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SOCHI, Russia — Forget the parkas and stocking hats. Sunscreen and shades are the must-have items at the Sochi “Winter” Games.

The temperature soared to 17oC on Wednesday, prompting Olympic visitors to grab a nap on a bench outside a venue or hit the nearby beach for some impromptu sunbathing and even a dip in the Black Sea.

“I think it should always be like this,” said Yuri Valyeyev, a resident of Bryansk, between Sochi and Moscow, who came here to work in construction during the Olympics. “We are glad that it is held in Russia. Being a Russian I am very glad because everywhere in Russia is cold and here is warm.”

Organisers say they’re getting exactly what they expected from Sochi’s subtropical climate. Sure, it’s making life difficult for the skiers and snowboarders slushing through their runs on the mountain. But for thousands of fans and workers in this resort town, the warmth has been a welcome getaway from harsh winters elsewhere.

And the heat just keeps on coming

Forecasts call for highs of 17oC on Thursday and Friday and 16oC on Saturday before a gradual cool down on Sunday. While the warm temperatures are making life difficult for the skiers and snowboarders on the mountain in Krasnaya Polyana, they have provided a welcome relief to Russians, Canadians, Americans and other visitors who have endured harsh winters back home.

Just a few hundred metres from Olympic Park, visitors shed their clothes and lounged on the rocky shores of the Black Sea. Fishermen cast their lines into the water and Valyeyev jumped right in.

“The water, you can bear it,” Valyeyev said with a shrug of his shoulders. “And it’s normal for a Russian man.”

For Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Olympic Committee, bringing the Games to the subtropical climes of Sochi was as much an investment in the long-term prospects for this resort village by the sea as it was for any immediate payoff that the influx of visitors, and money, would bring.

They saw it as an opportunity to establish Sochi as an attractive vacation destination for visitors from all over the world, and from the rest of Russia, in particular.

Seeing lush green grass blanket the mountain cluster of events rather than billowy snow may not be advantageous in the short run. But it could get others thinking about heading to Sochi when they need to break from another long, hard winter.

“Yes, the weather is absolutely gorgeous, which is, of course, challenging,” Sochi 2014 spokeswoman Aleksandra Kosterina said. But, she added: “Nothing we are not prepared for.”

In Moscow, it was 2oC on Thursday and has been brutally cold for much of the season.

Sochi was considerably warmer than two cities it beat out for the 2014 Games — Pyeongchang, South Korea (-2oC) and Salzburg, Austria (4oC).

NEW YORK — His name is already on the ball. Now Adam Silver can put his stamp on the NBA.

On All-Star Saturday in New Orleans, Silver will deliver his first state of the league news conference as commissioner, a chance to tell a worldwide viewing audience how he plans to make the NBA bigger and better than it was under David Stern.

Don't expect anything major.

After working so closely with Stern during his 22 years at the league, Silver's fingerprints were already all over the $5.5 billion business long before he became in charge of it this month.

"I'm not coming in with a five-point plan," Silver told The Associated Press during an interview in his office at NBA headquarters. "I'm not an outsider coming into the league. I've been part of this league for a long time and if there was something that I thought should've been done markedly different than the way it's done now, I think David and I would have pushed each other to do it.”

"My priority is the game and that's what I'll be telling people next Saturday."

He has been at the NBA since 1992, overseeing the league's entertainment empire, helping negotiate collective bargaining agreements, and on February 1, he replaced Stern. He is liked by owners and respected by players, all believing Silver is the person to continue the massive growth the league saw under Stern.

"He's someone who has the same kind of feel that we have, in the sense of how can we make this pie bigger? How can we make this game bigger?" Miami Heat All-Star Dwyane Wade said.

"He's going to be a good commissioner I believe. Strong in what he believes in. He was in the [CBA] meetings as well, so we know what kind of guy he is and we respect him."

While the NBA's international growth is frequently considered Stern's greatest achievement, Silver seems focused on boosting the game's popularity in the United States.

Silver, 51, has always been ahead of the curve when it comes to basketball.

He attended Duke University in the early 1980s before the Blue Devils became a powerhouse, when nobody camped out outside Cameron Indoor Stadium because you could just get into games with a student ID. He moved to Chicago to attend law school and began going to games with friends in the early days of Michael Jordan, before the Bulls became the biggest thing in basketball.

Now Silver is following one of American sports' greatest commissioners.

He acknowledges there will be times it will feel "lonely" without Stern there to face big decisions together, but Silver has worked so closely with Stern and been involved in so many aspects of the league that the transition should be a natural one.

"Adam has been preparing for the job for a long time, he understands the business and I don't see him having much difficulty shifting into the role of commissioner," former NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter said.

But Silver, designated as Stern's successor in October 2012, knows that doesn't mean it will always be easy.

"I didn't have the same appreciation for what he was going through on a daily basis as the commissioner until I really thought about, 'What if that were I and I had to make that decision?'" Silver said. "And it's very different being sort of the voice in the ear of the guy making the decision as opposed to the guy making the decision."

Nonetheless, he believes the league is in a good place and ready to grow. He met with executives from Facebook and Twitter while visiting Sacramento and Golden State during his first week as commissioner, seeking ways to bring the NBA to a larger audience than ever.

"To me", Silver said, "the game is fantastic. The challenge is to use these new technologies and platforms to help more fans discover the game".

SOCHI, Russia –– Athletes at the Sochi Games will not be allowed to use helmet stickers as a mark of respect for Canadian freestyle skier Sarah Burke, who died in an accident two years ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Monday.

The IOC has told at least one athlete, Australian snowboarder Tora Bright, to refrain from using a sticker.

“It is not the rule that really is very important at all actually,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams. “In cases like this rules are not the most important thing. For us it is a question of what is appropriate and where would be the best place.

“We are very keen to help people who want to have a remembrance or do something and to do that in what would be the appropriate place,” he said.

“We have, as with a lot of the athletes here, huge sympathy. She really needs to be well remembered ... and absolutely, we want to help the athletes to remember her in some way and there are all sorts of things we can do.”

He said the IOC could help organise another event or news conference to remember multiple X Games champion Burke, who died in January from injuries sustained in a training crash in Park City, Utah.

“The competitions themselves, which are a place of celebration, are probably not the right place to really do that and we like to keep that separate, but we absolutely will support and want to help any kind of remembrance that the athletes particularly want to do.”

Inappropriate statement?

Burke had successfully lobbied for the inclusion of the superpipe event at this year’s Sochi Games and several athletes have been seen wearing tape on their foot straps with her name written on it.

“I ride with a Sarah sticker on my snowboard and helmet always. The IOC, however, considers Sarah stickers ‘a political statement’ and have banned them.” Bright wrote on social networking site Instagram.

“Sarah is a beautiful, talented, powerful woman, who’s spirit inspires me still. She is a big reason why skier pipe/slope are now Olympic events.”

The IOC also sent a letter to the Norwegian Olympic Committee reminding them that their decision to wear black armbands in memory of an athlete’s relative who had died before the start of the Olympics in Russia was inappropriate.

AMMAN –– Faisali on Sunday beat archrivals Wihdat 1-0 in a postponed Leg 1 match of the 62nd Jordan Professional League. Ibrahim Zawahreh scored Faisali’s goal in the first minute of the match, played at Amman International Stadium. The win put Faisali on third place of the league table with 14 points behind Baqaa, 18 points, and league leaders Wihdat, 19 points. Faisali played seven games while Wihdat and Baqaa played nine matches. Following Sunday’s match, Faisali will play Ramtha on February 14 and Shabab Urdun on February 19.

AMMAN — Faisali play traditional rivals Wihdat on Sunday as three postponed Leg 1 matches of the 62nd Jordan Professional League will be played over the next 10 days before scheduled matches restart on February 20.

Faisali and Wihdat have played 72 matches over the past 38 years, with both teams winning 25 times each and drawing 22 times. They both dominated the league until Shabab Urdun won in 2005/06.

“This match is always a classic Jordanian football evening. My team is in good spirits and ready for the match,” local media outlets quoted Wihdat coach Abdullah Abu Zam’eh as saying.

The coach noted that the recent training camp in Qatar — where they played Ramtha drawing 1-1, beat Qatar Gas 6-0 and Sudan’s Marrikh 1-0 — was very beneficial in light of no local matches.

As teams prepped up for the restart of the local season, Ramtha lost to Sudan’s Hilal 1-0 and beat hosts Qatar’s Shihanieh 4-1

Faisali coach Mohammad Yamani, on the other hand, said the match against Wihdat was important for both teams.

“We are ready and played four friendlies. Now we look ahead to our postponed matches, each one at a time,” he said.

Following Sunday’s match, Faisali will play Ramtha on February 14 and Shabab Urdun on February 19.

Meanwhile, the Jordan Football Association competitions committee met to finalise the season’s agenda.

The season was brought to a halt since December 8 after a major snowstorm brought life to a standstill in Jordan.

That was followed by the national team’s participation in the eighth West Asian Championship, the U-22 team’s participation at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U-22 Championship and the restart of Asian Cup Group A qualifiers.

Jordan will play Syria in its final Asian Cup qualifiers on March 5.

The JFA will set Weeks 10 and 11 matches following which the Jordan Cup quarters will be played on April 4 and 5 and the return leg on April 22 and 23. The season is set to end on May 31.

Last week, Shabab Urdun were eliminated from the Asian Champions Cup after losing 3-1 to Bahrain’s Al Hidd. Shabab Urdun and That Ras will next play the AFC Cup as well.

Locally, Wihdat are still in the lead and are trailed one point behind by Baqaa and Ramtha. Holders Shabab Urdun are now sixth while Faisali are seventh.