[00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, this is In The News.
[00:08.98]Millions of sports lovers
[00:11.81]are thinking about just one thing right now --
[00:14.76]the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
[00:18.44]Close to 2,900 men and women
[00:21.93]are set to compete in the 2014 Winter Games.
[00:26.65]The opening ceremonies were held Friday night.
[00:30.79]The games continue through Sunday, February 23.
[00:35.59]The Olympics are bringing a lot of attention to Sochi,
[00:40.44]a city on the Black Sea.
[00:42.47]Sochi is a popular area for vacation travelers.
[00:47.52]The area is known for its mild winters,
[00:51.24]with warm to hot weather in the summer.
[00:54.59]At least $50 billion is being spent on the 2014 Winter Games,
[01:01.63]making it the costliest Olympics in history.
[01:05.69]Seven billion dollars was spent on
[01:09.35]the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada.
[01:12.94]Olympic officials chose Sochi to host the 2014 games
[01:18.84]almost seven years ago.
[01:20.87]At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said
[01:25.67]the games would cost about $13 billion.
[01:30.02]Yet the real cost is four times his estimate.
[01:35.53]So where did all the money go?
[01:38.45]Many Russians say people involved in the project
[01:43.01]have taken some of it.
[01:44.87]One research group found that 38 percent of Russians
[01:50.04]it spoke with said the Olympics
[01:52.82]increased the likelihood of corruption.
[01:55.95]Other observers say the high cost
[01:59.94]is partly the result of security measures.
[02:03.68]Brian Jenkins is a terrorism expert from the RAND Corporation.
[02:09.80]"There are anywhere between
[02:12.53]70,000 and 100,000 policemen and military troops
[02:20.01]deployed around the city.
[02:21.89]In addition, we hear reports that Russian authorities
[02:25.74]are going door to door in Sochi looking for suspects."
[02:31.10]The main threat comes from separatist and Islamist groups
[02:36.32]from the North Caucasus, especially from Chechnya and Dagestan.
[02:41.43]One group claimed responsibility
[02:44.77]for two suicide bombings in Volgograd last December.
[02:49.47]The attacks killed more than 30 people.
[02:53.34]The city is only about 600 kilometers away from Sochi.
[02:58.66]Bruce Hoffman is a terrorism expert
[03:02.60]from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
[03:06.24]He says the increased security
[03:09.77]makes Sochi a difficult target for terrorists.
[03:14.08]He says they probably know
[03:17.10]they cannot get close to those attending the games.
[03:20.77]"....But they can, and I believe their intention is to,
[03:23.82]make life difficult for the Russians
[03:25.54]and to create some sort of incident
[03:27.44]that takes away from the enjoyment
[03:29.01]and the sporting spectacular that is the Winter Olympics."
[03:32.30]The last time Olympians from around the world
[03:35.30]competed on Russian soil was in 1980.
[03:39.36]That was a year after Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan.
[03:44.32]Sixty countries boycotted the Moscow Summer Games.
[03:49.54]Thomas de Waal, a British journalist,
[03:53.12]says President Putin has a lot invested in the Sochi Olympics.
[03:58.63]"He is a man who, as we know,
[04:01.26]has made his whole brand about being this man
[04:03.75]who has put Russia back on the map.
[04:05.46]He has made Russia strong again, respected again, a place of prestige."
[04:09.17]As the games began,
[04:10.95]protesters were criticizing Russia's treatment of homosexuals.
[04:15.51]Critics of a Russian law recently demonstrated in 20 cities around the world.
[04:22.40]They said the law bars nearly all public discussion of homosexuality.
[04:29.04]President Barack Obama is not sending any top officials to the Sochi Olympics.
[04:35.85]Instead, the US delegation includes tennis great Billie Jean King
[04:43.40]and two other openly gay athletes.
[04:47.72]And that's In the News, from VOA Learning English.
[04:52.70]I'm Steve Ember.