Five months before the Turin 2006 Winter Games begin most of the hassles in preparing for the Games are over. But one of the problems the Turin 2006 bid committee still has to overcome is security.
Turin 2006 head Valentino Castellani said Thursday, “we have resolved all the financial problems. The venues are pretty much all ready. Most of the test events were held last winter with great success and in November and December we will have the final test events. We are getting close”.
The key remaining test events are hockey and speedskating. The two main venues for these sports – the Palasport Olimpico and the Oval Lingotto – will be completed in November.
The 56 miles of pipes used to create the ice surface at the speedskating oval were turned on this week for the first time.
The response for 20,000 volunteers was so large that recruiting ended earlier than planned.
Games supervisor and government minister Mario Pescante said, “up until yesterday we were preparing an Olympics, starting today we are organizing”. He added, “we are preparing very well but it is not possible to be 100 per cent secure.
“The best way to ensure security is not to talk about it. What I can say is that all the funds requested have been provided. We asked the government for a ($12.22 million) budget increase and we received it”.
Italian Olympic Committee secretary general Raffaele Pagnozzi says that the country has no major winter sports stars at the moment, adding “this country does not have the Olympics in its mind yet. Italy is a very particular, vertical country. Three-quarters of Italy doesn’t know what snow is. But I really think it’s just a matter of getting nearer. The upcoming events, most of all the torch relay, will involve the entire country”.
