Dual Olympian Jenny Owens has seen first hand just how the host city of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games is coming together less than a year out from the event.
It has certainly been an experience!
I never imagined I would come to Russia until Sochi won the 2014 bid for the Winter Olympics. With the test event on this season for the Games, I’m glad I have had the opportunity.
Construction site after construction site is basically what you see at the moment. Men working 24/7 around the clock to get everything done. It’s not just the hotels they are building, they are basically re-doing everything.
In Sochi and up here at the snow/sliding venues, they are spending around $58 million on new telecommunications, $1.2 billion on upgrading the electrical power system, a new train line for around $758.8 million, new roads, bridges, tunnels, 15 sporting venues and enough hotels for how ever many guests they’re expecting at a total cost of $51 billion dollars! Yes, that’s right, $51 billion! It will be the most EVER spent for any Olympics, summer or winter!
Sochi is a summer vacation resort that hasn’t been kept well over the years so this is great for Sochi as it should bring life back to the area.
Up here at the snow/sliding venues, the construction is starting to come together. They still have a long way to go but they are working hard and have full confidence the place will be looking fabulous in less then 12 months time.
There is definitely a Western feel to the place. Like a mini US ski resort with all your major hotels. It certainly looks and feels like you’re at Disneyland.
Unfortunately the only down fall here is that the weather can cause a few problems being so close to the Black Sea. The weather has cancelled 3 out of 4 days of our comp. It is day 4 today and the weather finally has decided to be on our side!
The plus in all that is that the mountain terrain here is AMAZING! Who would have thought! The skiing up high is like nothing I have ever seen without having access to a helicopter!
If you are thinking about a ski trip to Europe, make sure it’s a good snow season in Russia and come visit Rosa Khutor, it is totally incredible.
On our first training day, I took a bad line of one of the jump and came up short from the landing.
I seriously should NOT be ok but I am. Some times crashes in Ski Cross look a lot worse them they really are.
I sat today’s event out, need to rest my poor little body and keep it in one piece. It always feels like you’ve been in a big car crash after one of those crashes! I hope to be back ready for the next World Cup on 24 March.
Jenny Owens
