2014 Olympics: 5 Things You Need to Know About Winter Games Host Sochi, Russia

The city of Sochi, in the Russian Federation, was delcared the host site for the 2014 Winter Olympics on July 4, 2007. 

Sochi beat out seven cities—Salzburg (Austria), Jaca (Spain), Almaty (Kazakhstan), Pyeong Chang (Republic of Korea), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Borjomi (Georgia)—to secure the bid. The city received 34 first place votes the first time around and 51 the second, making Sochi the committee's choice.

Sochi will also represent the first time the Russian Federation has hosted the Winter Olympics, with Moscow hosting the Summer Games in 1980. 

In the following five slides, we'll inform you of everything you need to know about the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi. 

Location, Population and More

Sochi is a city of nearly 420,000 people, located almost 900 miles south of Moscow in the federal subject area of Krasnodar Krai. The city borders the Black Sea, on the Western most side of Russia's land mass. 

Sochi has a climate very similar to that of the northern Midwest of the United States, but with more mild winters because of its placement on the Black Sea. Because of its temperate climates all year-round, Sochi has become one of Russia's premier resort cities. 

Dates

The opening date of the 2014 Winter Games is scheduled for February 7, 2014, or over 550 days from today.

The games are scheduled to last 16 days, with events separated into two clusters in two different areas near Sochi. We'll address that format in the next slide. 

Among the events taking place over the 16 days: Alpine skiing, curling, figure skating, hockey, luge, snowboarding and speed skating.

Cluster Format

The Sochi Winter Games will be split between two separate areas for events. 

A coastal cluster will be held right in Sochi for ice events, with a mountain cluster taking place in the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains. That range is just 30 or so minutes outside of Sochi, which makes the event one of the more "compact" Winter Games ever, according to the 2014 Games official website. 

Eight new buildings are to be constructed at the Sochi Olympic Park to hold the numerous ice events. All skiing and sliding events will take place at another compact facility on the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains. 

New Events

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) accepted a number of new events to be included in the 2014 Winter Games. 

Among the new events are skiing halfpipe and slopestyle, snowboard slopestyle and shalom, women's ski jumping, figure skating team event, mixed relay biathlon and  team relay luge. 

In all, the Sochi Winter Games will include 98 events, including 12 in snowboarding, speed skating and downhill skiing. 

Other Things to Know

The broadcast rights in the United States belong to NBC. 

The mascots for the event are a leopard, hare and polar bear. 

98 events are scheduled to take place. 

The Bolshoy Ice Dome, which will host the hockey final, holds 12,000 people. The Fisht Olympic Stadium, host of the opening and closing ceremonies, holds over 40,000.