September 27, 2011 – Sochi 2014 is claiming its first record after a series of new partner deals signed last week took its sponsorship total to $1.2 billion (£762 million/¤877 million), surpassing the figure that Beijing raised for the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.

Sochi signed a series of deals at the International Business Forum in the city last weekend, including with Switzerland’s Adecco and Sweden’s Scania, to take its total of partners to 18, including blue-chip Russian companies like Aeroflot, MegaFon, Rostelecom, Rosneft, Russian Railways, Sberbank of Russia, Volkswagen Group Rus and BOSCO Sport.

Leonid Zhestyannikov, first vice-president of the Russian Association for Sport and Leisure Facilities, a Non-Governmental umbrella organisation, is not surprised by the success of Sochi’s national sponsors programme.

“The Sochi Olympics is unique in everything,” he said. “This is why many companies invest in it so eagerly. “This is the only Olympic Games – at least, the only Winter ones – where all the facilities are being built from nil. “This is also the first winter Olympics in the subtropical region.

“There are not so many places in the world where you can find a comparatively warm sea and snow at the same time. “Mariott and Hilton have already signed agreements to build a network of hotels right in the area of the mountain ski centre.”

With more than two years still to go until Sochi 2014 opens, they have already passed London’s sponsorship target of $1.1 billion (£700 million/¤798 million).

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