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The Russian bid-team from Sochi erupted in euphoria on Wednesday after Olympic president Jacques Rogge announced that the Black Sea resort would stage the 2014 Winter Games.

Sochi beat Pyeongchang of South Korea in a second and final round of voting by International Olympic Committee members after Austria's Salzburg were eliminated in the first round.

Sochi beat Pyeongchang by just four votes with 51 going to the Russians and 47 to the Koreans.

Pyeongchang had led the first round with 36, Sochi followed on 34 and Salzburg went out with 25.

Sochi bid leader Dmitry Chernyshenko told Reuters: "We are happy and satisfied and we owe a huge debt of gratitude to the

IOC."

Sochi's deputy prime minister Alexander Zhukov was overcome with emotion and said simply "happy, happy, only that, happy."

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Overjoyed delegates at the announcement ceremony in Guatemala City hugged and kissed each other."

Russian president Vladimir Putin, who had addressed the IOC in support of Sochi, the area where he has a holiday home and where he frequently skis, had already left before the verdict.

The Pyeongchang delegation sat slumped in dejection after falling at the final hurdle for the second time running. They lost narrowly to Vancouver for the right to stage the 2010 Games.

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