At the General Assembly of the European Olympic Committees (EOC), held in Istanbul, Georgia's initiative to move the capital of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games from the Russian city of Sochi was discussed. As EOC President Patrick Hickey stated, the request of the Georgian authorities is purely political in nature, and the committee is a sports organization that is not inclined to interfere in relations between countries.

Addressing the EOC, the Georgian side insisted that the conditions for holding the 2014 Winter Olympics would not be extremely dangerous. “The city of Sochi, despite all its attractions, is located near one of the most explosive hot spots on the European continent - Abkhazia,” stated the Georgian National Olympic Committee. According to the NOC, the geographical proximity of Olympic venues to the territory where hostilities recently took place can be dangerous for both athletes and spectators.

Meanwhile, the head of the Sochi 2014 organizing committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, hastened to reassure those present who feared the impact of the global financial crisis on the completion of construction of sports facilities on time. “The Olympics in Sochi is truly a priority task for the country at the present time. All investment costs have already been approved by the government of the Russian Federation. Russia is a financially strong country, there is no risk of failure of the project,” he assured.

Summing up the discussions, EOC head Patrick Hickey noted that the committee was satisfied with the guarantees provided by Russia, and, despite “great respect for Georgia,” the proposal submitted for consideration was rejected.

Georgia's request to move the capital of the 2014 Olympic Games was denied