Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon.

First of all, let me say how happy I am to greet you all here. I am very pleased I can do it on behalf of the millions of our fans. This is literally the first day of the Games and as far as I know we have already been awarded some medals. And I'm very pleased about that. Congratulations.

We have quite an impressive delegation of 467 sportsmen, representing 244 disciplines. You will take part in 39 sporting events. I'm certain that you will have excellent results.

Generally speaking, participating in the Olympic Games is a very good result already. But it is not enough to just make it to the Games. You must do your best to win. We have excellent chances. Last year our athletes won 78 medals at various world championships, including 29 gold. It means that you have every chance to repeat these successes here.

As you may know, we have started to pay more and more attention to sports, and allocate a lot of money for it. You may have already heard this, but I would like to tell you once again: I have recently signed an order to more than double the awards

 While this is trifle amount, it is still good news.

Sportsmen: Thank you. It is not a trifle.

Vladimir Putin:. This means the gold medal is the equivalent of 100,000 euros, the silver is 60,000 euros and the bronze is 40,000 euros. But I'm quite sure this is not the most important thing for a sportsman, because his greatest motivation is winning glory for his country.

I know, not all the athletes on our Olympic are experienced athletes and renowned sportsmen, there are also some newcomers. This is a sign the coaches care about the future of national sports and its best achievements. This is the evidence of our great future, which certainly depends a lot on your previous efforts and on your will to win. We are all aware that luck is important too, so on my own behalf and on behalf of the millions of your other supporters I would like to wish you good luck and great victories.

Sportsmen: Thank you, Mr Putin, all the sportsmen see you as a coach of our team.

Vladimir Putin: Well, why do they think so? I'm a coach indeed.

Sportsmen: And you are a merited coach, Mr Putin. It is the opinion of the all our Olympians that you are a member of the Olympic team.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you.

Sportsmen: And certainly we have been waiting for you because you are a lucky man. You have a lot of positive energy, and now we need it very much. So after your visit to the Olympic village, I think we can count on you as one more resource for our team.

Thank you very much. We'd like to show you the city we live in.