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Turin ready to unveil Olympics
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-02-09 05:43
TURIN: Two days to go and the last minute rush ahead of the 20th Winter
Olympics has gone into overdrive in Turin.
Athlets returning
to their village in the Olympic Park descend a circular staircase in
Turin, Italy February 8, 2006. The Torino 2006 Winter Olympic Games get
underway February 10. [Reuters] |
Friday's
opening ceremony is expected to be followed by 35,000 spectators inside Stadio
Olimpico stadium and approximately 2 billion television viewers worldwide.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Jacques Rogge is confident
that the transportation problems are just last-minute glitches in the race for
the first winter Olympics in Italy since Cortina DAmpezzo in 1956.
While Turin itself and the surrounding mountain venues are ready for the
action which gets underway for real on Saturday, the day after the opening
ceremony, the biggest problem remains traffic headaches.
Getting the Italian drivers to respect the lanes reserved for Olympic
vehicles is proving a problem as is the 2,000 bus drivers who have been drafted
in from all around Italy and are also unfamiliar with the local roads.
"Like with all games, the final stretch is always the most difficult one,"
said Rogge.
"Here and there, a couple of issues need to be solved. But there are still a
few days until the opening ceremony. I'm very confident these will be very good
games."
"What is important is that the fundamentals are very good," he said. "There
is no structural issue. There is nothing that cannot be solved in a matter of
days. I'm confident everything will be done by the opening ceremony."
The problem over doping controls has been resolved with Rogge hailing the
agreement reached with the Italian government which allows controls to be
carried out by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
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