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Putin played main role as Sochi won battle for Olympics · 2007-07-06 13:01

2014 Winter OlympicsPresident Vladimir Putin played the star role as the Black Sea resort of Sochi won the battle for the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Sochi, where the Russian president has an official residence, beat the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang by four votes in a ballot, bringing new agony to the Asian contender which was also second in the race for the 2010 Games.

Putin spoke in English for what is believed to be the first time in public to state Sochi's case to the International Olympic Committee's executive board.

Pumped up by eight hours of music and pyrotechnics, a crowd of 10,000 on a central square in Sochi erupted when a screen showed IOC president Jacques Rogge announcing their victory.

In Pyeongchang, many shed tears as South Korea's leading alpine resort lost its second bid to host the Winter Olympics. Parents consoled weeping children who were watching a giant screen set up in the town centre.

Sochi won by 51 votes to 47 ??“ with one abstention ??“ in the deciding round. Pyeongchang had led after the first round with 36 votes to Sochi's 34 and 25 for the Austrian city of Salzburg, which was eliminated.

Putin, President Roh Moo-Hyun of South Korea and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer had all travelled to Guatemala City to make presentations to the IOC meeting.

IOC President Jacques Rogge paid tribute to the candidates. "I would like to congratulate three excellent bids. I had predicted a close call," he said. "Sochi won deservedly."

Putin had been named "captain of the team' by the Russian delegation and he also spoke French during his presentation. Putin press officer Dmitri Peskov said that the president, who was already returning to Moscow, was "very happy" with the result.

Residents of Sochi were ecstatic, Gulf Daily News reports.

The decision was followed by a chant of "Russia, Russia" and a burst of fireworks over the square's enormous Stalin-era theatre.

Many observers said Putin played a decisive role in the Sochi bid as Britain's then prime minister Tony Blair did when London beat Paris to the 2012 Olympics.

For the Koreans this was a desperate blow as they had topped the seemingly vital IOC Evaluation Commission published just a month before the decision.

Their reaction was one of disbelief and tears were shed.

_"I don't know what happened,” said a red-eyed Kim Jin-sun, governor of Gangwon province where Pyeongchang lies.

"I am so sorry, so sorry and I don't really want to say anything."

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