The upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, will take place from Feb. 7 to Feb. 23 and are set to be the most expensive Games in history.
A good chunk of the $51 billion price tag went toward the 11 new venues that workers had to build from the ground up as part of the transformation Sochi has undergone since its Olympic bid was awarded in 2007.
That transformation has caused concern among environmentalists who say that Sochi's biologically rich terrain has been sacrificed for the sake of buildings that will serve little purpose after the Games. The complaints have done nothing to stop construction, though, and the resort city on the Black Sea is now in its final stages of preparation.
Below, we've collected images of a few preparatory moments before the action begins.
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