|
 Olympic
deja vu?
Reports have been coming in that preparations
for the 2006 Winter Games are running behind schedule just as they
were before the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.
The Los Angeles Times reports that in Turin, construction won't
be complete for months; the transport system promises to be a challenge;
there aren't enough hotel rooms; the budgets are a work in progress;
and the leadership of the organizing committee is still in flux.
Officials optimistic
Athens was bedeviled by construction woes and other issues, but
it all somehow came together at the last instant. Olympic officials
remain guardedly optimistic it will in Turin too in time for the
10 Feb 2006 opening ceremony.
"We are 13 months out and we have a very long way to go," said Jean-Claude
Killy, the former Olympic skier who is supervising preparations
for the Games. I think they will be ready two minutes before the
Games. At that time, it will all fall into place."
Serenely confident officials
In Italian, the word that describes the approach
to the organized chaos enveloping Games preparation is sereno -
it means a quiet certitude that things will work out. It's the word
Valentino Castellani, the head of the Torino 2006 organizing committee,
uses to describe his state of mind. "I'm at peace with myself,"
he says.
It's the attitude that explains how Mario Pescante, a longtime IOC
member and Italian culture ministry under-secretary overseeing sport,
can say all the Games facilities were done even as crews work on
the bobsled course that was moved because of asbestos at the previous
site.
"It is one year before the Games." Pescante said. "Mediterranean
peoples usually solve the problems in the last days or last hours."
The Olympic Stadium is due to be repaired this summer. The ice hockey
arena and main Olympic village are also due to be completed by September.
Last week, crews put down the last 30 feet of ice on the bobsled
course in advance of events later this month and in February.
Construction zone
US luge racers Brian Martin and Mark Grimmette, silver-medal winners
in Salt Lake City in 2002, tested the track over the weekend. "It
was very much a construction zone," Grimmette said. "There was no
infrastructure whatsoever for the start houses, for roads, whatever.
The roads were just graded by heavy machinery. They were muddy."
Still, athletes, officials and fans have to get there, and the logistics
of the 2006 Games remain a major concern. Turin, which hopes to
put itself on the tourist circuit with Florence and Venice, remains
chronically short of hotel beds. Killy estimates 2000 rooms remain
to be found.
Two site games
In terms of logisitics, the 2006 Games will practically be in two
distinct areas, with skating in Turin, and skiing and snowboarding
in the mountains. The Valle di Susa is reachable from Turin by major
highway, just an hour from town. But the other, Val Chisone, is
reachable only by a winding, two-lane road.
To make the traffic counts work, organizers have opted to scale
back attendance at venues such as ski jumping and cross-country
skiing. There will be only 7500 viewing spots available on a given
day at ski jumping (for comparative purposes, 18100 fans viewed
the event at the Salt Lake City Games)
Italian government involvement
Back in Turin, officials are confident that the organizing committee's
budget crisis will be resolved — with the Italian government kicking
in about US$200 million to cover shortfalls. A few weeks ago, Pescante
was appointed the government's special liaison to the Games. The
move underscored a trend toward strong federal government oversight
of the Games, as in Athens and Sydney.
At word of Pescante's involvement, Castellani floated
his resignation — then withdrew it. Pescante said he'd agreed
to the 2006 Games role only after IOC President Jacques Rogge and
Luca di Montezemolo, the chairman of Fiat, Turin's most important
company and the most important business figure in the area, implored
him to do so.
Before his 2001 election as IOC president, Rogge headed the regional
association European Olympic Committees. Pescante was his secretary-general
and now heads the organization. Asked who is in charge of the Turin
Games, Pescante said, "I don't know if this leadership can work
during the Olympic Games. But we have time to find out."
Source: LA Times
and agencies
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