How The Sochi Olympics Skate Around Logistics Hurdles

As the world turns its attention to Sochi, Russia for the XXII Olympic Winter Games, it’s abundantly clear this Olympic flame has boldly gone where no Olympic flame has gone before it.

The Olympic flame began its journey to Sochi for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, following its lighting in Ancient Olympia, Greece, on Sunday September 29th.

The lighting marked the symbolic start of the Olympic Torch Relay, which saw the flame cover over 65,000 kilometers and all 83 regions of Russia, as well as traveling within an hour of an estimated 90 per cent of the Russian population before reaching the Olympic Stadium in Sochi on February 7th for the Opening Ceremony.

About 14,000 torchbearers have carried the torch and for the first time ever, the Olympic torch took a journey into space and was taken for a space walk outside the international space station as it orbited some 260 miles above Earth.

But getting the torch from Athens to Sochi is not the only logistical challenge Olympic organizers have faced.

Logistics of hosting the Winter Games is not all “down hill”
Sochi is one of the warmest locations ever selected for the winter Olympics. Thankfully, the Olympic ski village of Roza Khutor boasts the largest snow-making operation in Europe, with 404 snow cannons. The organizers also saved 450,000 tons of last winter’s snow under specially designed thermal blankets, just in case. This is the largest snow warehouse ever and a great example of risk management and mitigation.

To get the city of only 340,000 people in shape to host 6,000 athletes and several times that number of tourists in February, a cool $43 billion was spent on an enormous transportation infrastructure. This is above and beyond the cost of the actual sports facilities. To bring tourists from the airport to the ski slopes in 40 minutes, a 48 kilometer, $8 billion road and railway system was built, one of the most expensive transport links of its kind.

In addition, visitors to Sochi can hop on a new a new Light Metro public transportation system that includes 80 trains, each capable of carrying 800 passengers. At its peak the Metro is expected to transport 70,000 passengers every hour during the Games.

Thankfully, athletes won’t get lost in the transportation shuffle. To improve the logistics of tracking and tracing members of Team USA, a new Team USA Guide app (developed by AT&T) helps athletes, coaches and delegation members communicate with each other.

Global sporting events like the Olympic Games often face huge logistics challenges, but they also have the ability to boost a local   economy (as seen in the London Olympics of 2012). It has been estimated that almost half a trillion dollars is being spent by sponsors and licensed vendors in Sochi.

This is not only an all-time record for the winter Olympics, but also for summer Olympic Games. Ever since Sochi was announced as the host of the 2014 Olympic Games, countries, companies and competitors have been planning for years to ensure a flawless performance. Let’s hope they are ready for the logistical challenges in front of them. Let the games begin!

Related: The Logistics Behind the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics