En name	Sochi
Ru name	Сочи
Coordinates	43°35′07″N39°43′13″N
Map label position	right
Federal subject	Krasnodar Krai
Inhabloc cat	City
Inhabloc cat ref
Urban okrug jur	Sochi Urban Okrug
Urban okrug jur ref
Leader title	Head
Leader name	Anatoly Pakhomov (acting)
Leader name ref
Representative body	City Assembly
Representative body ref
Area km2	3505
Area km2 ref
Pop 2010census	343300
Pop 2010census rank	52nd
Pop 2010census ref
Pop 2002census	328809
Pop 2002census rank	55th
Pop 2002census ref
Established date	1838
Established date ref
Prev name1	Chatsha
Prev name1 date	1864
Prev name1 ref
Prev name2	Dakhovsky
Prev name2 date	1896
Prev name2 ref
Postal codes	354000-354999
Postal codes ref
Dialing codes	8622
Dialing codes ref
Website	http://www.sochiadm.ru/
Date	May 2010 }}

Sochi () is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the ''de facto'' independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains. According to the preliminary results of the 2010 Census, the city had a permanent population of 343,300; up from 328,809 recorded in the 2002 Census, making it Russia's largest resort city.

Sochi has a humid subtropical climate-Mediterranean-type, with mild winters (average during the day and at night in the period from December to March) and comfortable summers (average during the day and at night period from May to October).

Sochi will host the XXII Olympic Winter Games and XI Paralympic Winter Games in 2014, as well as the Russian Formula 1 Grand Prix from 2014 until at least 2020. It is also one of the host cities for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

History

The Zygii people lived in the area in antiquity. From the 6th to the 11th centuries, the area successively belonged to the kingdoms of Egrisi and Abkhazia who built a dozen churches within the city boundaries. From the 11th to the middle of the 15th century it was a part of the Georgian Kingdom. The Christian settlements along the coast were destroyed by the invading Gokturks, Khazars, and other nomadic empires whose control of the region was slight. The northern wall of an 11th-century Byzantinesque basilica still stands in the Loo Microdistrict.

In the 14th-17th centuries, the region was dominated by the Abkhaz, Ubykh and Adyghe tribes, the current location of the city of Sochi known as Ubykhia was part of historical Circassia, and was controlled by the native people of the local mountaineer clans of the north-west Caucasus, nominally under the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire, which was their principal trading partner in the Muslim world. The coastline was ceded to Russia in 1829 as a result of a Caucasian War and Russo-Turkish War, 1828–1829; however, the Circassians did not admit the Russian control over Circassia and kept resisting the Russian newly established outposts along the Circassians coast (); . Provision of weapons and ammunition from abroad to the Circassians caused a diplomatic conflict between the Russian Empire and Great Britain that occurred in 1836 and was named the Mission of Vixen.

The Russians had no detailed knowledge of the area until Baron Feodor Tornau investigated the coastal route from Gelendzhik to Gagra, and across the mountains to Kabarda, in the 1830s. In 1838, the fort of Alexandria, renamed Navaginsky a year later, was founded at the mouth of the Sochi River as part of the Black Sea coastal line, a chain of 17 fortifications set up to protect the area from recurring Circassian resistance. At the outbreak of the Crimean War, the garrison was evacuated from Navaginsky in order to prevent its capture by the Turks, who effected a landing on Cape Adler soon after.

The last battle of the Caucasian War took place at the Godlikh river on 18 March 1864 O.S., where the ubykhs were defeated by the Dakhovsky regiment of the Russian Army. On 25 March 1864 the Dakhovsky fort was established on the site of the Navaginsky fort. The end of Caucasian War was proclaimed at Kbaade tract (modern Krasnaya Polyana) on 2 June 1864 (21 May O.S.) 1864, by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander II of Russia read aloud by Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia.

After the end of Caucasian War (during the period of 1864–1870) almost all Ubykhs and a major part of the Shapsugs, who lived on the territory of modern Sochi, were either killed in the Circassian Genocide or expelled to the Ottoman Empire (see Muhajir). Starting in 1866 the coast was actively colonized by Russians, Armenians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Greeks, Estonians, Germans, Moldavians, Georgians and other people from inner Russia.

In 1874–1891, the first Russian Orthodox church, St. Michael's Church, was constructed, and the Dakhovsky settlement was renamed ''Dakhovsky'' Posad on 13 April 1874 (O.S.). In February 1890, the Sochi Lighthouse was constructed. In 1896, the Dakhovsky Posad was renamed ''Sochi'' Posad (after the name of local river) and incorporated into the newly formed Black Sea Governorate. In 1900–1910 Sochi burgeoned into a sea resort. The first resort, "Kavkazskaya Riviera", opened on 14 June 1909 (O.S.). Sochi was granted municipal rights in 1917.

During the Russian Civil War, the littoral area saw sporadic armed clashes involving the Red Army, White movement forces, and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. In 1923 Sochi acquired one of its most distinctive features, a railway which runs from Tuapse to Abkhazia within a kilometre or two of the coastline. Although this branch of the Northern Caucasus Railway may appear somewhat incongruous in the setting of beaches and sanatoriums, it is still operational and vital to the region's transportation infrastructure.

Sochi was established as a fashionable resort area under Joseph Stalin, who had his favourite dacha built in the city; Stalin's study, complete with a wax statue of the leader, is now open to the public. During Stalin's reign the coast became dotted with imposing Neoclassical buildings, exemplified by the opulent Rodina and Ordzhonikidze sanatoriums. The centrepiece of this early period is Shchusev's Constructivist Institute of Rheumatology (1927–31). The area was continuously developed until the demise of the Soviet Union.

Following Russia's loss of the traditionally popular resorts of the Crimean peninsula (transferred away from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954 by Nikita Khrushchev), Sochi emerged as the unofficial summer capital of the country. During Vladimir Putin's term in office, the city witnessed a significant increase in investment, although many Russian holidaymakers still flock to the cheaper resorts of neighbouring Abkhazia, Ukraine, or to the Mediterranean coast of Turkey. Additionally, Sochi has also served as the location for the signing of many treaties, especially those between the Georgian, Abkhazian, and South Ossetian governing authorities.

Population

Year	! Total population	! Urban population
1887	98	no data
1891	460
1897	1,352
1904	8,163
1916	13,254
1926	13,000
1939	72,597
1959	127,000
1970	245,300
1979	292,300
1989	361,200
1992	369,900
1994	378,300
1997	388,200
2002	397,103
2006	395,012
2007	402,043
2008	406,800
2009	410,987

Religion

Before 1864 Sochi was a Muslim town dominated by the native people of the local mountaineer of Ubykhia clans and the north of Sochi was dominated by the Shapsugs who are a part of the Adyghe nation. Currently, Sochi is a predominantly Christian city, though there are thought to be around 20,000 Muslims living there (the majority are from Adyghe) plus other eastern caucasians, Turks, Tatars, and other smaller Muslim groups. Despite this fact, there is no mosque in the city of Sochi, the nearest being around 60 km away in the north from the city center in the Adyghe village of T'hagapsh ,;

In 2009 President Medvedev promised that a permanent mosque would be built in the city but so far permission has not been given.

Geography

At , Greater Sochi claims to be the longest city in Europe. Other sources using the Caucasus Mountains as the Europe-Asia divide place Sochi in Southwest Asia as it falls on the southern (Asian) side of the Greater Caucasus.

Climate

Sochi has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen climate classification ''Cfa'') – Mediterranean-type, at the lower elevations. Its average annual temperature is : during the day and at night. In the coldest month – January – the average temperature is about during the day, the average sea temperature is about . In the warmest months – July and August – the temperature typically ranges from during the day, about at night and the average sea temperature is about . Yearly sunshine hours are about 2,200. Generally, the summer season lasts 6 months (from May to October). December, January, February and March are the coldest months, with average temperature (of these four months) during the day and at night. Average annual precipitation is about 1,500 mm. Sochi lies at 8b/9a hardiness zone, so the city supports different types of palm trees. Sochi is situated on the same latitude as Nice but strong cold winds from Asia makes winter less warm. In fact, temperatures drop below zero every winter for one or two days.

Layout and landmarks

Sochi is almost unique among larger Russian cities as having some aspects of a subtropical resort. Apart from the scenic Caucasus Mountains, pebble and sand beaches, the city attracts vacation-goers with its subtropical vegetation, numerous parks, monuments, and extravagant Stalinist architecture. About two million people visit Greater Sochi each summer, when the city is home to the annual film festival "Kinotavr" and a getaway for Russia's elite.

A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve, lies just north from the city. Sochi also has Europe's most northerly tea plantations. It is served by the Adler-Sochi International Airport. The Sochi Light Metro is under construction, projected to be complete by 2014.

Sochi proper

Tsentralny City District, or Sochi proper, covers an area of and, as of 2002 Census has a population of 133,935. The highlights include:

Michael Archangel Cathedral, a diminutive church built in 1873–1891 to Kaminsky's designs in order to commemorate the victorious conclusion of the Caucasian War.

The red-granite Archangel Column, erected in 2006 in memory of the Russian soldiers fallen in Sochi during the Caucasian War. It is capped by a 7-metre bronze statue of Sochi's patron saint, Michael the Archangel.

Sochi Art Museum occupies a large building with a four-columned portico, completed in 1939. The Neoclassical design is by Ivan Zholtovsky.

Arboretum, a large botanical garden with tropical trees from many countries and the Mayors Alley — the line of palm-trees planted by the mayors of different cities of the world.

The Winter Theater (1934–1937) is another rigorously Neoclassical edifice, surrounded by 88 Corinthian columns, with a pediment bearing the statues of Terpsichore, Melpomene and Thalia, all three cast by Vera Mukhina.

Hall of Organ and Chamber Music. Located centrally in the city of Sochi it conducts organ, symphony, chamber-ensemble, choral, vocal music concerts. All year round local actors of the city art groups, famous Russian and international performers, International Contests Winners and Laureates give concerts here.

The Maritime Passenger Terminal (1955) is notable for its distinctive 71-meter-high steepled tower and four statues symbolizing the cardinal points.

The Railway Station (1952) is one of the most remarkable buildings of Sochi.

The Riviera Park was established by Vasily Alexeyevich Khludov in 1883 in the part of the city which later became known as Khludovskaya. The park is popular with tourists and local residents alike. It has a variety of attractions, including an outcrop of funny statues and a "glade of friendship" where magnolia trees were planted by every Soviet cosmonaut, among other notables.

The Tree of Friendship is a lemon tree planted by Otto Schmidt in 1934. Multiple cultivars from foreign countries were grafted onto this tree as a token of friendship. The associated museum boasts a collection of 20,000 presents from all over the world.

Lazarevsky City District

Lazarevsky City District lies to the northwest from the city center and has a population of 63,239 people (2002 Census). It is the largest city district by area, covering some and comprising several microdistricts:

Lazarevskoye, 59 km from the downtown core, contains a delphinarium, an old church (1903), and a new church (1999). The settlement was founded as a Russian military outpost in 1839 and was named after Admiral Mikhail Lazarev.

Loo, 18 km from the city center, was once owned by Princes Loov, a noble Abkhazian family claiming patrilineal descent from King Anos, whose royal title was sanctioned by Emperor Heraclius in 623 AD. The district contains the ruins of a medieval church, founded in the 8th century, rebuilt in the 11th century, and converted into a fortress in the Late Middle Ages.

Dagomys, 18 km from the city center, has been noted for its botanical garden, established by order of Nicholas II, as well as tea plantations and factories. A sprawling hotel complex was opened there in 1982. Dagomys adjoins Bocharov Ruchey, a dacha built for Kliment Voroshilov in the 1950s, but later upgraded into a country residence of the President of Russia, where he normally spends his vacations and often confers with leaders of other states.

Golovinka is a historic location at the mouth of the Shakhe River. Formerly marking the border between the Ubykhs and the Shapsugs, the settlement was noted by Italian travelers of the 17th century as Abbasa. On 3 May 1838, it was the site of the Subashi landing of the Russians, who proceeded to construct Fort Golovinsky where many convicted Decembrists used to serve. The fort was intentionally destroyed by Russian forces at the beginning of the Crimean War, so as to avoid its capture by the enemy.

Fort Godlik, of which little remains, had a turbulent history. It was built at the mouth of the Godlik River in the Byzantine period (5th to 8th centuries), was destroyed by the Khazars and revived by the Genoese in the High Middle Ages.

Khostinsky City District

Khostinsky City District, sprawling to the southeast from the city center, occupies approximately , with a population of 62,515 (2002 Census). The district is traversed by many rivulets which give their names to the microdistricts of Matsesta ("flame-coloured river"), Kudepsta, and Khosta ("the river of boars"):

Matsesta has been a spa since 1902. A 1,316-metre long tunnel, constructed between 1996 and 2000, connects it to Khosta and Sochi proper. The area does not retain many marks of antiquity, although the eponymous river was noted as Masaitica as early as 137 AD, in a letter from Arrian to Emperor Hadrian.

Kudepsta is another seashore resort, notable for the Vorontsov Caves, stretching for some four kilometers away from the shore. There are fourteen entrances to the caves. The largest hall has a length of twenty meters.

Khosta is an old village, attested in medieval documents as Casto and Khamysh. It contains the ruins of a medieval church, going back to the 14th century, and the comparatively modern Transfiguration Church, consecrated in 1914. Khosta has an array of tourist attractions:

*Khosta Fortress, or rather the ruins thereof, perched on the top of a 100-meter high cliff within six kilometers from the sea coast.

*The fortress stands on the grounds of an ancient grove of yews and boxwood, which may be up to 30 mya old. The largest yews attain a height of 50 meters; some are estimated to be 2,000 years old. The grove covers an area of 301 ha and has been affiliated with the Caucasian Biosphere Reserve since 1931.

*The Akhun massif comprises Greater Akhun Mtn. (663 m), Lesser Akhun Mtn. (501 m), and Eagle Bluff (380 m). Greater Akhun is crowned by a Neo-Romanesque limestone tower (1936) that offers glimpses of Pitsunda and Gagra across the border in Abkhazia. There is also a chain of twenty karst caves in the massif.

*The Sochi Arboretum, which goes back to 1889, possesses the most comprehensive collection of subtropical flora in Russia, including 76 species of pine, 80 species of oak, and 24 species of palm.

*The Summer Theatre is a rather ordinary Neoclassical structure, erected in 1937 and extensively renovated in 2001.

Adlersky City District

Adlersky City District, with an area of and a population of 69,120 people (2002 Census), is the southernmost district of the city, located just north of the border with Abkhazia. Until the establishment of Greater Sochi in 1961, it was administered as a separate town, which had its origin in an ancient Sadz village and a medieval Genoese trading post.

Among the natural wonders of the district is the Akhshtyr Gorge with a 160-meter-long cave that contains traces of human habitation from about 30,000 years ago. The upland part of the district includes a network of remote mountain villages (auls), the Estonian colony at Estosadok, and the ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana which will host the events (Alpine and Nordic) of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Also located here are the largest trout fishery in Russia (founded in 1964) and a breeding nursery for great apes.

Sports facilities

Sochi is also known for its sport facilities: a local tennis school spawned the careers of such notable players as Grand Slam champions Maria Sharapova and Yevgeny Kafelnikov (Kafelnikov spent much of his childhood here, while Sharapova relocated to Florida at the age of 7). In late 2005, the Russian Football Union announced that it was planning to establish a year-round training centre for the country's national teams in Sochi. The city's warm climate was cited as one of the main incentives. And it's home of FC Zhemchuzhina who play in the Russian First Division.

2014 Winter Olympics and Paralympics

In June 2006, the International Olympic Committee announced that Sochi had been selected as a finalist city to host the 2014 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Paralympics. On 4 July 2007, Sochi was announced as the host city of the 2014 Winter Games, edging out Pyeongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria.

This will be the Russian Federation's first time to host the Winter Olympic Games, and the first time to host the Paralympic Games. The site of a training centre for aspiring Olympic athletes, as of 2008, the city has no world-class level athletic facilities fit for international competition. To get the city ready for the Olympics, the Russian government has committed to a $12 billion investment package, shared 60-40 between the government and private sector. By some estimates, the investments necessary to bring the location up to Olympic standards may exceed that of any previous Olympic games.

Sochi Olympics 2014: controversies

Environmental impact

"Sadly, the Olympic bid is being used as a way for construction companies simply to get their hands on the most valuable land," Greenpeace Russia’s Mikhail Kreindlin said. "The last time the Russian government looked at this issue, which was in January, 2007 they made no mention of the Olympic bid. They simply said that the land could be used for social infrastructure, whereas it was patently obvious that it would be snapped up by elite resorts and golf clubs [with] nothing to do with the Olympics." Putin had apparently chided construction firms working round-the-clock to get Sochi up to ready, the ''St. Petersburg Times'' reported. "It would be a huge mistake not to take into account what the environmental organizations think", said Putin. "We are going to make sure that builders maintain contact with" environmentalists, who had voiced concerns about the work’s impact on the Sochi National Park, in Western Caucasus.

Greenpeace Russia had told the US-funded Radio Liberty on 12 September 2006 that it wanted to prevent construction work inside a national park, which it said would break Russia's environmental protection laws.

Construction work

The state-controlled RAO UES announced in July 2007 that it might spend 30 billion roubles (about US$1.2billion) on upgrading the electrical power system in the Sochi area by 2014. The power generating companies Inter RAO UES and RusHydro would have to build or modernize four thermal power plants and four hydroelectric plants — and the federal grid company FGC UES has to replace the Central-Shepsi electricity transmission line, which reportedly often fails in bad weather. The new power line would run partly on power towers and partly across the bottom of the Black Sea. By 2011, the power supply of the resort area would increase by 1129 MW — of which 300 MW would be used for Olympic sports facilities “The cost of the work is estimated at 83.6 billion roubles (about US $3.26 billion), of which 50 billion roubles (about US$2 billion dollars) will go to investments in the electricity grid,” power company announced. They did not say how much of the bill the state would foot. In February 2007, when UES had planned to spend 48.8 billion roubles (about US$1.9 billion) on the Sochi area, the share the state had been ready to pay 38 billion roubles (about US$1.48 billion) of that.

The coming of 2014 Olympics also urges the construction of a medium capacity rapid transit system, the Sochi Light Metro. The current alignment would connect the Sochi Olympic Village, Sochi International Airport, two major railway stations of Northern Caucasus Railway, the downtown of Sochi, and the Alpine skiing area Krasnaya Polyana.

Circassian Mass Graves

The Olympic facilities in Sochi are being built in areas that contain mass graves of Circassians that were killed during the Russian military campaigns lasting from 1860 to 1864. Circassian organizations in Russia and the Circassian diaspora around the world are asking for the construction on the remains of the Circassians to be halted, and not to hold the Olympics on the place of the genocide. Georgia passed a resolution on the 21st of May, 2011 recognising the Russian military campaign against the Circassians as a genocide, being the first country to do so.

Other sports events

The Silk way Rally which is part of Dakkar series took place in Sochi in 2010 for the last stage between the capital of the Republic of Adygea Maykop to the city of Sochi through Pseshwap.

The Bandy World Championships 2014 will be held in the city at the same time as the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has reportedly reached a deal with Bernie Ecclestone for the city to host the Formula One Russian Grand Prix from 2014.

Sochi Olympic Stadium will also be used to host 2018 World Cup matches.

Notable people from Sochi

Yuri Nikolaevich Denisyuk – physicist, one of the founders of holography

Andre Geim – physicist, inventor of graphene and Nobel Prize winner (Physics, 2010)

Yevgeny Kafelnikov – tennis player

Grigory Leps – singer-songwriter, musician

Slava Metreveli – Soviet football player, Sochi's central stadium is named after him.

Boris Nemtsov – former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia

Mordechai Spiegler – 1970s Russian-Israeli football player and manager.

Vladimir Tkachenko – basketball player

Alexey Voevoda – bobsledder and professional armwrestler

International relations

Sister cities

Sochi has been twinned with the following cities: Cheltenham, England, United Kingdom (from 1959) Menton, France (from 1966) Rimini, Italy (from 1977) Espoo, Finland (from 1989) Long Beach, California, United States (from 1990) Kerch, Ukraine (from 2005) Trabzon, Turkey (from 1991) Pärnu, Estonia (from 1994) Weihai, China (from 1996) Sidon, Lebanon (from 2005) Las Piñas, Philippines (from 2005) Volos, Greece (from 2007)

Gallery

See also

Tuapse and Gelendzhik – Russian coast towns immediately to the north

Gagra and Pitsunda – adjacent resorts in Abkhazia

Sochi International Airport

References

Journal of a residence in Circassia during the years 1837, 1838, and 1839 – Bell, James Stanislaus (English)

External links

Official site of administration of resort city Sochi

site city Sochi

Category:History of Kuban Category:History of the Caucasus Category:Populated coastal places in Russia Category:Spa towns in Russia Category:Populated places established in 1838 Category:Host cities of the Winter Olympic Games Category:Seaside resorts in Russia Category:IOC Session Host Cities

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Coordinates	43°35′07″N39°43′13″N
playername	Ruslan NigmatullinРуслан Нигматуллин
fullname	Ruslan Karimovich NigmatullinРуслан Каримович НигматуллинРуслан Кәрим улы Нигъмәтуллин
dateofbirth	October 07, 1974
cityofbirth	Kazan, Tatarstan
countryofbirth	Soviet Union
height
position	Goalkeeper
years1	1992–1994 | clubs1 KAMAZ | caps1 20 | goals1 0
years2	1995–1997 | clubs2 Spartak Moscow | caps2 27 | goals2 0
years3	1998–2001 | clubs3 Lokomotiv Moscow | caps3 115 | goals3 0
years4	2002–2004 | clubs4 Hellas Verona | caps4 10 | goals4 0
years5	2002 | clubs5 → CSKA Moscow (loan) | caps5 14 | goals5 0
years6	2003 | clubs6 → Salernitana (loan) | caps6 14 | goals6 0
years7	2004 | clubs7 Lokomotiv Moscow | caps7 1 | goals7 0
years8	2005 | clubs8 Terek Grozny | caps8 19 | goals8 0
years9	2008 | clubs9 SKA Rostov | caps9 15 | goals9 0
years10	2009 | clubs10 Lokomotiv-2 Moscow | caps10 8 | goals10 0
years11	2009 | clubs11 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth | caps11 20 | goals11 0
totalcaps	263 | totalgoals 0
nationalyears1	2000–2002 | nationalteam1 Russia | nationalcaps1 24 | nationalgoals1 0 }}

Ruslan Karimovich Nigmatullin (, ) (born 7 October 1974 in Kazan, Tatarstan, Soviet Union) is a retired association footballer who played goalkeeper of Tatar ethnicity. He has appeared for the Russian national team 24 times (including 5 Olympic appearances) and was their starting keeper at the 2002 World Cup. He was voted Russian Player of the Year 2001 and is considered the best Russian goalkeeper of this period.

Biography

Retirement

Despite officially retiring from football in February 2006, in September 2008, Nigmatullin decided to make a deal with FC SKA Rostov-on-Don, Russian club from First Division. After playing for another year for 3 different clubs, he retired again in November 2009.

Time in Israel

Nigmatullin signed with Israeli club, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth for the 2009–10 season. His start was a shaky one but his performance improved over the weeks as he acclimated to Israel. Nevertheless, he requested to leave the club in November 2009.

Honours

Russian Premier League champion: 1996, 1997, 2004.

Russian Premier League runner-up: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002.

Russian Premier League bronze: 1995, 1998.

Russian Cup winner: 2000, 2001.

Russian Cup finalist: 1998.

Career statistics

|- |1992||rowspan="3"|KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny||||7||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1993||rowspan="2"|Premier League||1||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1994||11||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1995||rowspan="3"|Spartak Moscow||rowspan="3"|Premier League||15||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1996||10||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1997||2||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1998||rowspan="4"|Lokomotiv Moscow||rowspan="4"|Premier League||30||0|||||||||||||||| |- |1999||29||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2000||29||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2001||27||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2001–02||Hellas Verona||Serie A||1||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2002||CSKA Moscow||Premier League||14||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2003–04||Salernitana||Serie B||14||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2003–04||Hellas Verona||Serie B||9||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2004||Lokomotiv Moscow||Premier League||1||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2005||Terek Grozny||Premier League||19||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2009–10||Maccabi Ahi Nazareth||Ligat ha'Al||8||0||0||0||5||0||0||0||13||0 |- 196||0|||||||||||||||| 24||0|||||||||||||||| 8||0||0||0||5||0||0||0||13||0 228||0||||||||||||||||

Footnotes

Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players Category:FC KAMAZ Naberezhnye Chelny players Category:FC Lokomotiv Moscow players Category:FC SKA Rostov players Category:FC Spartak Moscow players Category:FC Terek Grozny players Category:Association football goalkeepers Category:Hellas Verona F.C. players Category:Serie A footballers Category:Serie B footballers Category:People from Kazan Category:PFC CSKA Moscow players Category:Russia international footballers Category:Russian Premier League players Category:Russian Tatar people Category:Salernitana Calcio 1919 players Category:Maccabi Ahi Nazareth F.C. players Category:Russian footballers Category:Russian expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy Category:Expatriate footballers in Israel

bg:Руслан Нигматулин es:Ruslan Nigmatullin fr:Ruslan Nigmatullin it:Ruslan Nigmatullin ja:ルスラン・ニグマトゥーリン pl:Rusłan Nigmatullin pt:Ruslan Nigmatullin ru:Нигматуллин, Руслан Каримович sv:Ruslan Nigmatullin tt:Ruslan Nigmatullin

Coordinates	43°35′07″N39°43′13″N
Name	Ted Ligety
Country
Disciplines	Downhill, Super-G, Giant slalom, Slalom,Combined
Club	Park City Ski Ed Fndn
Skis	Head
Boots	Head
Bindings	Head
Birth date
Birth place	Salt Lake City, Utah,United States
Height
Weight	81 kg
Wcdebut	November 22, 2003(age 19)
Website	TedLigety.com
Olympicteams	2 - ''(2006-10)''
Olympicmedals	1
Olympicgolds	1
Worldsteams	4 - ''(2005-11)''
Worldsmedals	2
Worldsgolds	1
Wcseasons	2005 - present
Wcwins	8 - (8 GS)
Wcpodiums	25 - (1 SG, 18 GS, 6 SL)
Wcoveralls	0 - ''(5th - 2008)''
Wctitles	3 - ''(GS: 2008, 2010, 2011)''
Show-medals	yes
Medaltemplates	}}

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Theodore Sharp "Ted" Ligety (born August 31, 1984, in Salt Lake City, Utah) is a champion alpine ski racer from the United States. He was the 2006 Olympic gold medalist in combined and the three-time World Cup champion in giant slalom (2008, 2010 and 2011). Ligety won the gold medal in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships. Through March 6, 2011, he has eight victories (all in giant slalom), 25 podiums, and 68 top-ten finishes in World Cup competition.

Career

Growing up in Park City, Utah, Ligety began skiing at two and racing at ten. He attended The Winter Sports School and graduated in 2002. He was named to the U.S. Skiing Development Team and won a silver medal in slalom in the Junior World Cup in 2004. He made his first start in a World Cup event during the 2004 World Cup season in the giant slalom at Park City, and he was added to the U.S. Ski Team full-time in the 2005 season, during which he had four top-15 finishes in slalom, placing 24th overall in the discipline.

2006 Season

Ligety recorded his first World Cup podium finish in the first slalom of the season, at Beaver Creek in December, and followed that up with a second and a third during the next three slaloms. Ligety's first major victory of his professional career came at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, held at Sestriere. Ligety won the gold medal in the men's combined event, a major upset after the two racers favored to win the event failed to finish the slalom portion. At age 21, he became the first American man to win an Olympic gold medal in alpine skiing in a dozen years, since Tommy Moe won the downhill at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. Ligety also became just the fourth American male skier to win Olympic gold, along with Moe, Phil Mahre (slalom, 1984) and Bill Johnson (downhill, 1984). At Turin, Ligety also participated in the giant slalom and the slalom, but he failed to complete either event. Following his Olympic victory in the combined, Ligety recorded his first World Cup victory, a win in the giant slalom in Yongpyeong, South Korea. He finished ninth in the overall World Cup standings for the year, marking the first time that three American men had placed in the top 10 (along with Bode Miller in third and Daron Rahlves in fourth), despite the fact that he did not compete in downhill or Super G that year.

2007 season

In the summer of 2006, Ligety changed his ski supplier from Völkl to Rossignol. With Rahlves' retirement, Ligety began to compete in all five events. However, he managed only two podium finishes during the season, a second in slalom and a third in giant slalom. Disappointingly, he had three fourth place finishes, one in giant slalom, one in super combined, and one in the World Cup finals downhill, as well as a fourth place finish in the giant slalom at the 2007 World Championships in Åre, Sweden, missing a medal by 0.07 seconds. He finished eleventh overall in 2007.

2008 season

Ligety won his first World Cup season title in the giant slalom in 2008, and finished fifth in the overall standings. He won the final two giant slaloms of the year at Kranjska Gora and Bormio to edge out two-time defending champion Benjamin Raich of Austria for the season title. He also recorded four other podium finishes: a second and a third in giant slalom and two third places in slalom. In addition to his title, Ligety ranked seventh in combined and ninth in slalom.

2009 season

Ligety opened defense of his 2008 giant slalom title with a third place finish in Sölden, Austria, and then placed second at Beaver Creek, Colorado. At the 2009 World Championships in Val d'Isère, France, Ligety took the bronze medal in the giant slalom, then won his fourth World Cup race at Kranjska Gora. He finished the season with another second at the finals in Åre, Sweden, which left him ranked third in GS and ninth overall for the season.

2010 season

Ligety notched his fifth World Cup victory in January, his third win at Kranjska Gora in as many seasons. At the finals in Garmisch, Germany, he finished on the podium to secure his second season title in giant slalom, and finished seventh in the overall standings.

At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics at Whistler, he finished ninth in the giant slalom and fifth in the super-combined; he was fifteenth in the downhill portion and first in the one slalom run to finish a half-second out of the medals.

2011 season

After racing for four seasons on Rossignol skis, Ligety switched his equipment supplier to Head in the summer of 2010, as fellow American champions Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller did in previous seasons. Ligety won his sixth World Cup race in December 2010, his first win on home snow in the U.S., taking the giant slalom by a substantial 0.82 seconds at Beaver Creek, Colorado, the site of his first podium five years earlier. It was the first World Cup victory in the U.S. (and North America) by an American male in four years; the last was by Bode Miller in the downhill at Beaver Creek in December 2006. Six days later, Ligety won the next GS race in Val d'Isère, France, by over a full second. He won his third consecutive GS race at Alta Badia, Italy, the following week.

In February he won his first world championship, taking gold in the giant slalom at the 2011 World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Fourth after the first run, Ligety won by 0.08 seconds over Cyprien Richard of France.

Other achievements

Ligety has won six national championships, putting him behind the all-time record of nine, held by Bode Miller and Tiger Shaw.

Following his Olympic gold medal at Turin, he started Shred Optics in 2006; Ligety designs all the products and uses them himself.The company produces ski goggles, sunglasses, and helmets.

Ligety served as the Director of Skiing for the now-bankrupt Mt. Holly Club, a private luxury ski and golf resort in southwestern Utah.It is located in eastern Beaver County, on the site of the former Elk Meadows ski area (1971–84).

World Cup victories

Season titles

! Season	! Discipline
2008 Alpine Skiing World Cup>2008
2010 Alpine Skiing World Cup>2010	Giant Slalom
2011 Alpine Skiing World Cup>2011	Giant Slalom

Race victories

{|class="wikitable" !Season !Date !Location !Race |- | rowspan=1 align=center| 2006 || 05-Mar-2006 || Yongpyong, South Korea || Giant Slalom |- | rowspan=2 align=center| 2008 || 08-Mar-2008 || Kranjska Gora, Slovenia || Giant Slalom |- | 14-Mar-2008 || Bormio, Italy || Giant Slalom |- | rowspan=1 align=center| 2009 || 28-Feb-2009 || Kranjska Gora, Slovenia || Giant Slalom |- | rowspan=1 align=center| 2010 || 29-Jan-2010 || Kranjska Gora, Slovenia || Giant Slalom |- | rowspan=3 align=center| 2011 || 05-Dec-2010 || Beaver Creek, USA || Giant Slalom |- | 11-Dec-2010 || Val d'Isère, France || Giant Slalom |- | 19-Dec-2010 || Alta Badia, Italy || Giant Slalom |}

References

External links

FIS-ski.com - Ted Ligety - World Cup season standings - 2004-11

Ski-db.com - Ted Ligety - results

U.S. Ski Team.com - profile - Ted Ligety

U.S. Olympic Team.com - biography and other features

Ted Ligety.com - official homepage

Shred Optics.com – company

Category:American alpine skiers Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Alpine skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Category:Olympic alpine skiers of the United States Category:People from Salt Lake City, Utah Category:American people of Hungarian descent Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Olympic medalists in alpine skiing

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