In Sochi on June 19, 2010, a seminar was held, as part of which more than 50 construction team students received an “Olympic inoculation”. The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee and Russian Railways, a partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi, were the organizers of the event.

Children from 18 regions around the country took part in the educational seminar. As part of the event, the students learned about the history and philosophy of the Olympics and Paralympics, the coming Games in Sochi, and were also introduced to the ecological strategy.

Many of the participants expressed the desire to undergo instructional training, which would further familiarize them with Olympic and Paralympic themes, and help them become some of the future leaders of Sochi 2014 Olympic education. After training, the students will be able to conduct similar educational seminars among their colleagues on the construction team. They will be expected to independently conduct test events; based on the results, they will receive the appropriate certificate. A panel of youth and social experts will assess the quality of the test event. Thus, in 18 regions of the country, volunteers will appear who will help in implementing educational projects as part of the Sochi 2014 system of Olympic education.

After the seminar, all the participants received multicoloured bracelets on which the Olympic and Paralympic values were inscribed: Excellence, Friendship, and Respect; Courage, Equality, Ambition, and Inspiration.

On 2 July, 2010, the ceremonial inauguration of the "Student Brigade Summer Work Crew" took place at the southern portal of Tunnel Complex No. 1 on the combined-use roadway currently under construction. 1,000 students from across Russia, as well as 15 students from Armenia and Kazakhstan, took part in the event.

RZD executives, in particular RZD President Vladimir Yakunin and RZD Vice President Oleg Toni, congratulated the students in attendance on the launch of the work crew and spoke a few words of encouragement. Everyone was pleasantly surprised by the shots of a salute fired in honor of the inauguration of the work crew, which promises to be an interesting and memorable experience in the lives of each and every student.

            

The excavation of the service tunnel for Tunnel Complex 1 was ceremonially completed today, 28 May, 2010. 

As representatives of contractor organizations, Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin, and Russian Railways Vice President Oleg Toni looked on, the Lovat RME-232 tunnel-boring machine dug the last few metres of the tunnel through solid rock and emerged onto the surface at the planned location.  The total length of the service tunnel is 2 366 metres.

 

         

On 26 May, 2010, the opening of the V International Rail Business Forum “1520 Strategic Partnership” took place at the Radisson SAS Lazurnaya in Sochi.

Russian Railways President Vladimir Yakunin, speaking to the delegates and guests of the forum, said: “The efficiency of rail transport under contemporary conditions depends directly on the speed and coordination with which radical modernization is carried out and integrated, innovative solutions are introduced.

This theme, which is on the agenda of the current forum, is timely both for the individual countries and corporations that use broad-gauge standard and for increasing the competitiveness of rail transport in general. 

I am convinced that a discussion on developing modernization strategies, that is, setting concrete goals and choosing tools, mechanisms, and resources, will lay a solid foundation for our successful development.”

The official languages of the Forum are Russian, English, and German.

Russian Railways is a General Partner of the Forum. The Forum will continue until 28 May.

On 14 May, 2010, at the South Portal of Tunnel Complex No. 3, the Herrenknecht HARD13210 tunnel-boring machine (TBM), designed for excavation of automobile tunnel top heading, was ceremonially put into operation with representatives from Russian Railways and Bamtonnelstroy, UMGKR, and the planners Lenmetrogiprotrans, Herrenknecht and Amberg Engineering, Ltd in attendance. The complex was blessed by a Russian Orthodox priest. 3 or 4 tunnel lining rings are expected to be installed over the next few days.

 

         

On 18-21 May, 2010, experts from the International Olympic Committee on Ecology will visit Sochi as part of the “Environment and Sustainable Development” programme.

The purpose of this visit is to determine existing risks and opportunities connected with meeting the Sochi 2014 bidding commitments regarding environmental preservation and sustainable development, as well as with fulfilling the mandatory conservation requirements needed to conduct the Winter Olympic and the Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

As part of the visit, cooperation with Russian Railways will include a visit and a report on the facilities of the Combined (highway and railroad) Adler - Alpika Servis Mountain Resort Road, the Khurmovy Sad worker’s camp at RP 131 and the South Portal of Tunnel Complex № 3.

The Coordinating Commission of the International Olympic Committee has arrived in Sochi. 

The inspectors checked on the construction of the main sports facilities. 

Tunnels are under construction in the Krasnaya Polyana mountains. In the future, this road will make the journey from Adler Airport to Krasnaya Polyana twice as fast. The motor highway will run alongside the railway. 

 

There will be six tunnels; boring has just started on the fifth. A special drilling machine, which cuts adits in the mountain rock by itself, was actually created for the job. There is no other drilling machine like this in the world.

 

Evgeny Solntsev, the chief of DCRC-Sochi, said:  “This machine can drive at a rate of ten meters a day. For comparison: three meters a day by the usual method; that means this is three times as fast and three times as reliable.” 

 

Besides the builders, the residents themselves are actively contributing to the preparation for the Winter Games. Thousands of citizens are studying English in order to become volunteers, and several have even organized a competition for the best song in honour of the opening of the main sports event of 2014.

The IOC Coordinating Commission’s trip passed through all the important facilities in Sochi. They inspected the construction of the Olympic Garden in the Imeretinskaya Valley. On the shores of the Black Sea, they are building the largest sports facility – the Ice Palace, designed with 12 000 seats. 

 

Valery Dimakov, deputy chief of NPO Mostovik, said: “I think the IOC will be very surprised at the speed of construction. There is no doubt that, after the last visit when there were neither main beams for bleachers nor lift slabs, the speed is impressive.” 

 

Sergey Gebor arrived in Sochi a year ago. In his home town, Rostov-na-Donu, he was unemployed and found out by chance that there were job openings at the country’s major construction site. 

Here Sergey assembles construction frames. His family has already come to see him. Now he is thinking about moving to Sochi permanently, as Sergey will have no problem with future employment. 

He said: “Stability is the main thing. There’s stability here - that’s important. There’s work here.”

 

During the Olympics, competitions in all skiing events will be conducted on Mount Aibga. The pistes were inspected by experts from the International Federation of Skiing. 

The first skiing competitions will be held on these slopes in February 2011. The pistes are already completed. The artificial snow system is currently being worked on. Several months from now there will be an eight-metre-deep reservoir. 

 

Sports facilities are not the only things being prepared in Sochi. Townspeople are learning English in order to pass exams and become volunteers. They are also painting pictures and writing poetry on the Olympic theme.

There is a competition in Sochi for the best song dedicated to the coming Olympic Games. Kuban police officer Alexey Nekrasov now spends all his spare time in a rehearsal hall with a chorus, practising a song he wrote the words and music to himself. 

The results of the creative competition will be announced a month from now. Meanwhile, the city is waiting for another more important examination – the coordinating commission is expected to summarize the results of its visit to the capital of the Winter Games.