“I know that you like sports,” Putin said, bolstered by his success. “Yu devote great attention to sports. You have probably heard that our city of Sochi is competing to host the 2014 Winter Olympics, and, if we win the right to host the games, I want to invite you and your family in advance to Sochi for the opening ceremony. I hope to see you there as honored guests. That is, of course, if we win the right…”

It's a good thing Putin was able to get that last phrase out. It made the offer somewhat less peculiar. I think the king was shocked any way. Probably no one had ever invited him to Garmisch-Partenkirchen when everyone knew that there only be snow in Sapporo that year.

“Well, that's a long way off,” the king mumbled. “It is hard to get the Olympics. Sweden has tried for a long time to receive the right to host the Olympic Games, but so far without luck…”

“Maybe the first step will be the holding of the Olympics in Russia, your neighbor,” Putin smiled.

“That is, the Olympics are getting closer to us,” the king said, after a moment's reflection.

He finally caught on to the president's tone. With less than a month before the International Olympics Committee votes in Guatemala, it is obviously important to him to tell those around him as often as possible that the 2014 Olympics will be in Sochi. Maybe he thinks that the committee members will get used to the thought, thanks to the lightning speed of Russian information agencies, by the end of the month.

“Absolutely right!” the president intones, as though he were celebrating his victory over the king and Sochi's victory over Salzburg at the same time.

“But first China,” Carl XVI Gustaf said in conclusion.