![]() ![]() Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the criticism with the assurance that homosexual athletes and fans had nothing to fear in Sochi, while at the same time warning them to"leave children alone." Construction workers were busy in Sochi for eight years - many are still waiting for their pay Image: picture-alliance/dpa "We oppose every form of discrimination," Bach said. Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), pointed to the anti-discrimination paragraph in the Olympic Charter, which also includes the freedom of 'sexual orientation.' The introduction of a law banning pro-gay propaganda triggered international protests. In addition to the environmental and security concerns there is has also been international criticism of the state of human rights in Russia. "What I would say is that if you want to go to the Olympics, you should go to the Olympics," he said in an interview with US news broadcaster CNN. The US government has issued terror warnings and followed up their initial offer of assistance by sending two warships to the Black Sea with 600 US navy personnel on board.īut President Barack Obama stopped short of discouraging Americans from attending the Winter Games. "The Russian authorities have turned the whole area into a fortress, installing surveillance technology everywhere and positioning rocket launchers in the hills," said US security expert Michael McCaul in an interview with the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Russia has responded to the threat by deploying around 100,000 police officers, soldiers and secret agents to the Sochi region for the duration of the Games. An extremist group from the region of Dagestan claimed responsibility for the attacks and said they planned to carry out more. A total of 34 people lost their lives in those attacks. Since the terror attacks on Volograd in December 2013, security forces in Sochi have been at a heightened state of alert. Nature had to give way to the Winter Olympics - and so did the inhabitants of a small village. The impact on the environment was severe waste dumps were built in the mountains, bears and Alpine ibex lost their natural habitat. The brand new Gorki ski jumping center in Krasnaya Polyana Image: picture-alliance/dpa All the venues had to be built from scratch - and so did the infrastructure: A motorway and train tracks, which now cut through Sochi National Park - a nature reserve with world heritage status. Prior to the preparations for the Winter Olympics there was one ski-lift, but not a single ski run. The venues for the Games are located in the district of Krasnaya Polyana, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the coast at an altitude of 600 meters (1,969 feet) above sea-level. Tropez on the Mediterranean Sea in France - rarely do temperatures drop below three degrees Celsius (37 degrees Fahrenheit). Sochi is situated on the same geographical latitude as St. Much of this money was necessary to turn a tropical beach holiday destination on the Black Sea coast into a venue for winter sports. By the time the 2014 Winter Games are over, the total cost is expected to top 50 billion euros. While the 2010 Vancouver Olympics managed on a budget of just 5.5 billion euros ($7.4 billion), the Sochi organizers managed to spend 37.5 billion euros during the eight years of preparations alone. This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.Much of the reporting in the media leading up to the Sochi Winter Olympics has focused on record-breaking figures in terms of the number athletes taking part, the number of events they are to compete in - and the overall price tag. 2004 President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Ĭitations: View citations in EconPapers (117) Track citations by RSS feedĪccess to full text is restricted to subscribers. We also provide out-of-sample predictions for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. At the margin, population and income per capita have similar effects, suggesting that both a large population and high per capita GDP are needed to generate high medal totals. ![]() Does the United States win its fair share of Olympic medals? Why does China win only 6% of the medals even though it has one-fifth of the world's population? We consider the role of population and economic resources in determining medal totals from 1960 to 1996. This paper examines determinants of Olympic success at the country level. The Review of Economics and Statistics, 2004, vol. Busse: Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley ![]() Who Wins the Olympic Games: Economic Resources and Medal Totals ![]()
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