The organizers of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi had to do a tremendous amount of work. After all, it was necessary to build a number of new sports facilities, and at the highest level, to lay new roads, to improve the infrastructure. Now, when there is very little time left before the opening of the games, it is already safe to say that an ambitious project of grandiose proportions has been successfully implemented. Each sports facility of the future Olympics is very important and irreplaceable, but several of the largest can be distinguished against the general background.
"Fisht" - "White Head"
Sports competitions will be held in two regions (clusters) - coastal, located in the Imeretinskaya lowland, and mountain, located near the village of Krasnaya Polyana. The coastal cluster is designed to host all ice skating competitions: ice hockey, speed skating, short track speed skating, figure skating, as well as curling competitions. There will also be held the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, and the awarding of prize-winners. Among the objects of the coastal cluster, the largest is the new Fisht stadium, designed for 40 thousand spectators.
Translated from the Adyghe language, the word "fisht" means "snow head". This name is one of the mountain peaks of the West Caucasian ridge, 2852 meters high. The stadium is the largest sports facility in the south of Russia. Its length is 269 meters, width is 239 meters. In the future, after the end of the Winter Olympics, it is planned to replace the artificial turf with a natural turf so that Fisht could host matches of the group stage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The second largest sports facility in the coastal cluster is the Bolshoi Ice Palace. This facility, designed for 12 thousand spectators, will host ice hockey competitions. The Ice Palace has a beautiful and original shape that resembles a frozen drop.
The largest object of the mountain cluster
The most impressive facility in terms of size and labor intensity, located in the area of the Krasnaya Polyana village, is the Sanki bobsleigh complex. It is a giant concrete gutter shaped like the Latin letter U. The gutter is 1,814 meters long. The difference in height is relatively small - 132 meters, so bobsledders will not be able to reach very high speeds. This was done in agreement with the Olympic Committee in order to prevent a repetition of the tragedy at the Vancouver Olympics, when an athlete died during a training race.
