Sustainable Future Olympic Events

This assignment analyzes the key challenges and opportunities facing future Olympic events, emphasizing the importance of sustainability. It explores topics like stakeholder concerns (e.g., Circassians, transgender athletes), doping prevention, and the need for venues free from controversy. The paper concludes with actionable recommendations for organizers to create more ethical, inclusive, and environmentally responsible Olympic Games.

Running head: EVENT MANAGEMENT OF OLYMPIC 2014
Event Management of Olympic 2014
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Table of Contents
The analysis of event life cycle stages:............................................................................................3
The Formation stage of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics:...............................................................3
The growth stage of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics:.....................................................................3
Selection of venues:.................................................................................................................4
Marketing of the events:..........................................................................................................4
Infrastructure building:............................................................................................................5
The staging of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics:..............................................................................5
Recommendations:..........................................................................................................................6
References:......................................................................................................................................8

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The analysis of event life cycle stages:
The following section delves into the event life cycle stages of 2014 Winter Olympic
Games held in Sochi, Russia. The Olympic Games held in Russia is often considered as the most
expensive Olympic event in the history(International Olympic Committee. 2017). The life cycle
of the event can be analysed into three distinct stages, which are as follows:
The Formation stage of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics:
The formation stage of the Olympic Games 2014 started in 2007 when the International
Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Sochi, Russia as the next Olympic venue over Salzburg,
Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea. This next stage in the formation of the event consisted
of allocating funds to the international event. The government is estimated to have allocated
USD 49.5 billion towards the event. An analysis of an event of this scale shows that forming of
infrastructure is very crucial to successful execution of the event. It is estimated that out of $
49.5 billion only $10.8 billion was used towards the main event while the rest of the amount was
spent to make infrastructure and other facilities(Scott 2015). This winning of the bidding of
Russia and the subsequent allocation of funds towards the Olympic Games 2014 led to the next
stage of the event, the growth stage. This stage is primarily building of infrastructures and
various initiatives by the government of Russia to promote the Olympics 2014(Müller 2014)
The growth stage of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics:
The growth stage of the Olympic Games 2014 can be broadly be analysed into three
stages namely, selection of venue, marketing of the event and construction of infrastructure. The
three stages are analysed as under:

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Selection of venues:
The venues selected were Sochi Olympic Park and the Krasnaya Polyana(Mountain
cluster). The authorities first studied the climatic conditions of the various Russian places and
selected Sochi due to its favourable climatic conditions. The authorities declared the smoking
illegal in the region to maintain healthy environment required for the Olympic Games. They
constructed several arenas in each venue dedicated to various events like ceremonies, ice hockey
and figure skating. The authorities also arranged for the spectators to stay in the venues and
watch the matches(BBC News. 2017).
Marketing of the events:
Logo and Branding:
The Russian authorities launched the emblem of the Olympic 2014 in the year 2009. The
emblem was minimalistic and futuristic and had ‘Sochi’ and ‘2014’ facing each other. An
analysis of this decision of the authorities shows that it represented the diversity of the relief of
Sochi. The emblem was criticisms from the critics unrealistic and claimed that it should have had
more symbols reflecting Russia’s national identity. The authorities then held a voting to select
the official emblem of the games(Schmitt 2014).
Mascot:
The authorities held a voting for the first time in the history of Olympics to choose the
mascots. The mascots were a polar bear, a snow hare and a snow leopard. They were chosen
using online voting and text messaging by the Russian people.
Stamps and Coins:

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The Russian Post released postage stamps showing athletes, the three mascots and
venues of the event. The Bank of Russia issued special coins and ruble notes of denomination
100 to market the event from their office.
Sponsors:
A large number of multinational companies like Coca Cola Company and Mc Donalds
sponsored the Olympics 2014. The sponsoring companies were from diverse sectors like
Microsoft and Pricewater Coopers Private Limited. These large numbers of sponsors ensured
that international class resources and technology supplied the event(Gee, Jackson and Sam
2016).
Infrastructure building:
The authorities spent US $ 850 million to construct telecommunication network and
entered into contract with Avaya. The telecommunication structure was constructed to provide
information about the events. The important government departments like Russian Ministry of
Energy and the Ministry of Regional Development met to decide on construction of necessary
infrastructure for the event. The authorities built infrastructure like roads, bridges and railway
stations to ensure easy transport of people and materials to the venues of the games(Phillips
2015).
The staging of the Sochi’s Winter Olympics:
The next stage of the event of the Olympic Games 2014 was its opening on February 7,
2014 at the Fisht Olympic Stadium. The opening ceremony showcased the culture of Russia, its
history, the Russian Revolution and the history of the Soviet Union. The event was managed
efficiently by the authorities and was attended by eighty-eight nations. The management and
security of the staging of the event was taken care of by the Russian army and police. An

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analysis of the staging of the games shows that though it was managed excellently by the
authorities it received threats from several radical groups like the Chechen Muslims and Vilayat
Dagestan. Several Olympic authorities received threats from radical groups to assassinate
athletes and officials. These threats created a serious threats to the interest of the stakeholders of
the event like the organisers, spectators, governments of the countries involved, suppliers,
sponsoring companies and athletes. There were also concerns raised by stakeholders like the
LGBT communities over ill treatment of the transsexual athletes. The third stakeholders’ concern
raised while staging the event was protests from the Circassian organisations who objected that
the games were being held on their lands. The fourth stakeholder issue was raised by a former
director of anti doping authority of Russia who claimed that Russian Olympic organisers had
allowed their athletes to use banned drugs to ensure their high performances(Ingle 2017).
Recommendations:
The above study raises several stakeholder concerns concerning several groups of
stakeholders like spectators, governments, organisers, suppliers and athletes participating in
the Olympics 2014. The first issue was security threats from the terrorist groups, the second
issue was protests from Circassians, the third concern was breach of LGBT rights and the
fourth concern was using of banned drugs by Russian athletes to improve their
performances. The following are the recommendations regarding future developments of event
destination of the Olympic Games:
1. The countries participating in the Olympic Games should form a special force to deal
with terrorist threats. The special force should be composed of defence personnel from all
the participating countries. This arrangement would make the international sports events

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more secure and sustainable by inviting greater number of countries, athletes and
sponsoring companies participating in them.
2. The future Olympic events should be held in venues free from issues from stakeholders
like Circassians. This would not hamper the interest of any community and the event
would be free from any such controversies. This step would make Olympic events more
sustainable by drawing participation and cooperation from larger number of
communities.
3. It is recommended that the Olympic organisers should frame laws to protect the interests
of the transgender athletes who are one of the stakeholders for the event. The transgender
athletes who participate in the Olympic event should feel secure and this would
encourage them to perform well in the event. This would make the future sports events
more sustainable and benefit all the athletes irrespective of their gender orientations.
4. The fourth recommendation to the organisers of the future Olympic events is that they
should abstain from allowing their athletes from using banned drugs to perform at the
event. This would safeguard ethics and morality of the international sports events like
Olympic.

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References:
BBC News. 2017. Sochi 2014: Olympic venue guide. [online] Available at:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25946582 [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017].
Gee, S., Jackson, S.J. and Sam, M., 2016. Carnivalesque culture and alcohol promotion and
consumption at an annual international sports event in New Zealand. International Review for
the Sociology of Sport, 51(3), pp.265-283.
Ingle, S. 2017. Anti-doping agencies call on IOC to ban Russia from 2018 Winter Olympics.
[online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/sep/14/anti-
doping-agencies-tell-ioc-ban-russia-2018-winter-olympics [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017].
International Olympic Committee. 2017. Sochi Olympics - 2014 Winter Games in Russia results
& videos. [online] Available at: https://www.olympic.org/sochi-2014 [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017].
Müller, M., 2014. After Sochi 2014: costs and impacts of Russia’s Olympic Games. Eurasian
geography and economics, 55(6), pp.628-655.
Phillips, M.K., 2015. Building Up Infrastructure. CFA Institute Magazine, 26(6).
Robbins, J., Hunter, L. and Murray, G.R., 2013. Voters versus terrorists: Analyzing the effect of
terrorist events on voter turnout. Journal of Peace Research, 50(4), pp.495-508.
Schmitt, M., 2014. Nation Branding in Result of a Crisis: An Analysis of the Beijing and London
Summer Olympics (Doctoral dissertation, Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville).
Scott, K.G., 2015. The Impact of Hosting the Summer Olympic Games on Economic Growth in
Developing Countries: A Case Study of the 2008 Beijing Games (Doctoral dissertation, The
University of Mississippi).
Stampnews.com. (2017). Cite a Website - Cite This For Me. [online] Available at:
http://www.stampnews.com/tags/sochi-2014-winter-olympics-stamps [Accessed 19 Sep. 2017].

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