Russians highly appreciate the organization of the Winter Olympics in Sochi. The performance of Russian athletes elicits admiration and pride.

MOSCOW, March 3, 2014. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data concerning the attitudes of Russians towards the organization of the Sochi Winter Olympics and the performance of Russian athletes.

Most of Russians (81%) followed the Sochi Winter Olympics. The share of those who watched the Olympics is bigger than the share of those who planned to watch the Games (73% in the beginning of February 2014). The Sochi TV ratings are higher than the 2010 Vancouver TV ratings (75%). More than one-quarter of Russians watched regularly almost all the competitions (28%); other 34% were interested only in special events; 19% watched those competitions where Russian team had chances to win gold medals.

Figure skating was the most popular sport event (65%); the interest of the viewers towards this sport event has increased, compared to the share of persons who planned to watch figure skating before the Games (46%). Forty-three percent of Russians were interested in hockey; other 36% were focused on biathlon. The share of Russians who watched ski competitions was not as big as expected (18% vs 27-28% before the start of the Games). On the contrary, bobsleigh and luge attracted more attention (6% a year ago; 14% after the Games). Due to the excellent performance of Russian athletes the short track competitions were very popular (9%), whereas earlier Russians were not so interested in this sport events.

Half of fans (52%) were proud to watch the competitions where Russian athletes participated. Every third (35%) was admired by Russian athletes. Women are more emotional (60% and 40%, respectively, have pride and admiration for Russian athletes` performances) rather than men (44% and 30%).  One-quarter of respondents (26%) had deep respect for Russian athletes. While watching TV broadcast, 31% were feeling hopes that the Russian team would perform well.

Most of Russians liked Yulia Lipnitskaya (33% are proud of her) and Adelina Skotnikova (29%). Viktor Ahn was popular among male athletes (15%). Russians were disappointed by the poor performance of the Russian hockey team (31%). Respondents were ambiguous assessing Evgeny Plyuschenko: 11% are proud; 20% were frustrated by his refusal to perform.

Most of Russian fans are satisfied with the results of the Russian Olympic Team (82%).  The degree of satisfaction is much higher than after the Vancouver Olympics, when only 10% were satisfied with the performance of the Russian team, and 38% assessed it as failure. Every third Russian (33%) admits that the results of the Sochi Winter Olympics exceeded all possible expectations. Thirty-eight percent of respondents expected positive results.

According to most of Russians, Russia organized the Winter Olympic Games in a worthy manner (93%). The abilities to do everything at the highest level have never raised doubts - from the very decision to host Winter Olympics (92% in 2007) up to the beginning of the Winter Games (85% in December  2013).

The VCIOM opinion poll was conducted on February 22-23, 2014. 1600 respondents were interviewed in 130 communities in 42 regions of Russia. Data are weighted by gender, age, education, working status and type of settlement. The margin of error does not exceed 3.4%.

*In 2010 the questions referred to the Vancouver Olympic Games.

**On February 1-2, 2014, the question was the following one:  “There is a week left before the Olympic Games. Are you going to watch the Winter Olympics in Sochi?

*The previous question was “What sport competitions are you going to watch?”  

*Until 2014 the question was as follows: “In your opinion, is Russia capable of organizing the Sochi Winter Olympics in a worthy manner?”

Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!