On February 3, the Rosa Khutor ski resort saw the opening of the exhibition “The History of the Olympic Winter Games as Reflected in Artifacts: Highlights from the Vladimir Potanin Collection”, hosted by the cultural and ethnographic centre “My Russia”.
The opening ceremony was attended by Mayor of Sochi Alexey Kopaygorodskiy, Rector of the Russian International Olympic University (RIOU) Lev Belousov, Rosa Khutor General Director Alexander Belokobylskiy, Olympic ice hockey champion and General Director of the Night Hockey League Alexey Kasatonov, Olympic ice hockey champion and member of the Legends Council of the Night Hockey League Vladimir Myshkin, and Deputy Chair of the State Duma’s Committee on Tourism Infrastructure Development Sergey Krivonosov.
Welcome addresses to the exhibition organisers were sent by First Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma, Chairman of the RIOU Supervisory Board Alexander Zhukov, President of the Russian Olympic Committee Stanislav Pozdnyakov, and Executive Director of the Russian Olympians Foundation Alexander Katushev.
The exhibition celebrates the opening of the Beijing 2022 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, as well as commemorating the 8th anniversary of the Sochi 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Games. It features items from the collection of Olympic artifacts owned by Vladimir Potanin, a philanthropist and the founder of the Interros company. Visitors can see over 100 unique objects: winner’s and participation medals and other memorabilia from all Winter Olympics, beginning from the inaugural Games held in Chamonix, France in 1924.
The Vladimir Potanin Collection is managed by the Russian International Olympic University. Speaking at the opening ceremony, RIOU Rector Lev Belousov said: “RIOU continues to implement its mission to promote Vladimir Potanin’s Olympic Collection. For the first time, the exhibition spans all the Winter Games starting from Chamonix 1924. The history of the displayed objects reflects the path that humanity has travelled over nearly a century, with all its dramatic upheavals, crises and achievements. Each item is associated with the lives of the main heroes of the Olympic Games – the athletes, including those who represented our country and forged the glory of Russian sport. We find it especially important to show the collection to the young people. The Sochi City Administration, Interros and Rosa Khutor joined their efforts to organise special exhibition tours for Sochi’s high school students. The collection is also being currently displayed at a photo exhibition in Beijing, and video materials about the collection are being shown all over China.”
The choice of Rosa Khutor as the venue for the display was not accidental. During Sochi 2014, this resort hosted 30 different competitions in 15 events (alpine skiing, snowboarding, freestyle), which accounts for nearly one third of all sets of medals contested (98), as well as hosting 32 out of 76 Paralympic events. For the first time in Olympic history, all alpine ski, freestyle and snowboard competitions were held at the same venue.
The exhibition “The History of the Olympic Winter Games as Reflected in Artifacts: Highlights from the Vladimir Potanin Collection” will run until 31 March 2022.
