May 6, 2008 – FIS President Gian Franco Kasper visited Sochi, as part of the IOC Coordination Commission for Sochi 2014 Games. It was the first inspection in the Black Sea resort by the IOC team overseeing the Games. During two days, the 13-member commission led by IOC member Jean-Claude Killy assessed all functional areas of the preparations for Russia’s first ever Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, as presented by Sochi 2014 president Dmitry Chernyshenko and Russian sports minister Vyacheslav Fetisov together with Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov, Viktor Kolodyazhny, the newly appointed head of Olympstroy, the state corporation overseeing Olympic construction, and Leonid Tyagachev, president of the Russian Olympic Committee and FIS Council Member, among others.

The IOC delegation also toured the mountain and coastal clusters of proposed Olympic venues, including visiting the Psekhako Ridge, venue for the Cross-Country Skiing and Nordic Combined events, and the alpine ski resort Roza Khutor in the Krasnaya Polyana mountains.

A total of 13 competition venues will be built for the Sochi Olympics – the largest number in the history of the Winter Olympics. 27 construction projects are scheduled to begin this year, with the remainder starting in 2009. The progress of Sochi’s transport infrastructure projects as well as the organizing committee’s sponsorship and environmental initiatives were also assessed.

The 2014 Games have been cited as “probably the most challenging Olympics ever” due to the massive construction job ahead.