Abramovich backs Sochi bid

Roman Abramovich is among the Russian business heavyweights putting their financial muscle behind the city of Sochi's bid to host the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in the mountains by the Black Sea in south-western Russia.

The Chelsea owner has joined other well-known figures of the Russian private sector in committing to invest in staging the country's first Winter Olympics.

Two other cities are bidding for the 2014 Games - Pyeongchang in South Korea and Salzburg in Austria.

Sochi 2014 chief executive Dmitry Chernyshenko said about 65% of the £6billion budget for Sochi's plan to host the Games is being guaranteed by the Russian government.

Most of that money has been earmarked for upgrading transportation, power supply and other infrastructure in the area.

The remaining 35% would be covered by the private sector. Among the entrepreneurs pledging their support is Oleg Deripaska, whose company Base Element controls much of Russia's aluminium capacity, and who owns the hotel in Sochi where members of the IOC's evaluation committee will stay when they visit the area in February.

Chernyshenko added that the Sochi 2014 bidding effort - budgeted at over £15 million - has drawn inspiration from London's successful bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

"The London bid was like a prototype of our strategy," he said.

Like London, Sochi puts a major emphasis in its bid on the legacy it expects to leave behind after hosting the Games.

Sochi plans to develop 11 brand-new venues for the Games, the largest number ever built for the Winter Olympics.