Sochi gears up for Olympics test with ski World Cup

By Florian Luetticke Feb 8, 2012, 12:24 GMT

Krasnaja Poljana, Russia - Sochi is being put to the test as the alpine ski World Cup comes to town this weekend, but the Russian resort still has work to do before it hosts the 2014 winter Olympics.

That much is clear as soon as you stray from the alpine ski circuit at the Rosa Khutor centre which has been spruced up for the World Cup.

Away from the television cameras, the Olympic venue looks like a giant building site.

Leaving the palm trees on the Black Sea resort for the mountains at Krasnaja Poljana, the visitor can't but notice the countless bulldozers eating their way into the brown rocks, bridge pillars standing forlornly in the valleys or the shells of new hotel buildings.

'This is the world's biggest construction site,' was how Gian-Franco Kasper, president of the international skiing federation FIS put it.

'A lot of people have said FIS must have been mad to have the Olympics here, but I have faith in the strength and financial power of Russia and the power of Vladimir Putin.'

Russia's muscle flexing on the world's largest sporting stage is estimated to be costing some 24 billion euros, including the strictest of security controls as the nation seeks to portray a picture of perfection two years ahead of the Games.

To reach the sunny mountain panorama in the Caucasus via two gondolas and a chairlift at pleasant temperatures of around 3 degrees Celsius the visitor will have had to pass half a dozen security checks from unsmiling officials.

Wolfgang Mitter, Austrian coordinator in the Russian alpine association, said with a smile: 'The security arrangements are extreme. We're the best protected place in the world.'

Around 5,000 people are involved in security operations amid worries that the area near the conflict region of Abkhazia, a self-declared state on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, could attract terrorist attacks.

The World Cup events, which began with Austrian Hannes Reichelt fastest ahead of Switzerland's Didier Cuche in men's downhill training Wednesday, are 'very important,' Dimitry Kozak, Prime Minister Putin's special envoy for the Olympics, said.

'The start will set the tone for everything that follows,' he said.

The weekend events follow with women's World Cup races a week later and are expected to be a challenge for the skiers in largely unknown terrain. The men have only had a shortened run last year in the second-class Europa Cup.

Most of the skiers Wednesday liked the course, designed by Swiss ski legend Berhard Russi, with Cuche describing it as 'very beautiful, very difficult' and 'in any case worthy of an Olympics.'

Some skiers, however, did not like the number of turns in the upper half. American Bode Miller said it would make 'an epic super-g but not a downhill.'

There are still questions and concerns about the infrastructure at the Olympic venue. President Dmitry Medvedev recently spoke out clearly on the slugglish pace of construction and financial problems.

Sergei Stepashin, chairman of the accounts chamber of the Russian federation, has also recently complained about corruption in Sochi.

Environmental organizations have also sounded the alarm about ecological damage as Sochi gets ready for the Games. Igor Chestin, director of the World Wildlife Fund, has complained that more than a million cubic metres of woodland has had to make way for construction in the Krasnaja Poljana region.

'The damage is greater than we expected and cannot be repaired,' he said.

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