FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Sunday, January 5th, 2014

2014 Sochi Olympic Media Guide – FAST FACTS ABOUT THE SOCHI GAMES

 

  • The official dates of the XXII Olympic Winter Games are Thursday, February 6 through Sunday, February 23. The Games will take place over 18 days, and competition will be held the day before the Opening Ceremony for the first time ever. As a result, NBC will begin its primetime coverage of the 2014 Sochi Olympics on Thursday, February 6, one night before the broadcast network provides its traditional primetime coverage of the Opening Ceremony on Friday, February 7. This marks the first time NBC will air Olympic primetime coverage before the Opening Ceremony. The primetime broadcast on Thursday, Feb. 6, is scheduled to include competition in snowboard slopestyle (men’s and women’s), in which two-time gold medalist Shaun White may compete in slopestyle’s Olympic debut; team figure skating, which is also in the Olympics for the first time; and in women’s freestyle moguls, Hannah Kearney.
  • These are the first Olympic Winter Games to be held in Russia. The 1980 Summer Games were held in Moscow.
  • There will be a record 98 events on the 2014 Olympic program, 12 more than there were on the 2010 program, and 82 more than there were at the first Olympic Winter Games in 1924.
  • Women will compete in a total of 49 events at the 2014 Sochi Games.
  • A total of 11 new venues were built for the 2014 Games in two groupings — the Coastal Cluster and the Mountain Cluster. The Mountain Cluster venues are situated in Krasnaya Polyana, which will be connected to the Coastal Cluster by a new railway line that will take spectators from one cluster to the other in about 30 minutes.
  • The 2014 Torch Relay is longest in Winter Games history, covering more than 40,000 miles, including a trip to the International Space Station.
  • Approximately 25,000 volunteers are expected to assist with the Sochi Games.
  • Sochi is the fourth coastal city to host a Winter Games (Oslo 1952, Sapporo 1972, Vancouver 2010), and the 19th overall city to host the Olympic Winter Games.
  • Sochi was selected to host the XXII Olympic Winter Games on July 4, 2007, at the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City. Sochi defeated Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea (which will host the Winter Games in 2018).
  • It was the third time that Sochi bid on an Olympic Winter Games. The city previously entered bids for the 1998 Games and the 2002 Games.
  • Sochi will be the warmest city to host an Olympic Winter Games. In February, when the Olympics will be held, the average temperature in Sochi is almost 43 degrees Fahrenheit.
  • The city of Sochi can be found on the same latitude line as Toronto, Canada, and Nice, France.
  • Sochi, which is situated on the coast of the Black Sea, is Russia’s largest summer resort and attracts millions of visitors every year.