No favourite in 2014 Winter Olympics race?

With just eight days before the International Olympics Committee votes on the host city for the 2014 Winter Olympics, all three candidate cities – Russia’s Sochi, Austria’s Salzburg and South Korea’s Pyeongchang – have gained equal s

It is the world’s leading source of independent news on the Olympics. The ATR Index is the final ranking before the July 4 vote in Guatemala.

The index is based on eleven criteria. They include such subjective points as ambiance and objective details as accommodation and transport.

April's power index gave Salzburg a slight lead with a score of 82, while Pyeongchang had 77 and Sochi was in the last place with 75.

But now every city scores the same. It is the first time that bidding cities got tied and may indicate a difficult choice for the International Olympic Committee.

Meanwhile, a Celebrity World Football Championship has kicked off in Sochi.

Sixteen teams have gathered from around the world representing Japan, France, Argentine and other countries.

“This sport event is in focus itself, and it also provides an extra opportunity to demonstrate Sochi’s availability to hold the Olympic Games,” said Evgeny Kalakutsky from the Russian Football Union.

The teams consist mainly of music and movie stars, as well as a smattering of professional football players.
 
“We’ll vote with two hands for Sochi to host the Olympic Games in 2014. As we see, its infrastructure is pretty developed, and the people are very friendly, they welcomed us with open hearts,” noted Gonzalez Lopez from Brazil Celebrity Football Team.

While everyone is trying to guess which city will host 2014 Winter Olympics, Russia Today has been getting the opinion of its own audience.