Lessons on Olympic and Paralympic values and the history of Olympic Mascots were today held in schools across the Russia to mark the start of the Sochi 2014 Mascot competition.

As part of the competition, school children across the country were given the chance to design mascots for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi during their lessons. They were also taught about the mascots which were the symbols of the previous Winter Games in Vancouver, Turin and Salt Lake City.

The school children were joined by several high profile figures from within the Olympic Movement as they learnt about the history of Olympic Mascots. This included Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee; Michael Terentiev, General Secretary of the Russian Paralympic Committee and seven-time Paralympic medalist, Sochi 2014 Ambassadors - Maksim Shabalin, figure skating World Champion and bronze medalist from the Vancouver Olympics and Aleksey Voyevoda, a bobsledder who has won two Olympic medals (bronze in Vancouver and silver in Turin); as well as successful athletes from the Russian Youth Team who have recently returned from the Singapore Youth Games.

After taking the Olympic lesson in one of the Moscow schools, Dmitry Chernyshenko, President and CEO of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee said:

"The mascot competition for the Sochi Games has now opened all over Russia. Not only should the mascot represent the national and cultural characteristics of Sochi and our country, but it should also become a well-loved character for millions of children around the world. After all, for many of them, their knowledge of our country will stem from the mascots of the Sochi 2014 Games.

“We have made an unprecedented decision - to involve everyone in the design of the Olympic Mascot, so that as organizers of the Games can ensure that every voice is heard.”