Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Translated from a piece in today's Le Monde....
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The IOC shows its concern over the Turin Winter Olympic delays
Jacques Rogge, IOC President, presses the Italian state to intervene directly in the organization of the forthcoming Games.
The Turin 2006 Winter Olympics have gone into an almost uncontrollable skid. The budget remains unconfirmed, there are delays in terms of both sponsorship and promotion, and criticisms are increasing over the standard of the infrastructure.
Jacques Rogge, Belgian President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), was in Rome on Thursday October 21st, calling the Italian authorities to order. They are accused of not becoming sufficiently involved in the financing and organizing of the Games, which are to begin on February 10th 2006.
For several months now the IOC has expressed concern over the lack of support from the government of Silvio Berlusconi, evidenced notably by the limited involvement of Italian state sector industry. During a summit meeting with the President of the Italian Council, ministers and Turin 2006 organizers, Mr Rogge insisted on a general mobilization.
He requested national level coordination and promotion, and not just in the Piedmont region. He also argued for greater business and industrial investment.
“Mr Rogge’s requests will be translated into concrete action by the government”, responded Franco Frattini, Foreign Affairs Minister, at the conclusion of the war council. The first action was to appoint a supervisor to oversee Toroc, the organisation committee.
Silvio Berlusconi gave carte blanche to Mario Pescante, Secretary of State for Sport and former President of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), in coordinating the committee. He will be "the sole point of reference for all the organisers", Mr. Frattini explained.
However the government does not intend spending a single penny. It will be up to Mario Pescante, the new ‘iron man’ of the Winter Games, to find the 180 million euros needed to fill the hole in the total budget of 1.1 billion. "We cannot detail how we are going to fill the hole, nor where we shall be able to source extra funding,” confessed Franco Frattini. “However, the government will attempt to persuade state industry to sponsor the Games." A third of the deficit is due to the increase in the costs of improvements to infrastructure, the remainder to a shortfall in private funding. The role of the new overseer will be to "control expenditure, structure costs and stimulate new investment".
"A SOCCER CLUB’S BUDGET"
The first sign of the new unanimity of purpose insisted on from above appeared when the Employers’ Union Chairman, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, undertook to guarantee that business would participate.
Jacques Rogge tried to lighten the situation, by putting it in terms the Italians understand very well a "180 million, that’s a soccer club’s budget."
Government intervention and control of a project initiated by local and regional authorities has delighted the IOC, which until now has been kept at arm’s length by the Piedmont authorities.
However in Turin sensibilities have been upset, where the left of centre Mayor immediately threatened to withdraw from the Toroc organising committee. He does not appreciate having to work under the control of a member of the centre-right government.
Between now and February 2006, political tensions will probably continue to flavour organisers’ lives. The latter will have to face up to multiple criticisms. In Italy, Toroc is criticised for choosing foreign companies for the supply of certain services. Abroad, it is criticised for being excessively prudent.
Certain international federations are pointing the finger at infrastructure shortcomings. Thus the President of FIS, the International Ski Federation, Swiss Gianmarco Kasper, on Wednesday October 20th denounced the lack of 4,000 beds within reasonable distance of the Olympic sites. He also criticised the distances involved: "It takes five hours to get to some of the sites", he complained.
The organisers responded that the maximum time needed to reach the Turin Olympic village would be two and a half hours, the time it takes to travel to the most distant site at Pragelato, where the ski jumping is being held.
As for the hotel accommodation in the Piedmont mountains, there was only a shortfall of 700 beds, they claimed. Toroc expects to find the remainder by the end of November, the date when the definitive opening project is to be presented to the IOC Ad Hoc committee.
Jean-Jacques Bozonnet
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