The upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, will take place from Feb. 7 to Feb. 23 and are set to be the most expensive Games in history.
A good chunk of the $51 billion price tag went toward the 11 new venues that workers had to build from the ground up as part of the transformation Sochi has undergone since its Olympic bid was awarded in 2007.
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That transformation has caused concern among environmentalists who say that Sochi's biologically rich terrain has been sacrificed for the sake of buildings that will serve little purpose after the Games. The complaints have done nothing to stop construction, though, and the resort city on the Black Sea is now in its final stages of preparation.
Below, we've collected images of a few preparatory moments before the action begins.
Views around the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 29 in Sochi, Russia.
A worker drives a ice resurfacing machine across the ice in the Iceberg Skating Palace at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 25 in Sochi, Russia.
A bus drives past apartments in the Coastal Village where athletes will reside during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics on Jan. 29, in Sochi.
A member of the Swiss delegation speaks to volunteers while hanging a banner outside the apartments in the Coastal Village where athletes will reside.
A view of merchandise on sale in a shop at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 29 in Sochi, Russia.
Workers make the surroundings ready in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 28 in Sochi, Russia.
Views around the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 29 in Sochi, Russia.
Great Britain Skeleton athlete Shelley Rudman in action during a training session at Ice Sheffield on Jan. 29 in Sheffield, England.
A worker cleans the exterior glass walls of the Iceberg Skating Palace at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 25 in Sochi, Russia.
Security with dogs patrol around the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 28 in Sochi, Russia.
A view of the Bolshoy Ice Dome where ice hockey will take place in the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 25 in Sochi, Russia.
Workers put up signage around the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Park in the Costal Cluster on Jan. 29 in Sochi, Russia.
The Olympic flame is lit during a test next to the Bolshoy Ice Dome before the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics on Jan. 29 in Sochi.
The Olympic cauldron is tested with the Bolshoy ice dome in the background prior to the start of the Sochi Winter Olympics on Jan. 27.
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