• 2012–2013 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final at Iceberg Skating Palace December 6–9, 2012
• Russian Speed Skating Championships at the Adler Arena December 26–27, 2012
• 2013 World Single Distance Speed Skating Championships at Adler Arena March 21–24, 2013.
• 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships at Bolshoy Ice Dome April 28, 2013
• 2013 Channel One Cup at Bolshoy Ice Dome
• 2014 Olympic events February 7–23, 2014,
• 2014 Paralympic events March 7–16, 2014
• World Chess Championship 2014 at Sochi Media Center November 7–28, 2014
• 2014 World Robot Olympiad at Adler Arena Skating Center November 21–23, 2014
• Russian Figure Skating Championships (a qualifier for the European Figure Skating Championships) at the Iceberg Skating Palace December 25–28, 2014^[19]
• 2015 Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game at the Bolshoy Ice Dome January 25, 2015.^[20]
• 2015 SportAccord International Convention April 6–11, 2015.^[21][22]
• 2015 World Mixed Doubles Curling Championship at the Ice Cube Curling Arena April 18–25, 2015.
• 2015 World Senior Curling Championships at the Iceberg Skating Palace April 18–25, 2015.
• 2015 Fed Cup semifinals at Adler Arena April 18–19, 2015
• 2015 New Wave music competition was held at the Olympic Medals Plaza^[23]
• 19th World Festival of Youth and Students events will be held in 2017

Football

• 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup matches at Fisht Olympic Stadium:

• 2018 FIFA World Cup matches at Fisht Olympic Stadium:

Motor Racing

Motor racing events held at the Sochi Autodrom:

• FIA Formula One Russian Grand Prix: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
• GP2 Series: 2014, 2015
• GP3 Series: 2014, 2015
• Russian Touring Car Championship: 2014, 2015, 2016
• TCR International Series: 2015, 2016

Cancelled G8 Summit

Sochi was originally scheduled to host the 40th G8 summit June 4–5, 2014.^[24] On March 24, 2014, the other seven member nations decided that a summit would instead be held in Brussels, Belgium, without Russia's participation.^[25] It was held in Brussels on the same dates it was planned for in Sochi.^[26][27] The decision to suspend Russia from the organization was in response to the 2014 Crimean crisis and accompanying Russian intervention in Crimea. On March 24, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that the meeting would not take place in Russia due to the Crimean crisis.^[28][29] Traditionally, the host country of the G8 summit sets the agenda. Presidential Executive Office Chief of Staff Sergei Ivanov was the chairman of the organizational committee on preparation for Russia's G8 presidency.^[30] In Sochi, leaders were expected to focus on responses to new global threats during the next G8 summit.^[24] The infrastructure of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi was planned to be used to host the G8 summit. No additional pre-summit costs were budgeted.^[24]

Images

Panoramic view of Sochi Olympic Park around the time of the 2014 games

Panorama showing the construction of Sochi Olympic Park

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sochi Olympic Park.