Sochi: The 100 Days 
Before the Olympic Games

Photographs and text by

Mikhail Mordasov

A view of the Caucasus Mountains and Mzymta valley. Below, the lights of ski slope construction are visible. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Fisht Stadium will host the opening and closing ceremonies. Nearby, in the center of Olympic Park, an old cemetery has been preserved. Relatives visit the graves of their loved ones on the eve of Radonitsa, a traditional day of commemoration for the departed. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

When Sochi was announced as the 2014 host city, there was only one ski resort, one 4-level chairlift and 15 km of tracks. The double chair's safety system consisted of a steel chain. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A field judge for the biathlete World Cup test event. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A skier takes part in a humorous competition at Krasnaya Polyana ski resort, outside Sochi. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Muslims pray outside the cafe Vavilon on the first day of Eid al-Adha. Many of them are workers from Central Asia who came for Olympics-related construction jobs. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Workers get their morning brief for a day on the construction site at the Laura ski resort, a key facility for the Sochi games. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A heavy mist near the Zimniy (Winter) theater. The theater was built during Stalin's regime. Stalin committed a lot of resources to build up a new resort on the Black Sea. The buildings from this period are called "Stalin's Modernism". From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A view of the old Soviet sanatorium Ordzhonikidze. The city's history as a resort town continued through the Soviet era, during which a lot of the sanatoriums were constructed. This is the most well-known and prestigous. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A migrant worker enjoys a smoke in the Uzbekistan cafe in Krasnaya Polyana. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

In October 2012, court bailiffs arrived at Alexei Kravets' house. They forced their way into the house and threw the family’s furniture, clothes, and personal possessions into the yard. By mid-afternoon, the home in which Alexey and his 13-year old son had been living for over nine years was demolished. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Circassian nationalism is the desire among Circassians to establish (or rather, revive) an independent Circassian state with the contours of the former Circassia. Two supporters of the cause hold up the region's flag on the shores of the Black Sea, celebrating a day of memory for victims of the Caucasus War. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Local fishermen struggle to get a bite on the Sochi seafront. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Tourists warm themselves in a copper pot at the luxurious sauna complex, British Banya. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A patient enjoys his mineral bath. Matsesta is the largest medical and balneal resort in Russia. It was established in 1902 on the base of healing hydrosulfuric springs. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

The Tissot-Box Grove in Sochi is a unique nature preserve because 20% of the plants there cannot be found anywhere else. For example, the park contains a 2,000 year-old yew tree, which is over 30 meters tall. The park's atmosphere fascinates visitors — a quiet place, seemingly free of human civilization. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Tourists admire the landscape at one of the 33 waterfalls near the city of Sochi. Fewer tourists visited Sochi over the last two years due to the huge construction projects everywhere. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

Tourists sunbathe on s Black Sea beach near Sochi. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

A boy hides from a big wave during a Black Sea storm. From the series "Sochi: A 100 Days Before the Olympic Games" © Mikhail Mordasov

In February, 2014 Sochi will host the Winter Olympic Games.

Controversy has surrounded Sochi since it was selected to be host city in 2007. As the opening ceremony nears, the notes of discord remain in the air. Heads of some states, including the United States, Canada and France, have refused to attend the Games' opening ceremony because of Russia's policies towards members of the LBGT community. And the displaced Circassian people have used the event as a medium to express their historical grievances.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, hoping to use the Olympics as a publicity booster, has sustained a damaging reversal. He wanted to show off a brand-new Russia, but the process has been filled with questions of embezzlement, corruption, and waste. The Games represented a unique opportunity for Sochi to join the ranks of the famous European resorts. It seems that this dream has fizzled.

In the past few years, Sochi has changed a lot. New railways and roads were built, dozens of hotels were constructed, luxury ski resorts were established. All of these improvements are available for use by visitors and Russian citizens alike. 

But not all the changes have been for the better. Sochi has irreversibly lost its status as a verdant summer capital. Hundreds of ugly and low-grade buildings and houses cover the landscape. Development has run out of control, demolishing and paving over gardens and squares all over the city. The city suffers from the spike in traffic and its streets are crowded with parked vehicles, due to the lack of parking infrastructure. 

In the past, Sochi was a famous health resort. Each summer, hundreds of thousands of people came to the city to enjoy splendid palaces, take in the sun and visit the healing water bathes. Today, almost all the old sanatoriums have fallen into neglect. The most famous, Ordzhonikidze, has been "under reconstruction" for three years — yet construction never seems to begin.

Many of the locals feel alienated from their own homes. Their roots have been cut off while they have been encouraged to adapt to a new environment. For all their unrest, their wishes seem to fall on deaf ears.

—Mikhail Mordasov

View Mikhail Mordasov's Profile

FEATURED ARTICLES:
Welcome to Pyongyang

Promoted as a "tourist's guide" to North Korea, Charlie Crane’s portraits, interiors and landscapes of Pyongyang, the capital city, are perfectly bleak and honest. The chatty caption text for each photo is verbatim propaganda as told by the city’s official tourist guides. The combination provides a chilling look at how the nation wants to be seen by outsiders.

Iran 1979-2009

This series of photos by Alfred Yaghobzadeh reveal quite a range of daily life in Iran over the past 30 years — from the Iranian Revolution in 1979 through the highly contested political elections of 2009.

How do you apologize?
Photographer Trish Carney photographed animals that she found dead by the side of the road. She says, "I photographed them, not so much as a document of their passing but more as an acknowledgement of their existence, an acknowledgement that the lives and the remains of animals are very much a part of our landscape, a part of our day to day world."
Field Trip

Each image in this real-life documentary photobook about Israel has a surreal edge to it. Combined, they build into a sweaty-palm, fever-dream composite of a society gone wrong. David Lynch would be hard pressed to create more convincingly weird images.