New Delhi: The Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi will host the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Sochi's bid won the International Olympic Committee (IOC) vote defeating Pyeongchang of South Korea and Salzburg (Austria). Pyeongchang got just four votes less than Sochi in the results announced in Guatemala City on Thursday.
The city's bidding budget of $10.7 billion is the largest ever in the Games history.
It will be the first time Russia will host the Winter Olympic Games, although it has hosted the Summer Games in 1980 with Moscow being the host city.
The Games will run from February 7 to 23.
Russian President Vladimir Putin had taken personal interest and the government had extended its full support to Sochi's bid.
French IOC member and former ski champion Jean-Claude Killy said that Putin''s charisma was the main reason behind Sochi's win.
"Putin being here was very important," Killy said. "He worked very hard at it. He was nice. He spoke French. He never speaks French. He spoke English. He never speaks English. The Putin charisma can explain four votes."
While Salzburg failed to get past Round One, Pyeongchang was the leader at that stage with 36 votes, followed by Sochi (34) and Salzburg (25).
However, the Russian city picked up 17 votes in the second round to win the right to host the 2014 Games.
The Russian delegation also credited Putin for the win.
"The 'captain' (Putin) of our team today raised our team to a completely different level," Russian sports chief Vyacheslav Fetisov said.
However, Putin had left Guatemala by the time the result was announced but called IOC president Jacques Rogge from his plane when he heard the news.
Putin expressed his "deep gratitude" and confirmed Russia will complete all the Olympic projects "in due time and budget," Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov said.
Russia, an Olympic power which has won 293 Winter Games medals, has never hosted the Winter Games.
That was a strong point in Sochi's favour with the IOC, which likes to spread the Olympics to new host countries.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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