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The Russian city of Sochi was named host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games, winning the bid from S. Korea’s Pyeongchang in the final voting round held in Guatemala City on Thursday.

Sochi, a resort located on the Black Sea, received 51 votes from the International Olympic Committee against 47 votes for Pyeongchang. The two cities got to the final round after Salzburg, Austria received the least votes in the prior round and were eliminated from the competition.

After announcing the winner, the contract for Russia hosting the 2014 Games was signed by IOC president Jacques Rogge, IOC President of Russia’s Olympic Committee Leonid Tyagachyov, Sochi Mayor Viktor Kolobyazhny and Krasnodar region’s Governor Alexander Tkachyov.
“Russia’s President assured that all projects in preparation for the 2014 Olympic Games will be implemented fully, at a stated time and in tight cooperation with the International Olympic Committee,” Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Alexey Gromov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

Sochi will become the first Russian city to ever host the Winter Olympic Games. In 1980, the city of Moscow hosted the Summer Olympic Games.

Meanwhile, a recent poll by Russia’s Public Opinion Fund revealed that the majority of Russians have a positive attitude towards the idea of hosting the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, the fund’s site www.fom.ru said.

The survey, conducted by the fund among 1,500 respondents in 100 of the country’s cities and towns late June, showed that 73 percent of those surveyed support the idea, while 19 percent said they are indifferent and only 4 percent have a negative attitude.

According to the poll results, those who have a positive attitude toward Sochi hosting the Games mentioned that the Games will help increase Russia’s prestige in the world, boost economic growth in Sochi, develop tourism and create more jobs. Interestingly, only 9 percent of those polled think that the Games will bring an impulse for developing sports in Russia.

Those who oppose the idea mostly list such reasons as huge expenses, saying there are other spheres worth investing in, the poll showed.

As of late June, the majority of the poll’s respondents, 63 percent, were sure that Sochi would win the bid, quite different from a similar poll held half a year ago, when only 45 percent showed such assurance.