The biathlon venue for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games is ready, and the apartments at the Olympic Village area furnished and waiting for visitors.
Builders were constructing the spectator stands at Cesana. Ubaldo Prucker, vice-chairman of the International Biathlon Union and Turin Games competition manager told reporters “this is one of the best stadiums ever. There is a long part of the competition that spectators can follow, it’s exciting”. But only 6,500 spectators will be able to follow the competition directly as capacity is limited by transport and security constraints, reports the Guardian.
Prucker added, “it’s a really low number, we’re not happy with that”.
According to the Guardian the limits also affect other mountain venues such as Pragelato. At Pragelato most spectators will watch the competitions from plastic seats on open-air stands, but the Guardian reports a few IOC guests will be able to view the ski jumpers through panoramic windows from a “sleek wood-and-stone” lounge.
Organizers have set up a complex shuttle system to prevent traffic jams on the winding mountain roads but the International Olympic Committee (IOC) told Turin on its last visit that transport still remained a concern.
Meanwhile the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) has launched a new Web site that will include Turin 2006 results, events and broadcast schedules, a photo gallery as well as a downloadable ticker showing up to date results on a user’s personal desktop.
Surfers will also be able to access additional CBC Olympic content through interactive services such a breaking news alerts, e-mail newsletters, Mobile/PDA downloads, pod casts and RSS news feeds.
