Google – AFP, Benoit Finck (AFP), 20 January 2014
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A general
view of the Sochi Olympic Park, pictured on January 14, 2014 (AFP/File,
Mikhail
Mordasov)
|
Sochi —
Russia on February 7 opens one of the most politically explosive Olympic Games
since the Cold War, with concerns over the risk of militant attacks and a
controversy over gay rights threatening to overshadow the winter sports
extravaganza itself.
The world's
best skiers, skaters and sliders will be descending on Russia's southern resort
of Sochi for what promises to be two weeks of enthralling clashes between
established sports legends and new stars.
Yet these
Games have always had an unmistakable political hue after President Vladimir
Putin personally championed the 2007 bid to host the event in Sochi, a resort
at the foot of the Caucasus mountains close to the hotbed of an Islamist
insurgency and a short drive north of the rebel Georgian region of Abkhazia.
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President
Vladimir Putin gives an
interview to Russian and foreign journalists,
in Sochi,
on January 19, 2014 (RIA Novosti/
Pool/AFP/File, Aleksey Nikolskyi)
|
Many
scoffed at the idea of Russia holding the Games in the temperate Soviet-style
resort that back in 2007 had next to no serious sports infrastructure at sea
level or in the once almost virgin mountains above where the snow sports are to
take place.
But after
$50 billion in spending, half of it from the Russian budget and half from the
private sector, the dream has now become a reality with new roads, hotels and
sports infrastructure enveloping the coastline and mountains.
Putin has
staked his reputation on holding a safe, well-run and enjoyable Games, which
will be the biggest event for Russians since Moscow hosted the summer Olympic
Games under the Soviet Union in 1980.
"It is
not to do with my personal ambitions. It is in the direct interest of the state
and our people," Putin said in comments published by the Kremlin on
Friday.
"After
the collapse of the USSR and the bloody events in the Caucasus the general
condition of our society was pessimistic and depressing. We needed to buck
ourselves up. To understand and feel that we could realise big, extensive
projects."
Putin wants
the Games to show off Russia to the world as a strong and dynamic power. But
the fragility of this ambition was underlined in December when 34 people were
killed and more than 100 wounded in successive suicide bombings in the southern
city of Volgograd.
Doku
Umarov, the chief of militants in the Caucasus which wants to impose an
Islamist state in the region, threatened in July to stage attacks to stop the
Games from taking place.
As if these
problems were not enough, Russia managed to create a huge controversy of its
own design last year by adopting legislation banning the dissemination of
"gay propaganda" to minors.
Denounced
by activists as a homophobic outrage, the law prompted calls for a boycott of
the entire Games and means Russia's stance on gay rights will be scrutinised
for the duration for the Olympics.
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2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi (AFP)
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Putin
stoked the flames by saying that while gays "could feel themselves free,
naturally, leave our children in peace please."
The Games
will get underway with a lavish opening ceremony to start at 2014 (1614 GMT) on
the night of February 7 at the Fisht stadium in Sochi.
However
many world leaders such as US President Barack Obama and French leader Francois
Hollande will be absent in what some see as a snub to Russia but which Russian
officials insist is in line with normal protocol.
In a sign
of some sensitivity to Western concerns ahead of the Games, Putin in December
pardoned Russia's best known prisoner, the anti-Kremlin tycoon Mikhail
Khodorkovsky and approved an amnesty that freed two Pussy Riot feminist punk
rockers.
Russia has
initially indicated it would ban all protests in Sochi during the Games but
then appeared to bow to pressure by allowing rallies in a specially designated
area.
However
activists have ridiculed the idea as the zone is nowhere near the main focus of
the Olympics, far out in the suburb of Khosta around 18 kilometres (11 miles)
from the Olympic Cluster.
"The
authorities need to stop harassing activists... or risk further tarnishing an
Olympics already marred by controversy," said Jane Buchanan, Europe and
Central Asia associate director at Human Rights Watch.
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A
torchbearer is seen carrying an Olympic torch
in Bryansk, some 380 km southwest
of Moscow,
on January 15, 2014 (Sochi 2014 Organizing
Committee/AFP/File)
|
She added
that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) "had done a huge disservice
to Russian activists by not challenging the Russian authorities" over
protests.
Some 6,000
athletes, coaches and officials from 90 countries will line up to take part in
98 competitions from 7-23 February. In a sign of how the Games have expanded,
there were just 250 athletes taking part in 16 competitions in the first
edition in 1924 in Chamonix.
With 37,000
police from across the country to be deployed in Sochi and army units also
operating, Russia is taking security measures that are even more strict then
those imposed for the Olympic Games in China in 2008.
Sochi has
already been subject to a security lockdown, with only authorised traffic
allowed inside the city and shipping in the Black Sea restricted.
Dozens of
drones will whirl in the sky to spot suspicious activity while all telephone
calls and internet traffic will be monitored by the Federal Security Service
(FSB).
Russia's
athletes will be under as much pressure on the ice or snow to bring back gold
as its leaders will be to ensure a smoothly-run Games.
The
country's haul of just three golds from the Vancouver Games of 2010 was seen as
a calamitous fall from the supremacy of the Soviet era. Sports Minister Vitaly
Mutko wants Russia among the top five nations and at best a top-three place in
the medal table.
Related Article:
 |
| Russian president Vladimir Putin poses with volunteers after arriving in Sochi to inspect preparations for the Winter Olympics. Photograph: Sasha Mordovets/Getty |
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