On July 4, 2007, Sochi was announced as the host city of the 2014 Winter Games.
Mikhail MordasovSochi is a city in Krasnodar Territory, located on the Black Sea near the border between Georgia/Abkhazia and Russia. In 2002 it became Russia’s largest resort city. In June 2006, the International Olympic Committee announced that Sochi had been selected as a finalist to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics. On July 4, 2007, Sochi was announced as the winner, edging out Pyeongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria.
This was the second time Russia was hosting the Olympics: the 1980 Summer Olympics had been held in Moscow. However, this was the country’s first time hosting the Winter Olympics, and a total of 98 events, including 12 new competitions, were held during the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
While originally budgeted at $12 billion, various factors caused the budget to expand to $51 billion, exceeding the estimated $44 billion cost of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, making Sochi the most expensive Olympics in history.
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