The XXII Winter Olympic Games will be held in Sochi from 7 to 23 February 2014, the decision was made at the 119th session of the IOC on 4 July 2007. There was no clear favorite among the contenders for the 2014 Winter Games, so the victory of the Russian bid was a pleasant surprise for millions of Russians.
Seven countries applied for the 2014 Winter Olympics: Austria (Salzburg), Bulgaria (Sofia), Georgia (Borjomi), Spain (Haka), Kazakhstan (Alma-Ata), Russia (Sochi), Republic of Korea (Pyeongchang).
On June 22, 2006, a preliminary selection of the main applicants was carried out. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge has named three candidate cities for the 2014 Winter Games. They were Salzburg, Sochi and Pyeongchang.
On July 4, 2007, the 119th session of the IOC took place in Guatemala, at which the venue for the Olympics was finally determined. Voting took place in two rounds. In the first of the list of contenders, the Austrian Salzburg dropped out, only Sochi and Pyeongchang remained among the contenders. The second round determined Sochi as the winner - the Russian bid won by 4 votes (51 against 47).
Despite very serious competitors, Russia managed to win. This became possible thanks to the clear and well-coordinated work of all members of the Russian Bid Committee. One of its features was that it employed a lot of people who came from business and were used to achieving their goals. So, the general director of the Sochi-2014 Bid Committee was Dmitry Chernyshenko, who came from the advertising business and is the senior vice president of Media Arts Group. Elena Anikina, Chairman of the Board of the Bid Committee, is a member of the Board of Directors of Interros.
Other members of the Bid Committee have also proven themselves well in business. It was thanks to their work that a very competent PR campaign was built, which made it possible to achieve success. Its main emphasis was determined: Russia is the country that has won the largest number of Olympic awards in winter sports, and at the same time has never hosted the Winter Olympics. A significant advantage of the Russian application was the ardent support for the idea of holding the Olympics in Sochi both from the Russians and from the country's leadership. Finally, the application focused on the fact that after the Olympics, all its infrastructure will go to the townspeople, future Olympians will train at the constructed sports facilities.
The country's President Vladimir Putin also made a great contribution to the victory, personally presenting Russia's application in Guatemala at the 119th session of the IOC. The speech was in English; Vladimir Putin said several final phrases in French. When the head of the IOC, Jacques Rogge, announced the final result, the joy of the Russians knew no bounds. Sochi was also jubilant, on the Teatralnaya Square of the city, thousands of people on street screens watched the summing up of the voting results live. The news of the victory was greeted with a festive fireworks display.
