OLYMPICS. The Laura Skiing and Biathlon Complex is ready to receive the Olympic Games. Tracks and infrastructure are built, and test competitions have already taken place there. During the Sochi-2014 Games, 23 out of 96 sets of medals will be fought for here. The Voice of Russia radio correspondent Sofia Gordiyevskaya has risen to a height of more than a thousand meters above the sea level and saw one of the most complex Olympic tracks.

Photo: RIA Novosti

This autumn, Krasnaya Polyana Mountains are eloquent of the fact that the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi will be the most unusual ones. And the unique Skiing and Biathlon Complex Laura is a vivid confirmation of this. The weather is warm and everything is green at the landing field of the aerial railway; 40 minutes of climbing - and a real winter begins: snowy peaks, cool fresh air. It is here that four months later the Olympic competitions in ski races and biathlon will start. Today, almost everything is ready for the Olympics, head of the Complex from the Sochi – 2014 Organizing Committee Andrei Markov says not without pride.

"Every facility is designed for seven and a half thousand spectators. Each day, depending on the schedule, competitions in ski races and biathlon will be held here simultaneously; the facility will be completely full out with work from the beginning to the end of the Olympic Games. Almost 25 percent of Olympic awards will be fought for here."

Experts have already called the Laura tracks the most difficult in the world. Test tournaments and training weeks have already been held here. Athletes have noted that it would not be an easy task to win here. Honored Master of Sport in biathlon Ivan Tcherezov has for the first time tested the Olympic track this year. The experiences are most unusual, he says.

"As for the track, you know, it was interesting to make a try. I was here for the first time; everybody says that the track is very difficult, and it is really so. The slopes are dangerous, there is no possibility to outrun on the descent, and the climbs are also very complex. Rather steep and long."

Laura’s uniqueness also lies in the fact that the sports infrastructure here is designed so that the Complex can operate all-year-round. In winter, sportsmen will ski on snowy tracks, and in summer - on asphalt wearing special roller skis.

In September, the Championship and the Cup of Russia in biathlon took place in Sochi. Athletes from all over the country came to participate in it. Among them was Master of Sports of International Class, biathlete Andrey Makoveev.

"We have arrived early and spent three training weeks here. In principle, we got used to it. We were sliding down the slopes. It is even harder to do it on rollers... they are more fast-moving."

After the Olympic Games, the ski stadium in the Laura complex will be disassembled. Skiing runs for tourists and the biathlon complex will remain here, where trainings of the national team and competitions, including international ones, will take place in the future.

Sofia Gordiyevskaya
Radio The Voice of Russia

Read more at: voiceofrussia.com

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