SPOILERS: Sochi, Russia Prepares For Winter Olympics 2014

by UInterviewAugust 14, 2012, 12:00 am >

If you are susceptible to Olympic fever and might currently be experiencing intense symptoms of withdrawal, hang in there — the 2014 Winter Olympics, or the 22nd Winter Olympics, are only 18 months away, and the site of Sochi, Russia is already prepping for the transformation their little resort city on the Black Sea will undergo in the first major global event Russia has hosted since the fall of the U.S.S.R.

Construction is beginning on housing, businesses and, of course, sports arenas to populate Olympic Park for the events, which will kick off on February 7, 2014, and close on February 23. Russia is reportedly providing around 327 million rubles (or $10.85 billion U.S. dollars) for the total development and expansion of the Olympic Park.

The 2014 Sochi Olympic games will consist of fifteen winter sports lumped into the disciplines of skating, skiing, bobsleighing, curling, ice hokey, biathlon and luge. Among the expected American competitors? Snowboarder Shaun White, 25, who is the two-time defending gold medalist in the half-pipe event. It's even possible, speculates BleacherReport.com, that White might raise eyebrows by also competing in the brand new slopestyle event, which will make its debut at the 2014 Sochi games.

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