Sochi Games Research Articles

Media aspects of the relationship between politics and sports using the example of the Russian Federation’s exclusion from international competitions

RELEVANCE. The relationship between politics and sports is a pressing issue, since political contradictions between states are reflected in sports. Major sporting events are not just competitions between athletes, but also fierce political struggles. Through professional sports with the help of various media technologies, it is possible to influence global society and achieve geopolitical results. The relationship between elite sports and politics is considered using the example of the exclusion of Russian sports from international competitions and materials about this in the media.MATERIALS AND METHODS. Materials from foreign media have been studied on the topic of removing Russia from big-time sports, depriving it of state symbols, removing Russian athletes from international competitions due to disagreement with the political course of the authorities of the Russian Federation, and the introduction of so-called sanctions in the field of sports. The study was based on a comparative historical method, which helps to consider the dynamics of the development of relations between Russian sports and the political course of Western countries. The theoretical basis was the work of domestic and foreign researchers of the history and theory of sports. Content analysis was also used to study materials from Russian and foreign media with the aim of determining the attitude of foreign states towards Russian sports and its oppression in the international sports arena from 2014 to 2024.RESULT AND DISCUSSION. An analysis of foreign media materials confirms that pressure on Russian sports is being exerted by Western countries due to their disagreement with the political course of the Russian Federation. An analysis of sources showed that Western media agree on the issue of sanctions against Russian sports: they support the introduction of restrictions against Russian sports, but at the same time they call such measures an instrument of geopolitics, an instrument of “containing Russia”. This confirms the politicization of sports through the media.CONCLUSION. Analyzing the content of publications in both foreign and Russian media, we can conclude that pressure on Russian sports and members of the Russian national team began to intensify after the victory of the Russian team in the team event at the Olympic Games in Sochi 2014 and after the Republic of Crimea joined the Russian Federation . After the Russian Armed Forces launched a special military operation in Ukraine, even more sanctions and restrictions were introduced against Russian sports, and Russia was actually excluded from international sports. The author believes that the pressure on Russian sports will only increase.

Life satisfaction and athletic identity among Olympic para-alpine skiers: a survey.

The objective of this study was to examine life satisfaction and athletic identity among para-alpine skiers and explore their associations with sociodemographic, sports practice, and disability-related characteristics of the participants. The respondents to the on-site survey were 129 para-alpine ski racers with acquired disability from 33 countries on all five continents who competed in the Paralympic games in Sochi (aged 16-53 years, mean and median 30 years, 100 men). Two self-developed assessment instruments were used - a 7-point Likert-type life-satisfaction questionnaire probing seven domains (health, family, education, freedom, friends, travelling, and self) and the Athletic Identity Scale (AIS; possible score range 17-85). The independence between life-satisfaction items was confirmed by low interitem correlations (largest absolute value <0.25, 15 of 21, and <0.15). The estimated internal-consistency reliability (Guttman lambda-2) of AIS was 0.65. The reported life satisfaction was very high (median of 6 for all domains except education, where it was 5). Like life-satisfaction ratings, the AIS scores were also very high on average (mean and median score 81). In general, the level of life satisfaction and athletic identity were not notably associated with sociodemographic, sports practice, and disability characteristics of the participants. The likely reason is high average and, hence, low variability of life-satisfaction ratings, as well as imperfect metric characteristics of the AIS. Nonetheless, the overall findings encourage further research into factors that drive the participation of disabled athletes in (winter) Paralympic games and the possible role of the rehabilitation process in this regard.

The influence of the Olympic Games on the formation of the image of Russia

In recent years, Russia has been paying great attention to the Olympic Games. The Olympic Movement plays an important role in shaping the country's foreign policy image and promoting national interests. The purpose of this article is to determine what impact the Olympic Games have on the formation of the image of the Russian Federation. The main stages of Russia's participation in the Olympic Games in 1994-2022, forming the image of the country, are highlighted. The study showed that the first two stages, including the period from 1994 to 2012 and the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, were extremely successful in forming a positive image of Russia, which was constructed thanks to the successes of Russian athletes, the construction of a "Russian House" in Olympic parks, the opening and closing ceremonies at the Sochi Olympics, as well as the Sochi 2014 Cultural Olympiad project. The image of Russia as a great sports power was strengthened. However, Russia's participation in the Olympics from 2016 to 2022 was not so successful and affected the image of our country. The deterioration of the image was caused by various doping scandals related to Russian athletes. The authors came to the conclusion that the Olympic Games from 1994 to 2012 and the Olympic Games in Sochi – 2014, which we refer to the first two stages, had a steady positive effect on the image of Russia. However, the negative factors that have arisen since 2016 partially offset the successes achieved in this direction in previous years. Due to the current geopolitical situation, holding another Olympic Games in Russia is not expected in the foreseeable future, so at the moment the best option is to focus on the development of sports within the country. Also, to create a positive image of Russia, it is important to revive the practice of creating a "Russian House" in Olympic parks.

Роль спортивного туризма в развитии народной дипломатии Российской Федерации и стран Северной Европы

By the example of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and 2018 FIFA World Cup, the paper shows how sports tourism as an element of public diplomacy influences Russia’s relations with the North European countries. The study is based on an analysis of the foreign media publications dedicated to 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and 2018 FIFA World Cup. Scientific originality of the research lies in the fact that the author identifies the role of sports tourism as an element of public diplomacy. The paper argues that sports tourism acquires special importance due to a growing number of international sports events. Influence of intensive cooperation in sport on Russia’s relations with the North European countries is revealed by the example of the XXII Olympic Winter Games in Sochi and 2018 FIFA World Cup. As a result, it is proved that cooperation in sport helped to overcome political tension and largely contributed to establishing friendly neighbourhood relations between Russia and the North European countries.

Military Service of the Cossacks in the Security System of the South of Russia (On the Example of Rostov Region)

Introduction. Modern Russian Cossacks, having undergone the process of revival and institutionalization, are now incorporated into the system of state and other services of the Russian Federation. Given the pre-revolutionary status of the Cossacks as a military class of the Russian Empire, Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, beginning from the 1990s, has a particular interest in attracting the descendants of the Cossacks and members of Cossack societies to military service. Methods. Through the institutional analysis, the study assesses the role of the Cossacks in military service and security in the South of Russia. Analysis. In order to incorporate the Cossacks into the system of military service in the Russian Federation, a number of normative legal acts have been adopted that allow the Cossacks to serve in Cossack units with traditional Cossack names, to use Cossack insignia on military uniforms. As part of the implementation of the Strategy of the state policy of the Russian Federation in relation to the Russian Cossacks until 2020, regional plans for its implementation, Cossack societies are actively involved in the preparation of pre-conscription youth, interact with military commissariats. Recently, pilot projects have been launched to create specialized Cossack territorial defense companies. At a high level, the participation of the Cossacks in ensuring public order during important international events has been evaluated: the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the World Cup 2018. Results. The need to expand the participation of the Cossacks in the military service of the Russian Federation by increasing the number of territorial defense companies, opening Cossack cadet corps, forming the role of the Cossacks as a guarantor of stabilization of interethnic relations of the South of Russia.

Putin's Olympics: The Sochi Games and the Evolution of Twenty-First Century Russia by Orttung Robert W. (review)

SEER, 98, 3, JULY 2020 592 could afford?) to have her text style-edited by a knowledgeable native speaker. To give just one example, Mikhail Shatrov’s influential 1986 play is called, in English, The Dictatorship of Conscience, not The Dictatorship of Consciousness (p. 184). Any chance of an improved second edition? The contents deserve it. University of Glasgow Martin Dewhirst Orttung, Robert W. and Zhemukhov, Sufian N. Putin’s Olympics: The Sochi Games and the Evolution of Twenty-First Century Russia. BASEES/ Routledge Series on Russian and East European Studies, 109. Routledge, London and New York, 2017. xiv + 135 pp. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. £115.00. In Putin’s Olympics, Robert Orttung and Sufian Zhemukhov analyse the bidding for, preparation for, and running of the Sochi Winter Games within the broader context of Russian domestic and foreign policy goals. In doing so, they argue that the Games ‘facilitated widespread corruption, the development of extensive security forces, and a crackdown on civil society’, which they consider ‘defining features of the Putin era’ (p. 1). The authors place their analysis of the Sochi Olympics within the growing body of literature on ‘mega events and mega-projects’ which they claim offers ‘a new conceptual path in the study of Russia politics’ (p. 2). Considered as part of Vladimir Putin’s overall preference for development through mega-projects, the Sochi Olympics, they assert, ‘promote[d] regime stability by providing a sense of national pride for the masses and a source of rent distribution for key elites whose support is crucial for the leadership to maintain the status quo’ (p. 32). The second and third chapters explore the contribution of the Sochi project to endemic corruption and repression of civil society in Russia. Cost overruns resulted in a price-tag of over 50 billion dollars which lined the pockets of Putin’s cronies and the scale of the project allowed powerful state and business authorities to use the games to ‘impose their developmental preferences on society with little oversight or accountability’ (p. 39). Citizens had their property seized without adequate compensation, public parks and forests were encroached upon without due environmental impact taken into account, and political opposition groups were largely silenced by anti-demonstration measures, anti-NGO laws, as well as laws banning ‘propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations’ to repress the LGBTQ community (p. 52). Chapter five considers how these measures influenced the international perception of the Sochi Games. Because of the Olympics’ global significance, members of the Circassian diaspora were able REVIEWS 593 to bring international attention to their historical and ongoing repression by Russian authorities and Russia’s anti-LGBTQ legislation spawned an international campaign to boycott the event. While a boycott and serious political demonstrations at the games were avoided, internal repression and external aggression marred Russia’s image internationally. The most significant contribution of the volume to understanding recent Russian politics lies in chapter four which analyses security at the games. According to the authors, the Sochi Olympics provided Putin’s regime with the military strength and coordination necessary to launch a successful annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine before the Olympic torch was extinguished. Seeking to draw an impenetrable cordon around Sochi to protect the region from terrorist attacks, Putin moved away from earlier soft-power efforts, resorting to a series of ‘anti-terrorism operations’ in the region, which caused the deaths of hundreds of insurgents, civilians, and Russian law enforcement officers. The operations prevented any terrorist attacks in Sochi during the games, despite the bombings in nearby Volgograd months before the Olympics. This militarization of Olympic security aided the authorities’ crackdown on dissent and provided an opportunity to showcase ‘the newest military technologies’ as ‘foreign orders for Russian weapons grew’ by $14 billion in the months after the games concluded (p. 74). The expansive security apparatus and centralized administration created for the games provided the perfect conditions for a successful military action as Olympstroi became Krymstroi and its head Dmitrii Kozak transferred his mega-project organizing skills to reintegrating Crimea into Russia. In their final assessment, Orttung and Zhemukhov conclude that the games mostly served to enrich Putin’s associates, increase regime stability, and provide...

Sports Victories as a Value Uniting Russians (Through the Example of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics)

Based on research performed by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center and the Russian Society of Sociologists, the mechanism for identifying Russian society under the influence of the victory of the Russian national team at the Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 is analyzed. An algorithm for identifying Russians under the influence of athletes’ successes in a stable sequence is described: from individual emotional reflection to gaining a united motivation toward improvement of the existing world order. An analysis of the secondary data of the sociological centers suggests that the influence of sports victories on the identification of Russians is neither episodic in nature, nor based on individual and collective emotions, but, on the contrary, is a kind of “building material” that strengthens the unity of the people. Every victory of Russian athletes in prestigious competitions is tied in the common historical memory of people to the past successes and achievements of the people. Thus, the successes of athletes contribute to the unity of all citizens of Russia.

Positioning at the Olympic Winter Games

PurposeSince the 1990s, the International Olympic Committee has offered nations more medal-winning opportunities at every Winter Games. Meanwhile, many countries are constrained by their limited financial resources to target sports strategically. The purpose of this paper is to examine the targeting approaches to Olympic Winter Sports of National Sports Agencies (NSAs), and to identify the factors they assess in the decision-making process.Design/methodology/approachThe data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 decision makers of medal-winning NSAs at the 2014 Sochi Games. The data were then analysed with reference to strategic management in an approach which combines a resource-based view (RBV) with a market-based view (MBV) to build a competitive advantage.FindingsThe results show that NSAs, like firms, combine an internal analysis that reflects the RBV on resources and capabilities (e.g. athletes’ performance per sport and sport-specific elite sport system), with an external analysis of the competitive environment that reflects an MBV (e.g. sport’s medal market size and intensity of competition at Games) to target sports. Using this information, two phases were distinguished: first, the target sports are identified and finance is prioritised accordingly; second, the allocation of the nation’s resources is constantly reviewed in order to optimise it.Research limitations/implicationsEven though social desirability bias in the responses could not be fully excluded, the findings can help policy-makers to distinguish between the internal and external factors identified in this study, and to make more strategic decisions by combining RBV and MBV approaches to build-up their nation’s competitive advantage.Originality/valueThis paper models the targeting strategies of NSAs during an Olympic cycle by introducing the competitive positioning of firms to sports management.

Putin's Olympics. The Sochi games and the evolution of twenty-first century Russia, by Robert W. Orttung and Sufian N. Zhemukhov, Abingdon, Routledge, 2016, xiv + 135 pp., $138 (hardback), ISBN-10: 0415823722

Putin's Olympics. The Sochi games and the evolution of twenty-first century Russia, by Robert W. Orttung and Sufian N. Zhemukhov, Abingdon, Routledge, 2016, xiv + 135 pp., $138 (hardback), ISBN-10: 0415823722

Book Reviews

Literature and Fine ArtsFusso, Susanne. Editing Turgenev, Dostoevsky, and Tolstoy: Mikhail Katkov and the Great Russian Novel.Rosenshield, Gary. Physical Pain and Justice: Greek Tragedy and the Russian Novel.Shevelenko, Irina. Modernizm kak arkhaizm: Natsionalizm i poiski modernistskoi estetiki v Rossii.Iliazd. Rapture. Translated by Thomas J. Kitson.Babel, Isaac. The Essential Fictions. Edited and translated by Val Vinokur.Proffer Teasley, Elendea. Brodsky among Us: A Memoir.Smola, Klavdia, and Dirk Uffelman, eds. Postcolonial Slavic Literatures after Communism.Ågren, Mattias. Phantoms of a Future Past: A Study of Contemporary Russian Anti‐Utopian Novels.Oukaderova, Lida. The Cinema of the Soviet Thaw: Space, Materiality, Movement.Guynn, William. Unspeakable Histories: Film and the Experience of Catastrophe.Strukov, Vlad. Contemporary Russian Cinema: Symbols of a New Era.Wolf, Erika. Aleksandr Zhitomirsky: Photomontage as a Weapon of World War II and the Cold War.Crone, Anna Lisa. Collected Writings, Vol. 1, Poetry.Crone, Anna Lisa. Collected Writings, Vol. 2, Rozanov and Philosophical Literature.Crone, Anna Lisa. Collected Writings, Vol. 3, Collaborations, Prose Studies, and Other Works.HistoryKollmann, Nancy Shields. The Russian Empire 1450–1801.Kivelson, Valerie A., and Ronald Grigory Suny. Russia's Empires.Plokhy, Serhii. Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation from 1470 to the Present.Coţofană, Alexandra, and James M. Nyce, eds. Religion and Magic in Socialist and Post‐Socialist Contexts I: Historic and Ethnographic Case Studies of Orthodoxy, Heterodoxy, and Alternative Spirituality.Magocsi, Paul Robert. Carpathian Rus': A Historical Atlas.Avrutin, Eugene M. The Velizh Affair: Blood Libel in a Russian TownKaplan, Vera. Historians and Historical Societies in the Public Life of Imperial Russia.Henderson, Robert. Vladimir Burtsev and the Struggle for a Free Russia: A Revolutionary in the Time of Tsarism and Bolshevism.Chernev, Borislav. Twilight of Empire. The Brest‐Litovsk Conference and the Remaking of East‐Central Europe, 1917–1918.Eisfeld, Alfred, Guido Hausmann, and Dietmar Neutatz, eds. Hungersnöte in Russland und in der Sowjetunion 1891–1947: Regionale, ethnische und konfessionelle Aspekte.Glebov, Sergey. From Empire to Eurasia: Politics, Scholarship, and Ideology in Russian Eurasianism, 1920s–1930s.Peri, Alexis. The War Within: Diaries from the Siege of Leningrad.Sloin, Andrew. The Jewish Revolution in Belorussia: Economy, Race, and Bolshevik Power.Shternshis, Anna. When Sonia Met Boris: An Oral History of Jewish Life under Stalin.Fürst, Juliane, and Josie McLellan, eds. Dropping Out of Socialism: The Creation of Alternative Spheres in the Soviet Bloc.Roberts, Graham H., ed. Material Culture in Russia and the USSR: Things, Values, Identities.Plokhy, Serhii, ed. The Future of the Past: New Perspectives on Ukrainian History.Weiss‐Wendt, Anton. The Soviet Union and the Gutting of the UN Genocide Convention.Besemeres, John. A Difficult Neighborhood: Essays on Russia and East‐Central Europe since World War II.Altayli. Enver. A Dark Path to Freedom: Ruzi Nazar, from the Red Army to the CIA. Translated by David Barchard.Keefer, Edward C. Harold Brown: Offsetting the Soviet Military Challenge, 1977–1981. Secretaries of Defense Historical Series, Vol. 9. Edited by Erin R. Mahan.Zhuk, Sergei I. Nikolai Bolkhovitinov and American Studies in the USSR: People's Diplomacy in the Cold War.Savranskaya, Svetlana, and Thomas Blanton. The Last Superpower Summits: Gorbachev, Reagan, and Bush Conversations that Ended the Cold War.Parks, Jenifer. The Olympic Games, the Soviet Sports Bureaucracy, and the Cold War: Red Sport, Red Tape.Congdon, Lee. Solzhenitsyn: The Historical‐Spiritual Destinies of Russia and the West.Christensen, Karin Hyldal. The Making of the New Martyrs of Russia: Soviet Repression in Orthodox Memory.Social Sciences, Contemporary Russia, and OtherKovalev, Andrei. Russia's Dead End: An Insider's Testimony from Gorbachev to Putin. Translated by Steven I. Levine.Reuter, Ora John. The Origins of Dominant Parties: Building Authoritarian Institutions in Post‐Soviet Russia.Altstadt, Audrey L. Frustrated Democracy in Post‐Soviet Azerbaijan.Samokhvalov, Vsevolod. Russian‐European Relations in the Balkans and Black Sea Region: Great Power Identity and the Idea of Europe.Krasheninnikova, Yulia. Informal Healthcare in Contemporary Russia: Sociographic Essays on the Post‐Soviet Infrastructure for Alternative Healing Practices.Gans‐Morse, Jordan. Property Rights in Post‐Soviet Russia: Violence, Corruption, and the Demand for Law.Orttung, Robert W., and Sufian N. Zhemukhov. Putin's Olympics: The Sochi Games and the Evolution of Twenty‐First Century Russia.

Пожарная безопасность спортивных сооружений: российские и международные нормы проектирования, инновационные решения в области пожарной безопасности

This work analyzes integrated security and safety problems for modern sports facilities as large places of assembly and multi-use objects. Different events (mostly sports, but modern stadium construction allows to transform them for concerts, performances, etc.) require people protection from possible danger. Also it’s necessary to remember that sports facilities are characterized by not only large assembly of people, but their behavior specialties as well. Statistics of fires at stadiums for recent years show tragedies in the grandstands, caused by events at playing field. All these specialties require complex development and detailed analysis of security and safety (including fire safety) for sports facilities at all stages of design, building and use. Comparative analysis of Russian and international rules and regulations in the field of fire safety for modern sports facilities is made in this work. Special attention is paid to documents prepared for World Championship 2018. Successful practical experience of safety and security arrangements for the XXVII Universiade in Kazan in 2013 and the XXII Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014 is regarded. This analysis shows that modern Russian rules and regulations don’t take into account fire safety requirements to the full extent at the stages of design, building, use, rebuilding and reconstruction of sports facilities. For such objects it’s necessary to develop Special Technical Regulations with different justifying calculations for requirements and parameters of fire protection systems. Also modern sports facility design and building require innovative technology application. Future lines of work for integrated security and safety of sports facilities are suggested in conclusion: § development of unified regulation in the field of fire safety; § improvement of fire risk assessment technique.

Using equations from power indices to analyze figure skating teams

Power indices were originally developed to measure voting power. However, Saari and Sieberg (Games Econ Behav 36:241–263, 2001) and Saari (Chaotic elections, American Mathematical Society, Providence, 2001a) have suggested that the equations from power indices could potentially be used in some sports contexts as a way of evaluating athletes. This article explores this idea in the context of figure skating. The International Skating Union developed team events in figure skating for the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia and for other major competitions. In this article, we show how the Shapley–Shubik and Banzhaf indices can be used to analyze contributions of athletes to their countries’ teams in figure skating team events. We illustrate this approach by analyzing the results from the 2014 Winter Olympic Games figure skating team event. We also discuss some ways in which the numbers assigned by the equations from power indices can be used in the figure skating context.

Ensemble Prediction with Different Spatial Resolutions for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games: The Effects of Calibration and Multimodel Approaches

Abstract Three ensemble prediction systems (EPSs) with different grid spacings are compared and evaluated with respect to their ability to predict wintertime weather in complex terrain. The experiment period was two-and-a-half winter months in 2014, coinciding with the Forecast and Research in the Olympic Sochi Testbed (FROST) project, which took place during the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia. The global, synoptic-scale ensemble system used is the IFS ENS from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), and its performance is compared with both the operational pan-European Grand Limited Area Ensemble Prediction System (GLAMEPS) at 11-km horizontal resolution and the experimental regional convection-permitting HIRLAM–ALADIN Regional Mesoscale Operational NWP in Europe (HARMONIE) EPS (HarmonEPS) at 2.5 km. Both GLAMEPS and HarmonEPS are multimodel systems, and it is seen that a large part of the skill in these systems comes from the multimodel approach, as long as all subensembles are performing reasonably. The number of members has less impact on the overall skill measurement. The relative importance of resolution and calibration is also assessed. Statistical calibration was applied and evaluated. In contrast to what is seen for the raw ensembles, the number of members, as well as the number of subensembles, is important for the calibrated ensembles. HarmonEPS shows greater potential than GLAMEPS for predicting wintertime weather, and also has an advantage after calibration.

Threshold event: Exploring a commercial sponsorship of LGBT rights during the Sochi games

This mixed methods study examines the 2014 Sochi Olympics as an exceptional time period in which the commercial culture shifted potentially forming a convergence of mainstream support behind LGBT r...

Событийный туризм: опыт вовлечения нематериального культурного наследия Республики Татарстан в сферу туризма

The article presents the analysis of the involvement of the intangible cultural heritage of the Republic of Tatarstan in tourism. Tremendous opportunities in this regard offer the organization of tourist events on the basis of cultural events. Event tourism is today one of the most rapidly developing types of tourism, whose turnover has grown to billions of dollars. The leading tourism regions of Russia, as well as the provinces demonstrate the growing number and attractiveness of tourism eventsfrom the Olympics Games in Sochi to the festival of folk crafts «Vyatskiy Lapot» in Kirov region. Vast expanses of Russia, the variety of natural landscapes, national and religious traditions of the population, rich history creating the preconditions for an infinite number of variants of transformation of cultural heritage in colorful tourism events.&#x0D; The Republic of Tatarstan, being one of the most economically and socially developed regions in Russia, shows in recent years high rates of the tourism industry development. Due to major sporting and cultural events a modern tourism infra- structure has been created here – transport, hotel, information, etc. Great attention is paid to the development of event tourism in the Republic, beginning with the ancient national holidays of peoples of Tatarstan, ending with «newborn» festivals of Medieval weapons in Ancient Bolgar and gastronomic festival «Delicious Kazan». Not coincidentally, Kazan became a leader among cities of Russia by reception of foreign tourists, taking in the winter of 2016 the third place after the two capitals. The article focuses on evenrelated activities that have a significant potential to become a powerful tourist attractors for the Republic of Tatarstan.&#x0D;

Bezeichnungen für Menschen mit Behinderungen in polnischen und tschechischen Presseberichten über die Paralympics 2014 in Soči. Terms denoting people with disabilities in Polish and Czech press reports about the Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014.

The present article deals with Polish and Czech terms that denote people with disabilities placing a particular focus on the structure of these terms and the frequency of their use in current language. The study is based on articles about the XI Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi published in the online issues of Polish and Czech newspapers from March 2014. The texts show a tendency to use alternate, euphemistic terms instead of the more established ones.

Volunteers Training for Audio Description Service within the Sochi 2014 Project as Exemplified by ctivity of the Russian State Social University olunteer Center: Research and Findings

Background/Objective: Paralympic Winter Games in Sochi 2014 presented a unique opportunity to use the world's leading experience in the integration of persons with disabilities into the productive life of Russian society through the implementation of a special program for volunteer training - Audio Description commentators for Games. The presented article is based on the practical experience of the Russian State Social University Volunteer Center, attracting volunteers in various events - projects and activities involving persons with disabilities and contains the research results of training Audio Description service volunteers in the framework of Sochi 2014 Project as exemplified by the Center activities. Methods: The paper presents new, modern technique of teaching Audio Description commentators-volunteers which is capable of giving an impetus to the development of a new aspect of social TV and radio. This technique allows acquiring the knowledge and practical experience of interaction with the target group at which Audio Description is aimed; revealing the Audio Description basic properties and principles; gaining practical interaction experience through direct Audio Description; acquiring and working out the skills and the ability to practically describe any kind of objects at Audio Description; simulating situations as close as possible to real commenting Olympic events. Findings: The article analyzes the results of empirical research of the personal characteristics of today's volunteers-Audio Description commentators, practical recommendations are given aimed at improving the efficiency of the selection process in volunteer practice that improves the quality of Audio Description service. Such an integrated approach in the training of volunteers-Audio Description commentators was used for the first time and demonstrated high performance. Application/ Improvements: The practical significance of the study lies in the fact that its conclusions and recommendations can be used in the course of professional psychological selection and psycho-pedagogical support of training, retraining and analysis of volunteers-Audio Description commentators' activities.

К вопросу о подготовке кадров туристской индустрии в региональных вузах

The issue of training in the tourism sector is one of the most priorities. Today tourism is the most promising, rapidly&#x0D; developing social, cultural, and leisure activities. The article describes tourist activities from the point of view of its&#x0D; staffing. The main purpose is to identify the peculiarities of professional education in the field of tourism, to define&#x0D; a circle of competences, which a specialist in this field should have. The specificity of the regions of our country&#x0D; requires more attention to the development of skills in the sphere of tourism. System of professional education in the&#x0D; sphere of tourism should be comprehensive, i. e. it should foresee professional integration of theory and practice,&#x0D; formation and correction of professional values, motivation, and quality and virtues of personality. Tourism development&#x0D; is one of the promising directions of optimization of cultural and social-economic growth of life of population&#x0D; of regions. The experience of the Olympic and Paralympics games in Sochi in 2014 shows that the organization&#x0D; of international sports events allows to implement projects and programs for the optimization and development of&#x0D; tourist potential. In this regard, most of the educational institutions of regions and cities aim at training highly&#x0D; qualified personnel not only in tourism, but also in related fields. Modern trends in the tourism sector must respond&#x0D; to prevailing needs, the education and training of specialists in the sphere of tourism. Training should be tailored to&#x0D; actual customers of present and future tourist market. Thus, the article aims to examine the specifics of formation&#x0D; of professional competencies of personnel of tourism sector, which are necessary for the future development of the&#x0D; tourism industry of our country and its separate regions.

The Sochi Winter Olympics and Russia’s unique soft power strategy

According to Joseph Nye, who coined the concept of ‘soft power’, Putin ‘failed to capitalize on the soft-power boost afforded to Russia by hosting the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi’ . With political volatility in the region throughout the year, Russia’s ensuing actions – culminating in the secession of Crimea – and its position over the armed conflict in Ukraine, certainly appear to bear this out. The Sochi Olympics were predominantly framed by the Western press as a Russian soft power quest and an attempt to obtain belated recognition as a great power. However, Sochi should be understood as a part of a wider package of ‘spatial governance’ undertaken by Putin’s regime. We argue that the Sochi mega-event is part of a wider soft power strategy – one which is not the same as, for example, the UK’s or Brazil’s use of such events. For Russia, international status means possessing both soft and hard power resources and being able to use them.

Fifteen minutes of fame long gone: Circassian activism before and after the Sochi Olympics

In this article we discuss the effects of the Sochi Olympics on the indigenous Circassian population in North Caucasus. The Circassian situation was paradoxical in the sense that whereas this indigenous group fiercely opposed the organization of the Winter Games in Sochi, the Games themselves denoted a rare opportunity for them to make their voices heard internationally. During the run-up to the Olympics, they all of a sudden had a global audience for their claims for recognition of their cause. This was quite simply their ‘fifteen minutes of fame’, a rare and short-lived period of celebrity and worldwide attention. The paper will look into whether the anti-Sochi activism helped to unite Circassians in the diaspora and abroad around common claims, and to what extent the Circassians managed to use media attention to make their cause more widely known by international society.