An Olympic Village is an accommodation center built for the athlete’s of the Olympic Games being held. Sochi’s 2014 Winter Games are being held in the mountains, so building accommodations nearby for the world’s greatest athletes goes without saying.

A short note from Wikipedia on Olympic Villages:

Olympic Villages are built to house all participating athletes, as well as officials and athletic trainers. After the Munich Massacre at the 1972 Olympics, the Villages have been made extremely secure. Only athletes, trainers and officials are allowed to room at the Village, though family members and former Olympic athletes are allowed inside with proper checks. Press and media are also barred.Source: en.wikipedia.org

I would like you to reread the last sentence carefully. The fact that these photos have been released must not sit well with the Olympic Committee, but it sits very well with me. Thanks to Russian blogger Sergei Nikitskij (Сергей Никитский), we have a first hand look at not only the Olympic Village, but of the construction going on throughout Sochi.

This village is formerly known as the Mountain Olympic Village, or at least that’s its name in Russia. Nestled comfortably in Sochi’s Caucasus Mountains, this village has all the amenities that a professional athlete would ever need. The comfortable homes are built with the 21st century in mind.

The entire area is built upon 27 Hectares of land, with wide open mountains all around. There are a total of 28 cottages housing the athletes. While this number may not seem like much, it apparently meets the Olympic Committees requirements. Another interesting requirement made by the Olympic Committee, the housing needs to be at the same elevation as the games are to be played.

I couldn’t find any dimensions or details of the cottages themselves, but they look capable of holding a large team of athletes.

Outside the cottages there lies a large pool of water. It is said that this pool will hold water used to artificially seed the slopes with snow.

The real beauty of these cottages lie within. Each cottage is impeccably built with a very European style. The furniture used is compact yet elegant. The bathrooms look very polished and it seems that the materials used are of high grade, at least on the surface. Sergei also claims that there is a very aromatic smell of wood throughout the cottages, something that will probably fade quickly once the athletes arrive.

It is important to keep in mind that Russia fully intends on turning this area into an elite resort, so while the athletes were thought of when building this village, the real people being considered were the wealthy Russians that would be visiting this area in the years to come. Having dealt with Russian construction for many years, I have my doubts as to how long this village will stay fresh. However, so long as the investors can see a return they will not care much if the region falls into ruin shortly there after.