Vladimir Putin himself made the final push in Sochi's Olympic bid when he made a speech to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Guatemala in 2007.

"The bid has enthusiastic support of the whole of Russia," he told the membership in an address in the Olympic languages of French and English.

It is was  a far cry from the early years of the Modern Olympic Movement.  

Russian General Alexei Dimitrievich Butowski , a founder member of the IOC, resigned, frustrated by the lack of enthusiasm in his homeland. "There is still a good deal of indifference to the cause of physical education generally, here in Russia," he said upon resigning.

Matters improved before the first world war as Russia founded a National Olympic Committee , but  after the October Revolution of 1917, the Party Commissars were suspicious of the Olympic Movement. In the inter-war years, Russia did not take part in the Olympics.

It was not until after the Second World War that sporting contact resumed. The Dynamo Moscow football team attracted huge crowds when they visited Britain.The Soviets did not send a team to London in 1948, but in 1951, the IOC voted  overwhelmingly to welcome them into the fold in time for the Helsinki Olympics .

By the end of the decade, Russians had become major players in Olympic sport and in 1960, at the IOC Session in Rome, Moscow was chosen ahead of Nairobi to stage the 1962 meeting of  the Olympic family.

Leonid Breshnev addressed the IOC Session the first time it was held in Russia in Moscow in 1962 ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The meeting was held in early 1962, a few months before the Cuban missile crisis reached its climax.

"No other country has made such a tremendous advance in such a short period," said IOC President Avery Brundage. "It has undoubtedly been due to the strong and broad foundation which has been laid in the last 40 years.

"Soviet people regard the opening of this session in the capital of the Soviet Union - Moscow - as recognition of the contribution made by athletes of our country and their organisation," said Leonid Breshnev, then chairman of the Praesidium of the supreme Soviet as he greeted the members

Political interference in Sport was a cause for concern at that session. The minutes talk of a "lengthy debate".

At the time, East and West Germany competed under a single flag and it was reported that Dr Ritter Von Halt, an  IOC member in West Germany, "gives a solemn undertaking that a unified German team is to participate in the 1964 Games in Tokyo."

The question of the two Koreas was rather more delicate. Provisional recognition had been given to the North, and the IOC proposed to ask South Korea, Olympic participants since 1948, if they would agree to a united Korean team.

They clearly expected the worst. "In the event of a negative reply...North Korea would be entitled to participate in 1964 as an independent team."

In fact the question did not arise. The North Koreans were excluded from  the Tokyo Olympics because they attended the unsanctioned Games of the New Emerging Forces (GANEFO) held in Jakarta in 1963.

This was an era when many  former colonies became independent. Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados prepared for political independence, the IOC recognised their new National Olympic Committees. Mongolia and Dahomey - now known as Benin - also joined the Olympic Movement for the first time.

The membership of the IOC also had a growing number of members from African and Asian countries. For them, something had to be done about South Africa.

The Pretoria Government  enforced a strict apartheid regime which excluded much of its population from Olympic participation on racial grounds. This meeting decided, in what described as a "vast majority", to do something about South Africa.

In Moscow, the IOC resolved that "if the policy of racial discrimination practised by their government in this respect does not change before our Session in Nairobi in October 1963, the International Olympic Committee will be obliged to SUSPEND this Committee."

No significant progress was made and although the IOC sent working parties to try and resolve the problems, South Africa did not again take part in the Games until after Nelson Mandela walked free from prison.

South Africa were suspended from the Tokyo 1964 Olympics because of its apartheid policies and did not return until Barcelona 1992 following the release of Nelson Mandela
©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Before the end of the session Constantin Adrianov was elected to the IOC Executive Board. He was the first from Russia to achieve such a post. It was a significant move for a country that was starting to think about staging the Olympic Games.

Moscow's eventual bid for the 1976 Olympics was unsuccessful, but in the early  seventies, as the political climate between East and West thawed, they tried again. Moscow staged the 1973 World University Games and in 1974, it was chosen by the IOC as host city for 1980.

The Games of the XXII Olympiad were to be a great coming out party for the Soviet Union. As part of the programme, an IOC session would  be again be staged in Moscow. The highlight would be the election of the a IOC President to succeed Lord Killanin.

The whole character of the Moscow Olympics changed shortly after Christmas 1979. Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan. Within days United States President Jimmy Carter had called for a boycott in protest. This was supported by West Germany, Canada and Japan. Despite pressure from their respective Governments, the British Olympic Association and its counterparts in Australia and New Zealand fought hard against political intervention and teams, albeit smaller than usual, took part in Moscow.

The Opening Ceremony of the IOC Session was held at the magnificent home of the Bolshoi Ballet.

It was to be the last time that Lord Killanin would address his colleagues as President of the IOC. "I deeply regret that many athletes, either through political dictation or the dictates of their own  consciences are not here with us at the Games," he said.

Although US did not compete, there were Americans in Moscow. The Winter Olympics earlier that year had taken place in Lake Placid and the Organising Committee were required to present their report. This was not done by the President of the Organising Committee but by Patrick Sullivan, legal advisor to the United States Olympic Committee.

The 1984 Organising chief Peter Ueberroth was also in the Russian capital. He  led a small group which presented a progress report on the Los Angeles Games.

"We knew we'd be treated as outcasts, " he wrote later. The boycott meant his backroom staff were denied the opportunity to  watch the operational side of an Olympic Games at close hand.

Moscow 1980 was heavily hit by the United States-led boycott and created a unique set of ceremonial problems for the IOC ©Allsport/Getty Images

A ceremonial matter caused unexpected problems for the IOC. Three flags  are raised at the Closing Ceremony to represent  past, present and future Games. The White House had made it clear that they did not wish the stars and stripes to be flown. Eventually, after Killanin and senior Executive Board members had discussed the problem, it was agreed that the flag of the City of Los Angeles could be flown instead.

Eighteen European National Olympic Committees had also decided not to use national flags or anthems, a measure followed by the Australian and New Zealand teams. The IOC gave their agreement to this.

By the time they left Moscow in 1980, the Olympic family also had a new leader. Four men contested the presidency Willi Daume from West Germany, Marc Hodler from Switzerland, James Worrall from Canada and Juan Antonio Samaranch, most recently Spanish Ambassador to Moscow. New Zealander Lance Cross withdrew his candidacy before the vote.

On the day before his 60th birthday ,Samaranch won on the first ballot. It was the last time an election would be held during a Session in Olympic year.

The Spaniard was to lead the IOC for 21 years and ushered in a new era of commercialisation. He finally  stood down in 2001, when, with remarkable  symmetry, the Olympic family met in Moscow once again. As the Movement gathered at the Bolshoi for the opening it  grown beyond all recognition. There were now 199 member nations and Samaranch had visited them all.

"I have endeavoured to build a united Olympic Movement. I am aware nevertheless that this unity is fragile and that it must be constantly protected," said Samaranch. He had used his diplomatic background to try and head off political boycotts.

One of his final acts was to open the envelope and reveal the host city for Beijing as the host city for 2008. Though he did not vote in the ballot, Samaranch had made no secret of his desire to take the Games to China.

Fittingly, Juan Antonio Samaranch stood down as IOC President at 2001 Session in Moscow, 21 years after having been elected in the Russian capital ©AFP/Getty Images

Moscow also became the first city to witness the election of two IOC Presidents.

The ballot was the most competitive to date with five candidates. Jacques Rogge of Belgium won on the second round of voting.

Back in 2001, the preparations for the Athens 2004 Olympics were a cause for concern. Rogge reported that the Games were" back on track" after a crisis in the previous year but advised vigilance from the IOC.

A  future host city  looks certain to be under the spotlight again when the 126th  IOC Session opens at the Radisson Blu Resort & Congress Centre in Sochi. New IOC President Thomas Bach has already warned  Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff  that the Olympic schedule for Rio 2016 was "incredibly tight" .

Now he takes charge of what is effectively the annual general meeting of the IOC for the first time. He has already called for changes to the Movement to develop  what he calls "a road map for the Olympic Movement".

Born in Hackney, a stone's throw from the 2012 Olympic Stadium, Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Sky Sports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and TalkSPORT, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications.