The shiny brochure features cosy chalets, pristine snow-capped mountains and rolling alpine pastures.
But Russia's ambitious bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics near the Black Sea resort of Sochi has run into trouble with environmentalists, who say that organizers are planning to build an Olympic bobsleigh run in an area inhabited by bears.
The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has written to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding he intervene to save Sochi's national park. It is home to red deer, wild boar and numerous other species. It is also adjacent to another world heritage site in the snowy Caucasus mountains, which enjoy special UNESCO status.
PHOTO: AFP
On Wednesday, Igor Chestin, director of WWF's Moscow office, said he had raised the alarm because of plans to develop at least 800 hectares of national park in the Sochi region. The Olympic organizers had failed to carry out an environmental assessment, he said, contrary to Russian law. Instead, he claimed, they seemed determined to build a bobsleigh run in the centre of a protected area, with restaurants, golf courses, spas and a casino.
"We are not against the Olympic games or against development in the city of Sochi. But environmental concerns have not been taken into account," he said.
"The bears and other animals migrate from the high mountains down to the park in search of food. Their path cuts directly across the proposed bobsleigh run. The government's system of managing environmental protection in Russia is not adequate. We've seen this for many years now," Chestin said.
The environmental protest is embarrassing for Russia, coming just days before an official Olympic evaluation committee flies into the resort on Sunday. Sochi is competing against two other cities shortlisted in the summer by the International Olympic Committee -- Pyeongchang in South Korea and Salzburg in Austria.
Moscow has never hosted a Winter Olympics. It has promised to spend ?6 billion (US$11.7 billion) transforming Sochi if the bid is successful, replacing crumbling Soviet-era facilities with new hotels, a new international airport and a high-speed railway. The bid has a slogan: "Gateway to the Future" and a cute logo of a star-shaped snowflake.
A spokesman for the 2014 Sochi bid said it was normal for environmentalists to complain ahead of any Olympic inspection.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB