The International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission led by its Vice President, Chiharu Igaya, will come to Russia's Sochi on Sunday. The city is considered one of the major candidates to win the bid.

Only a few months remain before the IOC announces the final result in Guatemala in July.

The Commission will look at various criteria, from transport and accommodation – to the venues and Olympic Village.

Sochi is up against the South Korean resort of PyeongChang and Austria's Salzburg for the right to host the games.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Russian Olympic Committee, Leonid Tyagachyov, said that Sochi had a great chance to win the bid.

“As the city was selected by the IOC as one of the final 3 candidate cities – we must be doing something right. The IOC will visit the site and see what we've learnt. We have fantastic pistes and billions of dollars of financial help from the government – these are all the right ingredients to try and win the bid.”

Russia or the Soviet Union have never held the winter Olympics before, despite constantly being at the top of the medal tables, while the last, and only time the Summer Games were held, was 27 years ago in Moscow, which was marred by an American led boycott.

Aleksey Yagudin, who won Figure Skating Gold at the Salt Lake City Olympic Games, said Sochi was the perfect choice to host the event.

“Sochi is a great place, it has everything – it is a vacation place and also you can ski. I hope it is going to happen and Sochi will host Olympics.”

Even if Sochi does not win the bid, a legacy will be left in place to help train future champions.

At present, there is a lack of infrastructure to help athletes train in the off season, the summer, which forces a number of them to travel abroad.

Ekaterina Tudegesheva, a winner of the Snowboard World Cup Tour this season, could well compete in 2014, and said Sochi would have a massive impact on the athletes.

“It would be absolutely wonderful, because we wouldn't have to leave the country in order to train. And it would be a massive psychological help if Sochi wins the bid. I've been there, skied there, and the pistes are long, and I'm all for Sochi hosting the games.”

Her point of view was echoed by Mr Tyagachyov.

“This is one of the most important things. As a trainer, I can say, athletes only train during the summer months, while they compete in the winter. So the ability to train in Russia would be a massive help,” he said.