Sochi 2014 Olympic Legacy: Social and Economic Environment

The report presents the findings of a study of economic, social and humanitarian aspects of the Sochi 2014 Games legacy conducted by a joint working group comprising representatives of the RIOU and the Sochi city administration. It looks at the international dimension of the Olympic legacy, measured indicators, changes in the host city’s educational landscape resulting from the Games, grassroots sport development, creation of the post-Games social infrastructure, improvements in public health and social policy, expanded communications system, awareness-raising programs, and volunteering. Special attention is given to such economic aspects as raising the host city’s investment attractiveness, trends in basic economic indicators, including the Games effect, budgetary impact and creation of new financial tools. The full text of the study is published in Russia in the form of monograph.

Comprehensive legacy monitoring, permanently performed by the RIOU includes:

• Environmental indicators (public water supply, quality of water and air, transport networks, traffic congestion, the greenhouse effect, outdoor public recreation areas, operation of Olympic and Paralympic venues);
• Social-and-cultural indicators (physical activity and sport at schools, regulatory work, sports media, elite athletes, sports facilities, inequality, discrimination, racism, violence in sport, political involvement in the Games` organization, spectators, volunteers, host city’s media image, accessibility of venues and community services);
• Economic indicators (employment by type of economic activity, company size, public transport, wages, organization of international events, consumer price index, hotel price index, real estate market, direct foreign investment, employment opportunities for people with disabilities, entertainment industry).

The socio-economic study conducted by RIOU led to the following conclusions:

• Sochi ensures Russia’s integration into the international sports movement (Sochi 2014 Games, Formula 1 Russian Grand Prix, Confederations Cup, FIFA 2018 World Cup);
• Sochi has been transformed from a regional summer resort into a multi-purpose all-season world-class centre for sport, business, culture and tourism;
• Sochi benefits the updated infrastructure: not only the Olympic sports venues but also rail and road networks, an international airport, modernized engineering infrastructure, gas pipelines, sewage treatment facilities, state-of-the-art hotels, improved coastline;
• Sochi community network was modernized in terms of the humanitarian aspects – educational, cultural and sporting facilities;
• Sochi shows the best practice in changing attitudes towards people with disabilities;
• Sochi is a key driver of the volunteer movement in Russia;
• Both Sochi and the Krasnodar Region increased investment attractiveness (2017 investment forum - 7.6 billion roubles – total sum of signed contracts);
• Sochi shows an increase of 2.4 times new jobs for the period of 2007-2017.
• There is no doubt that these areas of the 2014 Games legacy require further fundamental and applied research, which means there is an acute need for highly-qualified specialists and research centers, such as RIOU, to implement these studies.