This paper discusses the Russian great power myth in relation to the upcoming Winter Games in Sochi in 2014. This paper examines how the mega-event is discursively constructed as a manifestation of Russia’s return to great power status. The successful carrying out of the Games would strengthen the legitimacy of President Putin personally. The holding of safe and secure Games in the volatile area of the North Caucasus region would connote the final vanquishing of domestic insurgents and maybe mute Putin’s emerging domestic critics at the same time. Politically this is a calculated risk, however, and the stakes are high.