Krasnodar region > Sochi

Winter Olympics and Para-Olympic Games

What can be better than the joyful anticipation of a holiday? Every child knows that and every adult remembers it from childhood. And now all of Russia is truly and impatiently awaiting the grand holiday of sports which it has had the honour to organise - the 2014 Olympic Games.

For more than one hundred years, the Olympics have been joining together people from the whole world, irrespective of race, religion and political convictions. These competitive events are all about not just "Citius, Altius, Fortius!" - "Faster, higher, ber" - but constitute a symbolic dialog of cultures, a demonstration of opportunity open to all. It is a great honour for any state to hold the main sporting forum of the planet on its soil. Russia is proud to take up the relay in 2014 - during the Winter Olympics and Para-Olympic Games.

What, indeed, can be better than anticipation of a holiday? The holiday itself, of course! You have to try very hard to ensure that it takes place in the best possible fashion. And Russia is trying its best. The country has already several times proven its right to be called a sporting power. It has won the biggest world prizes in sporting competitions and has given the world a whole constellation of champions who have made history in world sports. In 1980, Moscow, the Russian capital, hosted the Summer Olympics. And now, %hen the country has secured all the necessary prerequisites, it once again is preparing to receive guests and to arrange unforgettable sporting competitions.

Ancient Russian cities are sprucing themselves up. New, almost "cosmic" sports buildings and comfortable hotels are going up. Highways and high-speed rail lines which will bind the key cities of the Olympic events into a single network are being built. Russia is looking forward to your visit. Come and support your compatriots in the fight for top titles and glorious victories!