Ten things you must know about the Sochi Games

Zee Media Bureau

Sochi: The opening ceremony of the 22nd Winter Games is just round the corner. Here are some facts, you must know before the onset of the Games at Sochi. 1. The 22nd Winter Olympics, being hosted by Russia, at an estimated cost of £31 billion, will be the most expensive Winter Olympics ever. 2. Mascots for the Games are a polar bear, hare and leopard. 3. The opening ceremony will held at the Fisht Olympic Stadium. 4. The official slogan for the Games is “Hot. Cool. Yours.” 5. 88 nations will be represented at the Winter Olympics. India has been excluded from participation and three Indians are participating as individual contestants. 6. Sochi sprawls around 90 miles along the shores of the Black Sea and is the warmest city ever to host the Winter Olympics. 7.The epic torch relay for Sochi 2014 had 14,000 torch bearers and it also went into space via the International Space Station. 8. Twelve events will debut at Sochi 2014, including women’s ski-jumping and a mixed figure-skating team event. 9. Russian Olympic officials saved and stored 710,000 cubic meters of snow last season, to use for the Sochi Olympic Games. 10. 6,000 Olympic athletes and team members are hosted in Sochi for the Olympic Winter Games.