by Elisabeth Rydell-Janson for zsport.se; original text can be viewed here
Jan Erik (Janne) Hedström of Åre has been appointed to a top job in the organization for the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi (RUS) in 2014. He is leading the entire alpine section and now lives most of the time in the growing Olympic village.
Jan-Erik Hedstrom, 50, has devoted his entire adult life to the sport of Alpine Skiing and organizing Alpine title events. For 15 years, until last year, he was coach at Åre ski gymnasium, alpine section. He has been the chief of race at FIS World Cups since 2001 and the technical delegate at a number of championships.Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the International Ski Federation, FIS, wondered if they could put him on a list of potential candidates for the job of Sports Manager, Alpine Skiing - Alpine Head - in the 2014 Games team.
This was in September last year and after that it did not take long until the job was his.
Now he lives for most of the time on the Black Sea, in an apartment in the ski resort of Krasnaya Polyana, which is expanding at breakneck speed.
How would you describe the Olympic village?
"It's a place of the future, a bit larger than Åre. A small mountain village that has been hit by the Games," he says.
Most Åre residents remember the years before the World Championships Åre 2007 as a crazy time when Komatsu was the most common brand on the streets. "But World Championship preparations in Åre are nothing compared to what is going on here," said Jan Erik.
"Here they are having the World Championships in construction machinery. They are building at full speed, there is heavy traffic all the time, year-round. The whole place is one gigantic construction site."
Virtually everything will be built new. The mountain cluster is being built in the mountains, a sea cluster near the sea, the sliding sports in Krasnaya Poliana. In addition to the facilities themselves, lots of hotels, apartment homes, shopping centers and a fast train network are being built.
"The ski area is not yet complete. They have planned a large area, it is a bit like Olympia in Åre, the last lift will be built in the summer and then it will be like Åre-Duved."
Jan Erik is working hard and most of the time in Sochi.
"I am at home in Åre about six days a month," said Jan Erik who sounds to be very close via Skype on his computer. That is how he communicates with most people, he is "online almost all the time, " he says.
Actually, LT would have met him in Åre for an interview but his trip home was canceled and now it will take until the mid-summer before he will come home next time.
While his colleagues in the rest of the Olympic organization are mostly in Moscow and traveling to Sochi for short-term visits, Jan Erik is in place at the Olympic site all the time.
The reason is that the Alpine facility is a large project with many specific requirements. Therefore, he needs to be on site all the time. While the Russians have extensive experience in cross-country Skiing, their experience in organizing Alpine events is zero.
"There are not many ski resorts in Russia and those that exist are pretty small," he explains. The slopes are not rare, the landscape is much more dramatic and Alpine than, for example, Åre.
Meanwhile, it is a sub-tropical climate with palm trees by the sea in the city of Sochi.
Currently Jan Erik is alone on site, not even his family have had a chance to visit yet. He will bring in more help, but the only one who has been there so far is the ski cat driver Hans-Olof Olsson, who will help train their Russian colleagues.
Jan Erik has trouble finding words strong enough to describe the skills of Olaf in course preparation. In Åre, he has legendary status.
Close to four years remain before the Olympics in Sochi and Jan Erik has a lot of work ahead of him.
What does the family say since you're never home?
"It's okay, it's an exciting adventure and we've signed up for this," said Jan Erik Hedstrom.
