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Additional Olympic Village unique, says 2010 Olympic bronze prize holder

SOCHI, February 05, 1:36 /ITAR-TASS/. Additional Olympic Village accommodating skiers and biathloners much impressed Maksim Chudov, bronze prize holder of the 2010 Olympics. The thrice world biathlon champion, now the mayor of the village, acknowledged this to reporters.

“It is a luxurious place. I have not seen anything like this at other Olympic Games,” he said. “The village is most comfortable for participants in the Games. I believe they will be pleased to stay here,” Chudov said. “The village is unique also for the reason that it is within a walking distance from the ski and biathlon tracks,” he said.

Vitaly Savilov, the director of the facility, said the village was named Additional according to its location at the highest point. “I believe the name is a disadvantage. Because of it we received a smaller amount of funds than was due, and, moreover, sportsmen don’t like the name,” the director of the village said.

As distinct from Mountain Olympic Village and Coastal Olympic Village, Additional Village was built within a hotel complex, so there are no light constructions on its territory.

“The village accommodates 1,100 people. The canteen is situated within the hotel complex, not in a light construction, as in other villages,” he said. “It will be a four-star hotel after the Olympics, but the servicing there is like it is in five-star hotels. Everything has been done at the highest level. I believe it is not for nothing that Wolfgang Pichler, the coach of the Russian women’s biathlon picked team, publicly acknowledged that he had not seen anything like this at his previous five Olympics.

Savilov also mentioned various services offered in the village. “This is the only village with a spa-zone, which includes a pool with four kinds of steam baths. The hotel complex offers a beauty parlour, shops, a bank, a post office and a polyclinic,” the director of the village said.