updated 2:33 p.m. ET June 21, 2007

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to Guatemala next month to back Sochi’s bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics.

Sochi is competing against Salzburg, Austria, and Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the winner will be selected on July 4 at an International Olympic Committee assembly in Guatemala City. Putin will travel to Guatemala on a working visit July 3-4, the Kremlin said Thursday.

Sochi bid chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Putin would be part of the formal presentation to the IOC assembly on the day of the vote.

“For him it’s a personal challenge,” he said.

Chernyshenko was in London to promote the bid along with Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova, the 2004 Wimbledon champion who lived in Sochi for five years before moving to the United States at 7.

“I left Russia for the U.S. because of a lack of facilities,” said Sharapova, who is seeded No. 2 at Wimbledon, which begins Monday. “If we win the Olympics, it will bring such an amazing opportunity for young people. It will give young kids the chance to stay in their country with their family and not have to go to another country to develop their dreams.”

The Black Sea resort of Sochi seeks to bring the Winter Games to Russia for the first time, and it has strong support from Putin.

Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer also will travel to Guatemala for the vote, Austrian officials said.

The presence of British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the IOC session in Singapore in 2005 was considered as a key factor in London’s victory for the 2012 Summer Games. Russia was the only country that did not send its leader to the vote to support Moscow’s bid.

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