The rough first few days of the Vancouver Olympics provided the best lesson of all for those organizing the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia: have a plan B and be ready to act on it.
Dmitry Chernyshenko, the chief executive officer of the Sochi Organizing Committee, made that observation Sunday, saying he was impressed at how swiftly the Vancouver Organizing Committee acted when trouble spots broke out.
“It’s too early to say about any conclusions we’ve reached, but I will share with you my first impression,” he said. “The first lessons learned is that the early advanced planning, especially for the first three days of the Games, was crucial. I will tell you I am impressed with how fast and efficiently the Games officials acted with all the unexpected challenges they faced.”
A keen student of international relations, Chernyshenko is too polite to offer criticisms of where Vanoc might have gone wrong or what mistakes it made that he’s not going to repeat when it comes time for Russia to welcome the world.
But he said the 150 members of his organization who have been folded into Vanoc as part of an observation and knowledge transfer program, are absorbing every detail they can about how the Canadians are handling the Games.
“I can tell you we came here not for an excursion, not to just look around and see what to do,” he said. “We came here with a conclusion, and we are using this to check everything. We have about 7,000 items on our checklist.”
Vancouver has become something of a paradox for the Russians. They are learning a lot about how to put on a Winter Olympics. But the Russian athletes themselves have failed to do well here and they have suffered a number of embarrassments, Evgeni Plushenko’s silver-medal figure skating performance being the most noted.
Chernyshenko said he can’t do anything about Russia’s underwhelming performance in Vancouver, where as of Sunday afternoon it had two gold, three silver and two bronze medals, lagging behind other traditional powerhouses. But he said he expects Russia will do better on home turf.
“Thank God I’m not involved in that,” he said. “There is big pressure on us because expectations are very high. Russia is used to being the No. 1 nation, especially in winter sports.”
Russia’s $7-billion Olympic construction plan vastly outstrips Vancouver’s $580 million; it is building everything from scratch, from the ice venues in the Black Sea resort and port at the foot of the Krasnaya Polyana mountains to the ski resorts and venues in the mountains 47 kilometres away. Russia is also spending upwards of $30 billion on other non-Olympic construction and improvements, including renovating the Moscow-Sochi rail line.
Vanoc will officially debrief its Russian counterparts in Sochi in June.
But for now there’s much to learn and be impressed about, Chernyshenko said. Vanoc’s transportation system, the operation of venues and even the Vancouver fan experience downtown are all to be admired, he said.
Chernyshenko’s group is also getting a surprising first-hand look at fan experience at Sochi World Russky Dom, the temporarily remade Science World on False Creek. While Chernyshenko was talking to reporters on a sunny Sunday morning, thousands of spectators patiently lined up outside waiting for the facility to open.
Every day more than 7,000 people pass through the dome’s exhibits, store and restaurant, and at night the place hums as a party zone. That atmosphere is important for the Olympics, Chernyshenko said.
Russia, which has no developed winter resort system, may build the best Olympic venues in the world. But without the spectator atmosphere like the one he sees in Vancouver, Sochi would fail, he said. “You can be brilliant with your stuff and have perfect venues, but without atmosphere, without hospitality it will be difficult.”
Chernyshenko said his entire Russian staff spends half its day at the dome and the other half shadowing Vanoc’s observer team. Even the people serving the strong, dark espresso coffee in the restaurant are part of the observer team, he said.
One of the biggest challenges for Russia is to develop the volunteers it needs. Unlike in Vancouver, Russia does not have as strong a volunteer background.