With the London 2012 Olympic Games fast approaching and Sochi 2014 less than two years away, the IOC Executive Board (EB) heard updates from both Games organisers about their respective editions of the Games. London 2012 (LOCOG) spoke about the good progress that it is making on the preparations for the Games, with the Olympic Park and Olympic Village both having been handed over to LOCOG by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). The work that LOCOG has been putting into the preparations was also underlined by Coordination Commission Chairman Denis Oswald. LOCOG pointed out the strong public support for the Games, which can be clearly seen through the interest in the recent sports events held in the future Olympic venues and the thousands of Games Makers that have been attending orientation and training in recent months. The EB members were pleased to hear that interest in the Games was growing not only in the UK, but also abroad thanks to a number of international activities undertaken by the London organisers. London 2012s International Inspiration programme, which aims to use sport as a positive force and is already improving the lives of 12 million young people in 20 countries around the world, was particularly well received. Sochi 2014 Sochi 2014 Organising Committee President and CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko gave a wide-ranging update on progress. The advances being made on the venues, with the ski jumping and sliding venues recently having had athletes begin to test the sites for the first time and the recent sports events taking place in the mountain cluster were of particular note. The positive response from athletes, officials and other participants in the first downhill ski event at Rosa Khutor, was underlined by Mr Chernyshenko - a sentiment echoed by IOC Coordination Commission Chairman for Sochi 2014 Jean-Claude Killy. In addition, the Sochi Games are also being brought to the whole of Russia, through a myriad of activities, including the ongoing volunteer programme and the Cultural Olympiad. Thousands of would-be volunteers from across the country have already signed up to be part of the Games as recruitment continues, and with 800 events held last year across Russia, as part of the Cultural Olympiad programme, Sochi 2014 is truly a Games for the whole of Russia. Rio 2016 & PyeongChang 2018 With no Coordination Commission visit since the last Executive Board, reports were made on Rio 2016 and PyeongChang 2018 by their Coordination Commission Chairs - Nawal El Moutawakel and Gunilla Lindberg respectively. Mrs El Moutawakel reported back on the recent project review visit to Rio, where the group had the opportunity to meet with Brazilian President Rousseff and also to attend the announcement of the designer for the future Olympic golf course. Mrs Lindberg provided a short report ahead of the first full visit of the 2018 Commission to PyeongChang next week.
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