Sochi ??

The Russian Black Sea town of Sochi has been awarded the 2014 Winter Olympics. And it's all because of Vladimer Putin. And his charm.

"If Putin is not here, I think it would be different results," said IOC Executive Board member Sergei Bubka. "I think this final touch made the difference."

French IOC member Jean-Claude Killy said: "Putin charisma can explain four votes."

He must have been very charming because Sochi in Krasnodar Krai is one odd choice for the Winter Olympics. This is from its Wikipedia entry...

The resort has a warm climate, averaging +7 °C (44.6 °F) in January and February, and boasts many sanatoria and mineral baths. There are also tea plantations, the most northerly in Europe.
...winter temperatures rarely fall much below freezing.

To give yous some perspective the mean temperature in Richmond, Virginia is 39.5 Fahrenheit while in Sochi it is 44.
I know they can all always build facilities up in the mountains, but with Sochi some 255 miles from the Chechan border and only 17 miles from the border with the troubled sometime Georgian province of Abkhazia.
Of course terrorism may not be a problem in 2014.
Yeah.


Sochi also comes highly recommended by this Russian leader who really knew the Caucasus.