"All of the work is being carried out in accordance with the schedule, approved by the IOC," the chief executive and President of Sochi 2014 reported.

"More than 20,000 people are working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, creating a base for the most innovative Games the world has ever seen.

"By the year 2012, all of the competition venues will be put into operation so we can ensure that two full-seasons of test competitions can be held before the opening of the Games."

The programme will feature 74 races, including 29 international and five World Championships.

More than 5,000 athletes will participate in the test events in front of more than 250,000 spectators.

The first test event will be the European Cup in alpine skiing in February 2011.

“Sochi 2014’s efforts are driven by a simple yet very powerful vision: to stage the most innovative Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games that the world has seen, celebrating the spirit of new modern Russia and delivering sustainable positive change that inspires the world," said Chernyshenko (pictured).

"As a direct result of the Games, the development of four alpine resorts in the Sochi area has been hugely accelerated.

"These resorts will have more than 150 kilometres of ski pistes and will have the capacity to play host to more than 40,000 tourists.

"Some of the sports venues that have recently been constructed in Sochi, such as the bob and luge track or the Ski Jump did not previously exist at all in Russia.

"Thanks to Sochi 2014, Russian athletes will now always have the opportunity to train on home ground, and International Federations will have a wide variety of destinations to choose from for hosting world-class competitions”.

Speaking about financing for the preparation for the Games in 2014, Chernyshenko praised the success of the Sochi 2014 marketing programme committee.

"Sochi 2014 has attracted major sponsors and broken Olympic sponsorship records with a commercial programme worth more than $1 billionn.

"Our commercial programme is so successful, we self-financed the 2009-2010 financial year, without Government support."