Italy has rejected NATO’s offer of security help for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games, organizing chief Mario Pescante told Reuters Thursday. Pescante, Extraordianry Commissioner for the 2006 Games, said Italy was ready to go it alone having honed its security measures for Pope John Paul’s funeral in April. He said, “we had three million people for the death of the pope and dozens and dozens of heads of state. We are already trained for this kind of thing.
“We have said thank you for the offer of help, but we will do it ourselves”.
Scare stories during the Athens 2004 Games when NATO aided in sea and air patrols were blamed for many athletes competing in half-empty stadiums and Pescante said Italy wanted to avoid a replay at the Turin 2006 Games. “One way to help security is not to talk about it”, he said, adding that preparations were well underway.
In Athens the group comprised Australia, Israel, Britain, Spain, Germany, the United States and France. Pescante declined to say who was now involved. Italy could also sign security agreements with dozens of other countries due to meet in New York in November.
But the international cooperation would not extend to allowing armed security guards to accompany athletes –which some countries wanted to do during the Athens Games.
