Prime Minister Putin: I believe that five ice arenas on the Black Sea coast are too many.
Addressing the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala on July 4, 2007 Vladimir Putin said (as quoted by kremlin.ru): "The Olympic complex in Sochi will become the first world-class sports centre in the new Russia... The magnificent sports centre in Sochi will be our gift to all athletes, the present and future Olympic athletes, Russian citizens and all foreign guests." I have a hunch that at the time he did not feel that five ice arenas were too many for the Black Sea coast.
I have no doubt that in Guatemala then and in Sochi last Friday Mr Putin was quite sincere. Indeed, one can derive satisfaction from the fact that either because of the crisis or because he has exchanged his presidential job for that of the Prime Minister and has gained new insights into Russian life, his Guatemalan tone is gone. Five ice arenas on the Black Sea coast are indeed too many, especially considering that there are not enough ice arenas in other parts of Russia. Hopefully, moving the superfluous arenas to other parts of the country is not too much of an engineering feat.
In his speech in Guatemala Mr Putin mentioned one of the Titans: "Ancient Greeks lived in the vicinity of present-day Sochi. There I saw a rock to which Prometheus was chained according to legend. Recall that Prometheus gave people the fire that became the Olympic flame." Mr Putin chose not to elaborate the end of the famous Greek tale omitting that the Olympic gods punished Prometheus by chaining him to a rock somewhere in the area of the Caucasus Ridge and sending an eagle to eat his liver for 30,000 years.
Mr Putin, who may be said to have brought the Olympic fire to Russia and to Sochi, feels rather as if he were chained to the Caucasus Ridge. Perhaps some eagle-like creatures come to him daily in order to, figuratively speaking, eat his liver by giving him an account of the problems that arise in connection with the Olympic Games and their consequences.
One good thing is that it is just five and not 30,000 years until the Sochi Olympics of 2014.
By Kirill Kharatyan