Sochi on the map
Nicknamed the "Russian Riviera", Sochi is a spectacular combination of Mediterranean-like temperatures and vegetation with favorable winter sport conditions, just a short drive away. read more...
Sochi is the largest resort region of the Russian Federation. It stretches for 147 km along the Black Sea coast of the Krasnodar region and includes the Krasnaya Polyana mountain resort area. read more...
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Phelps breaks all-time Olympic medal record
On Wednesday, Michael Phelps broke the all time Olympic medal record when he won his 10th career Olympic gold medal in the men’s 200m butterfly. He added an 11th gold medal the same day, when the USA clinched the 4 x 200m freestyle, giving him an unprecedented 11 career gold medals. Phelps has so far won five gold medals at the Beijing Games and has the possibility of winning three more. If he succeeds this exploit, he will also break Mark Spitz’ 1972 record harvest of seven gold medals in swimming at the Munich Summer Games. “There is still something left in the tank," Phelps said. "I've got three races left, so there had better be something left in the tank."
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LatyninaÂ’s record broken
Phelps has beaten the record that was held so far by the Ukrainian gymnast Larissa Latynina, who won – at the time under the flag of the former Soviet Union - nine gold medals with an overall medal stand of 18 medals. Third in this list of most gold medals won at the Olympic Games, with nine gold medals, is the legendary Finnish runner Paavo Nurmi, followed by Mark Spitz and top track and field champion Carl Lewis.Â
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Records and medals of the Summer Games Â
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 Michael PHELPS Aquatics (USA)
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 Discover more photos and videos in the Multimedia GalleryTeddy Riner enters the fray
Teddy Riner, a Frenchman born in Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe, today enters the fray in the men’s judo competition in the heavyweight +100kg category. At 19 years old, he is the youngest world champion in the history of this sport. See for yourself this touching and moving character in this video provided by AFP.
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900th gold medal for USA thanks to cycling
Two more road cycling events were decided today; when the men’s and women’s individual time trials were won by Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and Kristin Armstrong of the United States of America respectively. Cancellara was the fifth rider to win a medal in both the Individual Time Trial and the Individual Road Race at the same Olympic Games. Kristin’s Armstrong’s gold medal marked the record 900th gold medal for USA in the history of the Olympic Games.
All-American
The history of the Olympic Games has been illuminated by cycling’s characters and their exploits for more than a hundred years. Frenchman Paul Masson, who won three of the six events at the inaugural Olympic Games in 1896, turned professional thereafter and changed his name to Paul Nossam – Masson spelled backwards – while Marcus Hurley, who won four of the seven events in 1904, later became an all-American basketball player for Colombia University.
National anthem
In 1956, the 23-year-old Italian Ercole Baldini won the road race by a full mile, but for some reason his national anthem was not played at the medal ceremony. He was just about to leave the podium when a lone voice in the Melbourne crowd began to sing L’Inno di Mameli and he was soon joined by all the Italians around him. The identity of the singer remained unknown until 1997 when Gualberto Gennai, an Australian-born Italian, was introduced to Baldini by a Sydney radio station.
Four brothers
The incredible sight of four brothers teaming up was one of the highlights of the 1968 Olympic Games. Erik, Gösta, Sture and Tomas Pettersson won silver for Sweden in the team time trial in Mexico City – three of them subsequently changed their last names to that of their home village, Fåglum.
Church medal
Meanwhile, 1992 time trial champion José Manuel Moreno prayed at his local church in Chiclana de la Frontera after breaking his collarbone the previous year. His Olympic gold medal and the jersey he wore are still on display in that church to this day.
Queen of Olympic cycling
There is no doubting the queen of Olympic cycling. Leontien Zijlaard-Van Moorsel of the Netherlands had dominated women’s cycling in the 1990s but had to overcome anorexia and bulimia before landing her first Olympic gold medals, one on the track and two on the road in Sydney in 2000. Four years later in Athens at the age of 34, she crashed in the road race but came back three days later to win the time trial by 24.09 seconds, earning her fourth career gold medal, to add to a silver and a bronze.
Learn more about cycling Discover the Multimedia GalleryCanoes and Kayaks in Fast Waters
The first canoe/kayak medals of the Games were won at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park yesterday, with Michal Martikan of Slovakia taking gold in the men’s single canoe and Alexander Grimm of Germany doing likewise in the men’s single kayak.
Inspiration for youngsters
Ever since it first appeared as a full medal sport at the 1936 Games, canoe and kayak racing has provided inspiration for youngsters. A perfect example was Oliver Fix, born in Augsburg, Germany, one year after the 1972 Olympic canoe-kayak competition took place in that city. When he was nine he became the youngest person ever to negotiate the Olympic course, and in 1996 in Atlanta he won the men’s single kayak gold medal. Elisabeth Micheler, kayak slalom singles winner in 1992, also came from Augsburg.
Unusual incentive
In 1952, Frank Havens of the United States, winner of the single canoe 10,000 metres, had an unusual incentive to do well. In 1924, his father, Bill, should have been a member of the victorious American rowing eight at the Paris Olympic Games, but chose to remain at home to witness the birth of young Frank. Twenty-eight years later, Frank sent a telegram from Helsinki to his father that ended: “I’m coming home with the gold medal you should’ve won.”
Incredible Olympic record
The most successful Olympic men’s canoeist was Sweden’s Gert Fredriksson, who won six gold medals between 1948 and 1960, but even that cannot match Birgit Fischer’s incredible Olympic record. Fischer won eight gold medals and four silver over a record six different Olympic Games, twice representing East Germany then four times the united Germany. She has been both the youngest and the oldest ever Olympic canoeing champion, aged 18 in Moscow in 1980 and 42 in Athens in 2004.
Last-minute entry
At the other end of the scale was Costa Rica’s Gilda Montenegro. Her performance in the kayak slalom singles at the 1992 Olympic Games, with 470 penalty points on her first run and upside down for most of her second, was one of the worst in Olympic history, but she had never trained for whitewater canoeing and was offered the slot at the last minute. In 1996 she was back, and not only did she avoid finishing last in Atlanta, she ended up marrying none other than the men’s single kayak gold medallist – one Oliver Fix of Augsburg.
Learn more about canoe/kayak Discover the Multimedia GalleryOlympic Games a boost for jobs
Beijing 2008: focus on the Olympic Games and employment
As the Games of the XXIX Olympiad finally got under way last Friday with the spectacular Opening Ceremony in Beijing, an expected global audience of hundred of millions of TV viewers will watch competitors strive for Olympic glory over the next 12 days. They will see a city transformed by the Games – and not only in the showpiece competition venues. The “Olympic Factor” is more than just skin-deep cosmetics; it has resulted in a huge boost to the city’s economy.
Beijing residents benefiting from Olympic Games
Experts estimate the Games will have brought an extra 105.5 billion yuan (USD 13.4 billion) to Beijing’s GDP between 2004 and 2008. The city’s economy grew at an annual rate of 12.2 per cent between 2001, when Beijing was awarded the Games, and 2006. Over the same period, Beijing’s per capita GDP more than doubled to USD 6,300, while the average annual wage for Beijing city workers rose from 20,962 yuan (about USD 3,050) in 2001 to 40,117 yuan (about USD 5,840) in 2006 – an increase of almost 110 per cent, and an annual rise of 15.7 per cent in real terms after inflation is factored in.
Nearly two million news jobs created
A wide cross-section of Beijing’s commercial sectors has benefited from the Olympic Games, none more so than the construction industry. Major building projects have resulted in the creation of an extra 430,000 jobs in the sector between 2004 and 2008, while the retail and wholesale industries will have gained 130,000 new jobs. Other sectors to have gained include finance and insurance, the IT industry and communications. Cumulatively, the Games will have resulted in the creation of 1.8 million new jobs across all sectors, more than 370,000 of them this year.
Growing service sector will counteract post-Olympic lull
The Olympic factor is also boosting Beijing’s service sector and that of China as a whole. In the past, Beijing’s tertiary sector has lagged behind that of cities in developed countries, which are typically around 80 per cent. But it has been growing strongly and is forecast to reach 70 per cent in 2008. That growth will help to offset any post-Olympic slowdown in China’s economy, something every host city and nation goes through in the immediate aftermath.
Beijing Games help lift the international language barrier
One side effect of hosting the Games has been the take-up of foreign languages by Beijing residents – a boon for their future career prospects as China integrates even more closely with the rest of the world. A city-wide campaign over the past five years has encouraged inhabitants to learn and speak English and other languages. More than one million people have taken lessons and training courses, while the city has also encouraged taxi and bus drivers, shop assistants and post office workers to improve their language skills. Officials say nearly five million Beijing residents can now speak English to some degree, representing about 35 per cent of the population. With an estimated 30 million people overseas learning Chinese, the Beijing Games have served to break down international barriers.
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Vladimir Putin. Sochi 2014 presentation at the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala.
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