Sochi, Russia, to host 2014 Winter Games

GUATEMALA CITY – Vladimir Putin pulled off for Russia what Tony Blair did for Britain in the latest Olympic vote.

Backed by the Russian president’s personal lobbying, charisma and government support, the Black Sea resort of Sochi was elected Wednesday as the host city of the 2014 Winter Games.

Sochi defeated the South Korean city of Pyeongchang by four votes in the final round of a secret ballot by the International Olympic Committee, taking the Winter Games to Russia for the first time.

The result was a personal triumph for “the captain,” who put his international prestige on the line by coming to Guatemala to lobby IOC members and lead Sochi’s final formal presentation.

“Putin being here was very important,” said French IOC member and former ski champion Jean-Claude Killy. “He worked very hard at it. He was nice. He spoke French – he never speaks French. He spoke English – he never speaks English.

“The Putin charisma can explain four votes.”

The Austrian resort of Salzburg was eliminated in the first round, unable to compete with the political and economic might of its Russian and Korean rivals.

Pyeongchang led the first round with 36 votes, followed by Sochi with 34 and Salzburg with 25. Sochi picked up 17 votes in the second round to secure the victory.

“The captain of our team today raised our team to a completely different level,” Russian sports chief Vyacheslav Fetisov said of Putin.

He had left Guatemala by the time the result was announced but called IOC president Jacques Rogge from his plane when he heard the news. Putin expressed his “deep gratitude” and confirmed Russia will complete all the Olympic projects “in due time and budget,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said.

The Putin magic matched Blair’s influence on London’s victory in the race for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Blair was instrumental in wooing IOC members in Singapore in 2005, helping London defeat Paris, Madrid, New York and Moscow. Putin did not travel to Singapore for that bid, which lost in the first round.

“If Putin is not here, I think it would be different results,” said IOC executive board member Sergei Bubka, a Ukrainian who won a pole vault gold medal for the Soviet Union at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. “He did a fantastic presentation – his speeches, his communication with people these last few days. They were very impressed about his personality, his intelligence. I think this final touch made the difference.”

U.S. member Jim Easton also said Putin might have swung the decisive votes – including by making his presentation in English, breaking with his practice of speaking in Russian.

“I think people were surprised; I was surprised he came out and spoke in English,” Easton said. “It’s those little things that sometimes switch some people who are on the line over. This reminds me of the Tony Blair scenario.”

Sochi bid chief Dmitry Chernyshenko called the victory a “key moment in Russian history.”

“You have decided to play a major role in Russia’s future. The games will help Russia’s transition as a young democracy,” he said.

Zhukov said the decision was a reward for the “largest winter country in the world,” where winter sports are “part of our soul and heritage.”

“The whole of Russia will be celebrating these days,” he said. “We understand lots of (work) is waiting for us once more.”

Putin’s government has pledged $12 billion to develop Sochi into a world-class winter sports complex linking the palm-lined Black Sea coast – the so-called “Russian Riviera” – to the soaring Caucasus mountains nearby.

Putin praised Sochi’s natural setting, saying, “On the seashore you can enjoy a fine spring day, but up in the mountains, it’s winter. … A real snow is guaranteed.”

Although most venues must be newly built, Putin said, “We guarantee the Olympic cluster in Sochi will be completed on time.”

“No traffic jams, I promise,” he said with a smile.

In Sochi, fireworks boomed in the sky to celebrate the city’s selection.

“It means that Russia has reached the level of Europe, and we can be proud of our country,” said Marina Matveyeva, a 23-year-old bank employee who was one of more than an estimated 15,000 people who jammed a central square today for the pre-dawn announcement.

Tamara Zaporozhets, a 24-year-old curtain designer, gave the sentiment some cocky street spin: “We are the best in the whole world. Sochi rocks!”

Russia, which hosted the 1980 Summer Games in Moscow, has never held a Winter Olympics.

Two previous tries by Sochi failed. A bid for the 1998 games was withdrawn amid the economic deterioration of the last months of the Soviet Union’s existence. Its try for the 2002 games didn’t make the final round because of concerns about the almost-total absence of facilities.

This time, the Sochi bid won out over the appeals of its rivals – Salzburg, presenting itself as a safe, no-risk winter sports mecca at the heart of Europe with world-class venues already in place; and Pyeongchang, offering the potential for peace and reconciliation on the divided Korean peninsula and promoting winter sports in Asia.