Until February 16, 27 Master of Sport Administration (MSA) students from 14 countries will observe the operations of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee to see how different divisions work together to run a smooth and successful Games.

"At RIOU, we put a particular emphasis on practical training to allow our students to interact with professionals during events and acquire behind-the-scenes experience," said RIOU Rector, Professor Lev Belousov.

"I am absolutely convinced that our students will gain invaluable know-how and ideas from this special observation programme during Sochi 2014 and I hope it will be highly useful to them, and their own countries, in the future."

The programme has been integrated into the RIOU's MSA course to maximise the knowledge transfer of best-practice operations by the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee to the next generation of sport managers, which RIOU is helping to nurture.

RIOU's MSA students discuss operational best-practice with the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee's Sustainability and Venue Management department ©RIOU



"In the past few months at RIOU we have been learning a lot about the Olympic Movement, the Olympic spirit and the organisation of the Olympic Games, so this observation programme is a great opportunity to see how all these parts merge together to create a truly special event such as Sochi 2014," said Polish Olympic gold medallist, Otylia Jędrzejczak, one of the MSA students undertaking the observation programme.

"As an Olympian I know how an Olympic Games looks from an athlete's perspective.

"I took part in four editions in Sydney [2000], Athens [2004], Beijing [2008] and London [2012] and I was naturally more focused on the performance and results aspect of these Games, rather than the overall experience and excitement.

"So for me, learning about how the magic is created for athletes and fans is even more interesting.

"One of the things I am particularly keen to understand is the logistics behind catering for athletes of different religions who eat different foods, because nutrition is such an important part of an athlete's preparation and it must be exactly right.

"It is also really important for me to understand as much detail as possible about the marketing, management and human resources aspects to organising the Games.

"Poland is bidding for the Olympic Winter Games in 2022 so I am determined to gain as much knowledge as possible and feed it back to our National Olympic Committee to help their bid."

RIOU's students are also set to be involved in practical training during the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games, due to take place from March 7 to 16.

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