Countdown to Winter Olympics 2014 Begins as Countdown Clocks Unveiled in Sochi, Russia

Only 365 days and counting to the biggest spectacle in winter sports, hailing next year from scenic Russia.

To celebrate the countdown to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games next February from the Black Sea coastal city of Sochi, Russia--which was awarded the rights to host the games in 2007 by the International Olympic Committee --countdown clocks were set off across the country this week to run from 365 days on downwards until the start of next year's winter games.

To celebrate the kickoff, celebrated Russian Olympic champions such as Olympic gold medal speed skater Svetlana Zhurova and 2012 Olympic high jump champion Ivan Ukhov took part in ceremonies in Moscow marking the countdown to the Winter Olympics.

And the celebrations didn't stop there, as the IOC issued the official Olympic invitations to Canada, Brazil, South Korea and Russia, while the Bolshoi Ice Dome hosted an ice show spectacular to showcase Sochi's transformation into an Olympic host city.

Russian skating stars Irina Slutskaya and Tatiana Navka were part of that show.

Yet on the heels of the celebrations, Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling for a senior member of the Russian Olympic Committee to be fired for letting the costs of the winter games in Sochi run too high.

As it stands, the winter games in Sochi are set to cost $51 billion--making it the most expensive games, of either season, in Olympic history.

Putin was reportedly furious with Akmet Bilalov, the Olympic committee member in question whose company is building a ski jump for the games, when Putin heard that the ski jump had soared in price from $40 million to $265 million, and was running behind schedule for completion.

The games are expected to bring in more than $300 million in surplus to Olympic organizers after the games are over, and organizers have previously stated that they were confident that they would not need any government money to have the games held in Sochi.

However, Russian government has already spent $13 billion so far for the games, and projects that they will have to spend $18 billion before the kickoff of the games next February.