Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Jacques Rogge laid on Monday the foundation stone of the Olympic University in the southern Russian city of Sochi.
The university is to become a center for training staff for future Olympic Games, including the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
Putin and Rogge placed a time capsule under the foundation stone with a message to future students of the university.
"The university is intended to become a modern educational and research center, an area for new ideas and projects," the statement said. "Graduates will augment the noble traditions of the Olympic movement, promote its aims and ideas, and take an active role in the organization of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sochi in 2014."
Putin said he hoped the university would help to promote the role of sports and healthy living in Russia.
"We count on first graduates of this university to take part in the organization of work connected with 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi," the Russian premier said.
The university is due to officially open on February 25, 2013, one year before the Sochi Olympics.
Vladimir Potanin, head of the project's main investor, Interros company, said a total of $500 million would be spent on the development.
"The central complex of the university will consist of four main buildings or 'flower petals,' Potanin said. "Three, four and five star hotels will also be built here, and private apartments, both for sale and rent, will be built closer to the sea."
He said classrooms at the main university would hold up to 500 students at a time and some 150 teachers would be employed at the university.
"This will be a kind of Russian sports Harvard," he said.
SOCHI, June 7 (RIA Novosti)
