Alexei Nemov, Editor-in-Chief of BOLSHOI Sport, four-time Olympic champion, and member of the Laureus World Sports Academy, once again invited his friends – famous Russian and international athletes, as well as members of the athletic, political, and business establishment – to a gala reception “Sochi-Moscow-Rio” held on May 20 at the Vetoshny Art Center.

The event was a logical extension of the Friends of BOLSHOI Sport reception, which Alexei Nemov and the BOLSHOI Sport magazine hosted last October, on the eve of the Sochi Olympic Games. The main idea behind “Sochi-Moscow-Rio” was to convey the mood of the Winter Olympic Games winners to those athletes going to the Summer Olympic Games, who have already begun preparing for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games to be held in 2016.

Six months ago in October 2013, during the first event in the Friends of Big Sports series held on the eve of the Sochi Olympics, the hosts Alexei Nemov and Elena Hanga were wishing the Russian Olympians victory in Sochi. And Russia’s triumph at the Olympics surpassed all expectations: the 22nd Winter Olympic Games and Paralympic Games were the most successful in Russia’s history. But now, it’s time to prepare for new challenges: the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be held in 2016, and preparations for them have already entered a climactic stage. The “Sochi-Moscow-Rio” event format became a symbolic metaphor for this new stage, when the BOLSHOI Sports honorary awards were handed to the winners of the Sochi Olympics by those athletes who will represent their country in Rio.

Mercedes-Benz RUS, Don Stroy and BKS Premier were the official partners of the event, with the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation, known primarily for its annual Laureus World Sports Awards, as the official charity partner, and Russia Beyond The Headlines as the main media partner of the evening.