Sochi 2014 Launches 'Hot. Cool. Yours' Slogan; Flashmobs Mark 500-day Countdown

(ATR) The official slogan of Russia’s first Winter Olympics is ‘Hot. Cool. Yours’, Sochi 2014 Games organizers announced as they marked the 500 days to go milestone.

Sochi 2014 president and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said the slogan, unveiled in the Black Sea resort Tuesday, summed up Russia in all its diversity and reflected its true nature.

"Hot" indicates sports passions and the Games’ venue, "Cool" stands for the time of the year and for how Russia is perceived by the rest of the world, and "Yours" means shorter distances and the inclusive nature of the event," he was quoted by Interfax.

After helping Sochi win the Olympic bid in 2007, Chernyshenko tweeted today: "Cannot believe that it is just 500 days to go to the Sochi 2014 opening ceremony... Not so much time left."

The 500-day countdown was celebrated with sporting and cultural events staged in cities across Russia, which included 500-meter relays to showcase each of the seven Winter Olympic sports.

They ended with what Sochi 2014 called an "all-Russia national flashmob", the main participants of which were Games volunteers drawn from 26 volunteer centers who represented 14 of the country's regions.

At the squares, stadiums and indoor sports complexes in their respective cities, more than 12,000 volunteers participated inthe construction of giant Olympic pictograms, having collected a total of all 22 images of Olympic sports events on the 2014 Games program. Each pictogram was made using square blue-white shields that the volunteers held above their heads.

The biggest flashmob was in Krasnodar, where 2,000 Sochi 2014 volunteers formed five pictograms on Theater Square. Moscow called on 1,600 volunteers to complete four pictogram puzzles at the All-Russian Exhibition Center.

In two weeks’ time, the IOC Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014 begins its eighth inspection of preparations in the Winter Olympic city.

Co-Com chair Jean-Claude Killy leads the IOC delegation checking on all aspects of Sochi’s progress. The IOC’s Olympic Games executive director Gilbert Felli and Vancouver 2010 president John Furlong are among others involved.

According to Chernyshenko, Sochi is currently the biggest construction site in the world. As well as six new venues going up on the coastal Olympic Park, 370km of new roads, 200km of railways and tunnels and tens of power stations are being constructed for the Games.

The 40,000-capacity main stadium, venue for the opening and closing ceremonies, is slated to be fully operational in August 2013.

Around the Rings is told that the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic torch relay route will be revealed just ahead of the IOC’s visit.

During the London Olympics, Chernyshenko restated that the route – the longest in Olympic history – will definitely include a trip into space. The Olympic flame will travel around 50,000km visiting 83 regions in nine different time zones.

Reported by Mark Bisson

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