SPORTS
Khabarovsk First to Start Sochi Olympics Countdown
Baku, February 7 (AZERTAC). The first clock for the countdown to the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics started working in the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk on February 7 - a year before the start of the Games.
On this day the clock launch ceremonies are to be held in eight federal districts of Russia.
The clock of the famous Swiss brand Omega, partner of the IOC, was installed near Platinum Arena in Khabarovsk. It is 4.15 meters high and weighing three tons. The clock was launched by young Khabarovsk sportsmen on the morning of February 7.
The solemn ceremony was attended by Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and presidential plenipotentiary envoy in the Far Eastern Federal District Viktor Ishayev and Khabarovsk Krai Governor Vyacheslav Shport.
Later on February 7 similar clocks will be started in seven more administrative centers of Russian federal districts: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Pyatigorsk.