Russia's Putin joins final push for 2014 Games

GUATEMALA CITY, July 4 (Reuters) President Vladimir Putin has plugged Russia's bid to host the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, saying his country wanted a chance to show it could stage a successful Winter Games.

Putin said Russia, a leading Olympic medal-winning nation that has never hosted the biggest winter sports competition, had long supported the Games movement.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will decide the winning bid today in the Guatemalan capital, with Austria's Salzburg and South Korea's Pyeongchang also in the running.

''Russia has contributed a lot to Olympism and the growth of winter sports,'' Putin told reporters after meeting Guatemalan President Oscar Berger yesterday. ''We never had the opportunity to host a Winter Games.

''We have enough resources to fulfil the most ambitious project.

We are sure we will manage our plans and realise them in the best possible way...rooting the ideas of Olympism in our country.'' Putin, who spends his summers in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, said its location and climate made it an ideal candidate.

''Sochi is a unique place. It has a mild climate, a great amount of real snow that is necessary for Winter Olympics,'' he said.

Bid leaders from Sochi have been banking on Putin's vocal support throughout the two-year campaign, as well as his presence during today's final presentation.

It was former British Prime Minister Tony Blair's presence two years ago that helped London win the 2012 Olympics.

''Tomorrow's speech by the President will in some way be a surprise not only for the IOC but also for us,'' Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Zhukov told reporters without elaborating.

MOSCOW PROTEST As the Russians pushed their candidacy in Guatemala, protesters in Moscow were opposing the bid.

About 20 activists, several camouflaged and one wearing a Putin mask, gathered in a square in central Moscow yesterday opposing what they said was an environmental disaster in Sochi.

Police detained several protesters after a small scuffle.

The protesters were giving out cardboard medals which said: ''For a Winter Olympics in a southern resort'' and ''For destroying a national park''.

''What is happening in the Caucasus national park (near Sochi) is a free-for-all, a violation of several Russian laws, first of all environmental laws,'' said Dmitry Kokurev, co-ordinator of the coalition against the Olympics in Sochi.

Each bidder will have a final opportunity to present its case before the 97 IOC members decide the hosts.

Asked whether Sochi would bid again if it lost, Zhukov said: ''We are going to win. Tomorrow the IOC will have no doubt left that Russia will deliver all its promises''.

A senior bid member, though, said the Russians would try again in four years.

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