ABSTRACT
In 2014 the Winter Olympics took place in the subtropical seaside village of Sochi, Russia. According to The Economist, this hosting was the most expensive event in the history of the Olympic Games. Putin’s vanity project cost approximately 50 billion dollars. The region underwent a process of complete restructuring. Stadiums were built where only recently refugee camps were located. In this context the question arises: What leads a country to spend so much money for this athletic mega-event? This question has a special signicance if in the host countries there still exist numerous underdeveloped regions. In the Caucasus as well as in China and Brazil there is still a lot of poverty and even the simplest infrastructure is often missing.
