The 2014 XXII Olympic Winter Games, or the 22nd Winter Olympics, were celebrated in Sochi, Russia from February 7 to 23, 2014. Athletes competed in 98 events across 15 winter sports.
Sochi was selected as the host city on 4 July 2007 during the 119th IOC Session in Guatemala City, defeating bids from Salzburg, Austria and Pyeongchang, South Korea. The Sochi Olympics are the first Olympics for the Russian Federation, as the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow were in the Soviet Union.
With more than $50 billion dollars spent on preparation for the Games, Sochi built new buildings and sporting venues, with a focus on modernizing telecommunications, power, and transport infrastructure of the city. This included the construction of a new Olympic Park by the Black Sea coast in the Imeretin Valley, with venues clustered around the central area.
