The three countries bidding for the Winter Olympics have given their last press conferences, and are now giving their final, crucial presentations to IOC delegates. Either Sochi, Salzburg or Pyeongchang will be announced as the host of the 2014 games earl

The International Olympic Committee has begun its 119th session in Guatemala, and will announce its decision on July 4, 1700 Guatemala time (it is July 4, 2300 GMT and July 5, 0300 Moscow time).

The election and the announcement ceremony of the host city for Winter 2014 Olympics will be broadcast live on Russia Today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has been highly visible in Guatemala. He extolled the virtues of Sochi, which provides the best of both piste and beach.

“Sochi is a unique place. It has a very mild climate and a huge amount of snow at the time when the Winter Olympics take place. Sochi is a place where a totally new centre of winter sports could be created and it will be successfully used not only by Russian citizens and sportsmen but also by international guests,” Russian President pointed out.

Russia's bid team is focusing mainly on the way which the potential Olympic sites will be laid out into the two clusters – one in the mountains and another 30 minutes away on the Black Sea coast.

Despite the heat of the tropics some former Russian olympians managed to put on a display of ice hockey in support of Sochi's bid, which is not a usual site in downtown Guatemala. Even the national guards stopped and stared. 

Signing autographs in the street, Russian Olympic gold medalist Evgeny Plushchenko says he came to show support as part of a team.

“There are a lot of athletes here, Olympic champions, coaches, diplomats. Our President is here! We are a big team, and if I could make even just a little bit to help this would be great,” Evgeny Plushchenko confessed.

Each bid team will have 45 minutes each to make a final presentation to IOC delegates, followed by a 15 minute long question session. Sochi will be first, followed by Salzburg and Pyeongchang. Then the head of the Olympic Evaluation Commission will discuss the findings of a report on each city's strengths and weaknesses.

102 of the 111 IOC officials are allowed to vote. Nine members are banned from voting because they are somehow connected to one of the cities' bids. The winner will be the city which gets more than half of the votes. If none of the cities gets this amount of votes the city with the smallest number of votes will be excluded and there will be the second vote.

Journalists from all over the world are in Guatemala, but Russian, South Korean and Austrian journalists have a particular interest.

“All people, not only those who live in Pyeongchang, but in the whole country are full of enthusiasm concerning this event,” Wooseob Shim, FBS TV Korea reporter said.

With support behind each city, it's hard to predict who will win the bid. Just recently the President of the International Olympic Committee said Pyeongchang, Sochi and Salzburg all have a chance making these last few moments of waiting that much more difficult to bear.

Meanwhile, in Sochi itself a whole range of activities are underway, although not all residents support the idea of the Olympics coming to the city.

There is a busy agenda for July 4 in Sochi. First of all, there are some sport activities for the young and old scheduled for the day, as well as some training sessions by the 'Olympic legends', Russian sporting celebrities. These sessions are aimed at developing sports in the regions all across the country. Another event which deserves attention is the closing ceremony of the so-called Artistic Football Competition. This contest has been going on for more than a week already. Celebrities from the cinema world and famous singers have been playing football against each other. There will be a party regardless of whether Sochi wins the bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics or not.

Opinions on the possibility of hosting the Olympics are mixed. Most of the population of the Russian city resort of Sochi support the idea. But there are some who oppose it. First of all these are people who live on the sites of possible Olympic venues. Some of them said that if they were offered some alternative homes for those days the Games will be possibly held in Sochi maybe then they would move out and make way for building up the Olympic venues. But talks of such a possibility have not yet been held.

Meanwhile, festivities are going on in Sochi, where over 15,000 people will have the possibility to follow live on a huge screen the announcement of the results  on July 4 at 2300 JMT, 0300 Moscow time.