2006 Winter Olympics
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The XX Olympic Winter Games are currently being held in Torino ("Turin"), Italy from February 10 to February 26, 2006. It is the second time that Italy has hosted the Olympic Winter Games, as it hosted the VII Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, and the third time overall that Italy will have hosted an Olympic Games, as it also hosted the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome in 1960.
The official logo displays the name "Torino", the Italian name of the city called "Turin" in English (and in the local Piedmontese). The Olympic mascots of Torino 2006 are Neve ("snow" in Italian), a female snowball, and Gliz, a male ice cube.
Host selection process
Turin was chosen as the host of the Olympics in 1999, defeating Sion in Switzerland by 53 votes to 36. This was just after the IOC had adopted new election procedures during the 108th Extraordinary IOC Session in light of the corruption scandals surrounding the votes for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. Since IOC members were forbidden to visit the candidate cities (in the interests of reducing bribery), the 109th IOC Session elected a special body, the Selection College, to choose finalist cities from the pool of candidate cities after each had made their final presentations to the full IOC Session; the full IOC Session will then vote on the cities chosen as finalist cities by the Selection College. Although six cities launched candidacies and made presentations to the full IOC Session in Seoul in June 1999, the Selection College chose only two cities to go forward to be voted upon by the full IOC Session: Sion and Turin. The candidacies of Helsinki, Finland; Poprad-Tatry, Slovakia; Zakopane, Poland; and Klagenfurt, Austria were dropped by the Selection College after all six candidate cities made their candidate presentations to the full session [1].
The selection of Turin over Sion came as a surprise, since Sion was the overwhelming favorite. Media speculation was that the choice of Turin was due to the combination of four factors: Turin's overwhelming population size difference (Turin-1.5 mil, Sion-27,000), the skills of the Italian bid team, the IOC's desire to compensate Italy for the recent selection of Athens over Rome for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and finally a way to retaliate against Switzerland for the whistleblower role played by IOC member Marc Hodler in the revelation of the 2002 corruption scandal.
Organization
Out of 40,000 applicants, 20,000 volunteers have been selected to help the athletes, spectators and journalists, and to prepare the competition sites.
Construction
65 sporting facilities, various infrastructures, sport villages for athletes and media, and transportation infrastructures have been constructed for a total of 1700 million euros[2].
Among the most important sporting facilities that will be used:
- The Olympic stadium of Turin (formerly known as Comunale stadium);
- 5 sports halls (3 new, 2 rearranged): the "Palazzo a Vela" designed by Gae Aulenti (to host short track and ice skating), the Oval Lingotto (speed ice skating), Torino Esposizioni (ice hockey), the Ice stadium in corso Tazzoli, the Palasport Olimpico designed by Arata Isozaki (ice hockey);
- The Olympic arch of Turin;
- Olympic villages of Torino, Bardonecchia e Sestriere;
- The ice stadium in Pinerolo, re-arranged and enlarged, to host the curling competition;
- The new stadium in Torre Pellice (ice hockey);
- 12 new intermediate-level ski lifts in Cesana Torinese, San Sicario, Sestriere, Bardonecchia, Claviere, Sauze d'Oulx;
- di Pragelato;
- The tracks for bobsled, luge, and skeleton in Cesana (the only international track in Italy, along with the one in Cortina d'Ampezzo);
The most important transport infrastructure works are:
- the Turin subway (VAL system), that for the Olympic games will connect Collegno to the railway station of Porta Susa;
- the upgrade of 11 state roads and motorways connecting Turin with other Olympic sites.
In the city, from the urban point of view, the main developments are the Palafuksas, a glass building designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, the new civic library designed by Mario Bellini, the new Modern Art Gallery and the great project of the "Spina", that will provide urban regeneration over an area of 2 million square meters through the construction of an underground urban railway and the re-utilization of abandoned industrial areas.
Olympic problems
Bankruptcy threats
The financial situation of the Organizing Committee has gradually become more and more difficult. The latest development was a 64 million euro financial shortfall appearing at the end of 2005, mainly due to the fact that Italy's draft budget for 2006 did not include the government's promised final 40 million euro allocation to Olympic organizers. This shortfall could have led the Turin 2006 Games to declare bankruptcy. The concerns went as far as starting to define the first step of a bankruptcy procedure for Torino 2006, which could have happened if the organizing committee had failed to approve its budget at a January 20, 2006 board meeting. Finally the Italian Government promised to cover the shortfall.
Subway
The subway was finally opened to the public on February 4 after long delays. It operates on a shorter stretch (XVIII Dicembre to Fermi - 11 stations) than originally foreseen, reaching the main railway station (Porta Nuova) and the rest of the city centre after the Games. Its use will be free of charge for the duration of the Games.
Security
Cartoon war security
The organizers have stepped up the security measures [3] in connection with the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy and they insist that the Olympic Games are going to be safe.
Venues
Olympic areas
Olympic villages
Official Olympic training sites
Olympic mountain training site
Opening ceremony
Calendar
Participating NOCs
The following 80 National Olympic Committees have entered athletes at the 2006 Winter Olympics.
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Results
Template:2006 Winter Olympics medal count
Results by event
See also
Notes
External links
Official
- Official Website - In Italian, English and French
- International Olympic Commitee's Turin Page
- City of Turin - In Italian, English, French, Spanish and German
