All to play for: a look back at Sochi, before the Olympic Games

With the Sochi Winter Olympics now over, we look back at the city a year ago when construction was still underway. Photographer Mikhail Mordasov takes us on a journey through a city as it prepares to host an international sporting event. “Asphalt, metal and concrete can be seen all around…a stranger to the surrounding scenery,” says Mordasov. “A year before the Games and the half-built venues are almost ready for the Olympics.”

Russian photographer Mikhail Mordasov first started photographing Sochi four years ago while on assignment for state news agency RIA Novosti. Fascinated by the changes taking place in the lead-up to the 2014 Winter Olympics, he decided to stay on and document its transformation.