Nov 19, 2008

Everyone Relax, Sochi is Safe


Looks like Gazprom has assumed control of the Sochi Winter Games, and the message.

This week, the IHT sent reporter Joshua Yaffa on an investigative junket to Sochi. He assures us that Gazprom has everything under control. Yaffa reports that construction is going smoothly, and the budget for the Games has miraculously returned to the $12 billion mark.

Standing atop the Caucasus Mountains beside his tour guide Vladimir Makarenko, deputy director at Gazprom, Yaffa's view of Krasnaya Polyana is wildly different from the IOC's report in April. Back then, Olympic officials announced that the whole region was one giant goat rodeo, and costs were rapidly spiraling out of control -- well beyond $12 billion. Enter Gazprom:

Sochi feels like a kaleidoscopic version of Coney Island in New York, all juiced up on lukewarm vodka and sunburned potbellies.

Awesome! But sorry for the silly question: why is a gas company planning the Olympic Games...?

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