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IOC vice president sees no weak points in Sochi as Olympics venue

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The vice president of the International Olympic Committee said Friday he sees no weak points in the Russian city of Sochi as a possible venue for the XXII Winter Olympic Games in 2014.
SOCHI, February 23 (RIA Novosti) - The vice president of the International Olympic Committee said Friday he sees no weak points in the Russian city of Sochi as a possible venue for the XXII Winter Olympic Games in 2014.

"Sochi has no weak points, there are probably some problems and issues to be resolved," Chiharu Igaya, who heads the Evaluation Commission, told journalists.

He said the only problem he saw was the necessity to build many facilities for seven years.

Russia's president Tuesday visited Krasnaya Polyana skiing resort, the centerpiece of Sochi's Olympic bid, prior to a meeting with members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission for the XXII Winter Olympic Games in 2014.

Sochi is the second venue for the IOC Evaluation Commission, which has been carrying out its evaluation from February 19. The first candidate city, South Korea's PyeongChang, was inspected February 14-17.

On March 14-17, the commission will visit the third and final candidate city for the 2014 Olympics - Salzburg, in Austria.

Vladimir Putin declined to assess Russia's chances of winning the bid and praised Sochi's rivals.

"Sport is always a struggle full of the unexpected. I am convinced that the Olympics will be interesting and time will show who the winner is," Putin said.

The president said Sochi is "a unique place" with a mild climate and would be a good venue for the Olympics.

"Sochi is the only place [in Russia] with a combination of developed infrastructure, mild climate and such ideal conditions for winter sports," he said.

He said cooperation with environmental organizations in the preparations for the Olympics is highly important.

"We have established good contacts with international and Russian environmental organizations. It would be a serious mistake not to take into account the opinion of ecological organizations," Putin said adding that no damage should be done to the environment during the preparations.

The 13-member IOC commission assesses the three candidate cities using 17 basic criteria, such as transportation, accommodations, technology, media facilities, environment and climate, finance, security, sports venues, Olympic villages and other amenities.

The results of the commission's findings will be summarized, published and submitted to all IOC members no later than one month before the official announcement of the 2014 Olympics host city, which will take place July 4, 2007 during the IOC's 119th session in Guatemala City.

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