Sochi Scene- 2010 Budget Finalized, Storm Sacks Port

(ATR) Sochi 2014 Winter organizers say 2009 was a good year as they head into a busy 2010.

The Sochi 2014 Supervisory Board met at the White House in Moscow on Wednesday. The board discussed sponsorships, reviewed 2009 achievements and finalized a 2010 financial plan. The board also approved a strategy to recruit workers and volunteers.

Sochi 2014 President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko said he would like to move into the second and third levels of sponsorships before the Vancouver 2010 Games. Sochi has received $850 million from partnerships to date. The goal is to surpass $1 billion.

“The Organizing Committee is continuing to increase the level of commercial funding for Sochi 2014," said Chernyshenko.

Organizers stressed in a press release that the Games are on schedule.

In 2009, Sochi received visits from the IOC and the National Olympic Committees of the U.S., Canada and Norway. Next year Sochi expects 25 inspection visits from National Olympic and Paralympic Committees.

“Preparations for the Winter Games in Sochi are going in strict accordance with plans," said Alexander Zhukov, Chairman of the Sochi 2014 Supervisory Board and Deputy Prime Minister of Russia. "The high ratings received following the regular visits of IOC and IPC experts are a strong demonstration of our excellent progress."

Moscow Region Offers to host Bobsleigh and Luge

The Moscow region is offering to host bobsleigh and luge if Sochi cannot construct the venues in time.

Valery Gavrilov, head of Dmitrov district, volunteered his area to host the event while speaking at the conclusion of junior World Cup luge event 30km north of Moscow.

“If the situation with Sochi becomes difficult, we are ready to help,” he said.

The track for bobsleigh and luge has been a problem for Sochi 2014. In July, organizers decided to move the site following a report from the United Nations United Nations Environment Program.

A spokesman for the Russian Olympic Committee told Reuters that there are no plans to move the venues away from Sochi.

Winter Storms hit Sochi

A winter storm battered Sochi early in the week and damaged a port used to bring building materials for the Olympics.

The port was under construction at the time of the storm. The owner of the construction company for said damage has not been estimated.

The port is a crucial element of the construction plan for the Sochi Games as all venues and most infrastructure are being built from scratch.

Sochi Storm Video

Cultural Olympiad

The next four years leading up to the Sochi 2014 Games will each have its own theme.

Sochi 2014 unveiled its Cultural Olympiad program on Wednesday. The program will showcase the host city through art and culture. The Cultural Olympiad starts four years prior to the Games, according to IOC rules.

Every year of the Cultural Olympiad has a unique theme: 2010 Year of Cinema, 2011 Year of Theater, 2012 Year of Music and 2013 Year of Museums. In 2014, the program will highlight the best projects from the previous four years.

The Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad includes more than 1,000 events, 10,000 performers and 100,000. Organizers project more than a million spectators and a billion television viewers during the program.

"The Olympic and Paralympic Games are not just global sporting events that captures the attention of the world a few moments in advance, the Games begin long before the lighting of the flame in the main stadium," Chernyshenko said.

"The Cultural Olympiad creates an atmosphere of anticipation for the Games. This unprecedented event also calls for maintaining a cultural dialog between Russia and the global community, revealing the amazing diversity of modern Russian culture to the rest of the world."

The 2010 program features a film festival devoted to people with disabilities, a sports movie festival and movies shown on screens around Sochi.

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Written by Sam Steinberg.