  One year countdown to Sochi 2014 Olympics starts February 7, 2013 - 13:27 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Russia kicked off celebrations marking one year until the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics on Thursday, Feb 7 by setting off special countdown clocks all over the country, RIA Novosti reported. In Moscow, just off the capital's iconic Red Square, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin was joined by Olympic champions Svetlana Zhurova and Ivan Ukhov to set the clock running from 365 days. Similar scenes could be witnessed in St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Pyatigorsk and Khabarovsk. Attention will turn to the Black Sea resort itself in the evening, when International Olympic Committee chief Jacques Rogge is to issue official Games invitations to the national Olympic committees of Canada, Brazil, South Korea and Russia. The Bolshoi Ice Dome will then host an ice show spectacular that will illustrate Sochi's transformation since the city was awarded the Games in 2007. The show is to feature 300 artists including Olympic champion figure skaters Alexei Yagudin, Tatiana Navka and Roman Kostomarov. A fireworks demonstration rounds off the night. Partner news  Top stories “I do not need to continue my boxing career, and I can finish it right now. Athletes should be treated fairly,” Abraham stated. Armenian swimmers are training for Barcelona-hosted 2013 World Swimming Championships due in July 19-August 4. Moreno: many people felt that Susi was one of the best female fighters and I’m on a mission to earn that reputation for myself. According to Ruben Hayrapetyan, Armenian squad was punished for overestimating their abilities ahead of the game.   Partner news |  Latest news Venezuelan leading university attacked, buses torches  The fire from the second vehicle burned for more than a half-hour and damaged the building, plus important works of art.LinkedIn suffers outage due to ‘DNS issue’ "We determined it was a DNS issue, we're continuing to work on it. Thanks for your patience,” the network tweeted."The Sopranos" star James Gandolfini dies at 51 "We're all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family," the network said.UN chief hails China's peacekeeping efforts Ban said China has provided more peacekeepers than all the other four permanent members of the UN Security Council. |
