Sochi Winter Olympics 2014

The 22nd Winter Olympics are scheduled to run in Sochi, Russia from 6 February through 23 February this year.  There are 98 events scheduled in 15 types of athletic competitions.  There are two Olympic venue sites - one in the "coastal cluster" on the outskirts of Sochi, where all indoor sporting events will take place, and the other is the outdoor venues on Rosa Khutor at Kraznaya Polyana.  The "coastal cluster"  - or Sochi Olympic Park - has been built on the shore of the Black Sea and all venues are within easy walking distance of each other, and will be the area where medals are presented.  There will be competitions in: alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, free style skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combination, short track speed skating, skeleton, ski jumping, snowboarding, and speed skating.  The original plans for the Olympics had a projected cost of $12 billion (US); but the cost has mushroomed to over $51 billion (US).
   Between the cost over runs, and the fact that the Sochi Olympic Park is only four kilometers from the border with Georgia, along with recent bombings and killings in Russia, a lot of people are on their guard about traveling to Sochi.  When President Putin signed into law anti-homosexual acts, he stuck a big thorn into the lesbian and gay communities.  It seems that President Obama is thumbing his nose right back at Putin, by appointing openly homosexual representatives for the United States.  (Personally, I don't care if anyone or someone is attracted to the same sex.  I figure it's none of my business.)  But here the countries go, jostling with each other.  Is everything in this world based on one-upmanship?
  Sochi is the warmest spot so far to host the Winter Olympics.  Located on the Black Sea, with an almost sub-tropical climate, the average February temperature is 42.8 degrees F.  But don't worry about snow - the Russians have saved tons of it, in case of a warm spell, and have plans set in readiness to transport and spread the snow as is needed.
  The town of Sochi, itself, claims to be the longest city in Europe, stretching for 145 kilometers along the Black Sea; it is divided into four city districts: Tsentralny City, Lazarevsky City, Khostinsky City, and Adlersky City. Before the whole area was conquered by Cimmerian, Scythian and Sarmatian invaders, the Zygii people lived in Smaller Abkhazia under the Kingdom of Pontus', then in the Roman Empire's influence in antiquity.  From the 6th to the 11th centuries, the area successively belonged to the kingdom of Lazica and the kingdom of Abkhaziz, who built a dozen churches within the city boundaries.   From the 11th to the middle of the 19th century it was a part of the Georgian Kingdom.  The Christian settlements along the coast were destroyed by the invading Gokturks, Khazars, the Mongol empire, and other nomadic empires whose control of the region was slight. The Loo district contains the ruins of an 8th century church which was rebuilt in the 11th century, and which was converted into a fortress in the Late Middle Ages.  Currently, Sochi is a predominantly Christian city, but was Sunni Muslim until 1864.
  More about Sochi tomorrow...