Winter Olymics
Russia has very few cities that aren’t frozen over in the winter. This makes it one of the first places that is always ready to host the Winter Olympics. That being said, they are trying to get the Olympics in Russia for 2014. Its even in the winter. There’s just one small catch.
Russia does have a few cities that stay relatively snow-less year round. Krasnodar, and the Krasnodar region in the south is one such place. The region borders the Black Sea and is renowned throughout Russia as an excellent summer vacation spot. Sochi is the main tourist city on the coast, completely built up with resorts and private beaches.
And Sochi is exactly where the Russians want to host the Winter Olympics. The real location is actually 40 minutes away to the north in the Caucasus Mountains. Sochi is a much prettier face for the olympics. In fact its one of Russia’s very few pretty face cities. But not where I’d put the Winter Olympics. They hardly see snow!
The other contenders are Salzburg, Austria and PeyongChang, South Korea. They both have great chances and Sochi is only in 3rd place. I would rule out Salzburg because one of their venues is actually in Germany. PeyongChang would be great, but the committee might skip it because of the proximity to North Korea and John Kim Il.
Sochi doesn’t have the greatest chances, but Russia could badly use some good PR. It’d be cool if Sochi did win, but thats more “I’m a Russian major living in Russia and I think Russia is cool.” It doesn’t really matter where the Olympics games are, I’m not going unless they are within 500 kilometers of my residence at the time.
It is possible for me to be near Sochi in 2014, but I don’t even know in what country I’ll be in next year. BTW, If you’ve got any teaching jobs you know of in the Middle East or Taiwan, please let me know!
