IOC Says Delays In Sochi Hotel Construction Were Realized Too Late

The IOC's chief coordinator for the Sochi Olympics said Monday the organization sounded a "red alert" in September because delays in hotel construction "were posing a serious threat to the event," according to Futterman & White of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. IOC Chief Supervisor of the 2014 Olympics Jean-Claude Killy "offered the first public explanation for the rocky launch of these Games." Early arrivals here "encountered unfinished hotels, unopened shops and myriad problems." Killy said that despite making 40 trips to Sochi in the seven years leading up to the Games, he "didn't understand the depth of the problem until last fall." Killy: "We realized it too late." Focused on getting the sports venues done, he added that "private developers and oligarchs devoted less attention to hotel projects." Killy: "All the alarms went up in September. I made a special trip. I said, 'What do we need to do?' There is no way to organize a Games if you cannot accommodate people" (WSJ, 2/17).