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Putin Lobbies Sochi Olympics
Russian President Vladimir Putin met IAAF President Lamine Diack in Moscow November 27, 2006 to make him promise to take pains for turning Sochi into the host-city of Olympics 2014.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin met President of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Lamine Diack in the Kremlin’s Representative Office Monday. The whole appearance of Putin pointed to determination to win the support of this influential official of the International Olympic Committee for holding Olympics 2014 exactly in Sochi.
Putin looked very pleased yesterday, always smiling happy smiles and even laughing when looking at Lamine Diack. Russia’s president clearly did his best to please the top-rank bureaucrat, who stands for all Africa in the IOC. It looked as if Putin really believed that his most incredible hope – having Sochi as the host-city for Olympics – could materialize.
“You know our ambitions… the sound ambitions,” Putin proceeded to action. “We would like to have Sochi the capital of Winter Olympics in 2014…”
Moscow has a very good chance of hosting the world athletics championships, the president of the IAAF told Russia’s president in an attempt to skip the Olympic subject, to no avail though.
In the end, Lamine Diack came up with the forced promise to help Russia in its Olympic undertaking, even though he specified that he was no expert in winter sports.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Nov. 28, 2006
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