The cross-country skiing venue for the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics will be a temporary structure that will be taken down after the Games, an official involved in the construction said on Thursday.
"Two stadiums will be built - one for the biathlon, the second for cross-country skiing. But the stadium for the ski races will be temporary, since it is completely useless to have two stadiums after the Olympics," said Vladimir Makarenko, deputy director of Gazprom Sotsinvest.
"After the Games, cross country races can be safely held in the biathlon stadium. And in order to make a biathlon stadium, you need to build a shooting range, which is a very serious construction," he explained.
Makarenko said work on the biathlon complex will be completed by the end of this year, with the first test event scheduled for January 2012. He added that the stadium will be able to accommodate 9,600 spectators for biathlon events.
"We initially wanted to build nearly 17,000 seats, but the IOC advised us to build for a smaller number of viewers. Biathlon Olympic stadiums typically do not include so many seats," Makarenko said.
At the Sochi Olympics, there will be 10 biathlon golds up for grabs and a record 12 golds in cross-country skiing, both sports in which the Russian hosts will expect to do well.
SOCHI, February 17 (RIA Novosti)
