News

The President and CEO of Sochi 2014, Dmitry Chernyshenko, today revealed the Organizing Committee’s vision to deliver an innovative Olympic Flag Handover ceremony in Vancouver on Sunday night.

Sochi 2014 plays an official role in the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Closing Ceremony as the host city of the next Winter Games in 2014. The Mayor of Sochi, Anatoly Pakhomov will receive the Olympic Flag from International Olympic Committee President (IOC) Jacques Rogge and billions of people around the world will have the opportunity to enjoy an 8 minute insight into Sochi, modern Russia and the concept of Russia’s first Winter Games.

Icons from sport and culture will feature, including Olympic champions, alongside Sochi 2014 ‘Zorbs’, which are giant spheres maneuvered by people inside that will play a key role in the ceremony.

Sochi 2014’s ‘Gateway to the Future’ message – which points to Russia’s first Winter Games creating a lasting sporting and social legacy – will be represented by youth coming together with sporting legends inside the BC Place Olympic stadium.

For the first ever in an Olympic Handover ceremony, simultaneous celebrations from two cities – Sochi and Russia’s capital, Moscow – will appear virtually onto a central feature in the stadium, allowing Russia to meet Vancouver through innovation.

At the end of the ceremony, the audience inside the BC Place will be invited to hold up their own small Zorbs, like snow domes. Around the world, the crowd will appear as twinkling red, white and blue spheres, representing the Russian colours, and demonstrating Sochi 2014’s commitment to the involvement of people from all cultures and backgrounds.

“We have the opportunity to showcase Sochi, modern Russia and our passion for the Olympic Movement to the world,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko. “We want to be truly innovative and inspire the world.”

“As we close our ceremony, the Mayor of Sochi will proudly and with all humility carry the Olympic Flag back to my beautiful native city. And with that flag, he carries the hopes of a nation. He will carry the collective responsibility of all Russians to deliver positive and lasting change through the power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is our promise. This is our Gateway to the Future.”

Notes to Editors

A 21^st Century brand: In December 2009, Sochi 2014 introduced an innovative brand, represented by the first ‘digital’ Games emblem in Olympic history. The emblem is designed to encourage dialogue between Russians, nations and winter sports fans – particularly youth – facilitated by Sochi 2014's online platforms.

The Sochi 2014 emblem maintains a dialogue between the past and the future, traditions and innovative thinking thus promoting several images of our vibrant country:

· A country rich in history, embarking on a successful future

· A country open to opportunities and the passion to make dreams a reality

· A country that is committed to equality and celebrates diversity.

The Sochi 2014 emblem embraces change and encourages everyone to welcome development and progress. It reflects how the 2014 Olympic Winter Games will adopt new technologies and become easily accessible to the new “digital” generation.

Furthermore the emblem reveals the exceptional character of the Sochi as a city with its unique climate, landscape and cultural phenomena and it being a meeting point of the sea and the mountains. Visually this is conveyed in the Sochi 2014 emblem, which is like the sea acting as a mirror to reflect the mountains.

The logo’s ‘.ru’ component is Russia’s web-domain address and signifies that Sochi 2014 is a Winter Games hosted by a whole nation, as well as the city of Sochi. As a key component of the Sochi 2014 emblem, the Olympic rings sit proud and large to leave no doubt that this is a symbol of progress for the Olympic Movement.

The Sochi 2014 tagline – Gateway to the Future – reflects our belief that the Winter Games in Sochi will help to define the future in Russia, further winter sports and support the Olympic Movement’s strides forward. The Games are the Gateway to the Future. It is a message that will live on forever. It heralds a sporting, social, economic and environmental legacy that will last for generations.

Handover taking the Sochi 2014 brand as its starting point – The concept of the Sochi 2014 handover ceremony is a reflection of the vision and ideas embraced by the Sochi 2014 brand. Every element of the programme has its meaning corresponding to one of the many notions that the brand carries forward.