Pressure is mounting on Italian authorities to accelerate preparations for the Milano Cortina Olympics amid funding gaps and unusually warm temperatures, even as the head of world skiing openly advocates a fundamental overhaul of how future Winter Games are hosted.
With the Games set to start in February, International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) President Johan Eliasch said Italy's challenges were symptomatic of deeper structural issues facing winter sports.
Rising costs, concerns over climate pressure and the waste of Olympic infrastructure after the Games are strengthening support within international sport for a rotating model of permanent Olympic hosts.
Advocates say the model would allow for a small pool of established venues that would host the Winter Olympics on a recurring basis.
Proponents argue that such a model would allow long-term planning, reduce spending and ensure consistent conditions for athletes and spectators, rather than forcing hosts to build or upgrade facilities that are rarely used once the Games end.
Eliasch said several Olympic venues were facing technical difficulties not because of shortcomings by local organisers, but because of funding issues at government level.
Games organisers have said the venues will be ready on time.
"We see here that there are some venues that have technical difficulties. It's not the organising committees. It's just simply a lack of funding from the Italian government," Eliasch told Reuters in an interview.
"It's really important that every effort is now made to make sure that everything is ready on time."
But Eliasch warned that readiness alone was not enough.
"We know that we will get everything somehow ready on time," he said.
"But the question is, of course, what [will be ready]? And that needs to meet a certain quality threshold, and also experience threshold for the spectators, the fans, the athletes, first and foremost, to make this a success."
Snow-making delayed due to warm temperatures
Eliasch warned that funding constraints could push preparations beyond critical tipping points.
"We shouldn't be penny-wise and pound-foolish," Eliasch said.
"And there are certain tipping points here in the process beyond which there is no return.
"So, from a quality perspective, for what we're trying to do here, it's really important that funding doesn't become an impediment to delivering the best of the best for those two and a half weeks in February."
Snow-making has emerged as a key concern as organisers prepare venues across northern Italy, and Eliasch noted that parts of the downhill course in Bormio had no snow on them.
"We know right now that the snowmaking equipment is working, but we have an additional problem, and that is that the temperatures are very warm," he said.
"Which means we can only produce snow during the night, not during the daytime, because it's too warm.
"So the theoretical capacity simply can't be met," he added.
The last time the Winter Games were held in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956, over 500 soldiers were needed to transport snow from neighbouring mountains to cover the Alpine courses.
Now, snow cannons make artificial snow, with Alessandro Morelli, Italian undersecretary of the presidency of the council of ministers, saying he was happy with the situation.
"In Livigno, 53 additional snow cannons are in operation, ensuring the production of the snow needed for the smooth running of the competitions, ahead of the Olympics," he told Italian news agency ANSA.
"The situation satisfies us, and we are confident that we can achieve an even better result than we had imagined."
Eliasch contrasted the situation with regular international competitions.
"If this was a World Cup race or a World Championship race, it would be easy," Eliasch said.
"We'd know exactly what plan B, plan C, plan D is. We wouldn't start making snow this late. We would have plans to bring in snow from other areas, track it in. We would have all sorts of contingency planning."
Olympic events are far more complex, making financial certainty essential.
"Without clarity on and transparency for the organising committee that we're trying to support in every possible way — and they are doing their best, they're working incredibly hard — but without resources, no-one is going to step forward and deliver without knowing that they will get paid," Eliasch, an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, said.
Rotation system 'logical'
"It is a very logical step to take," Eliasch said of a rotation model.
"And I have advocated for it with my IOC hat on. Without long-term planning, people are not going to invest. And the Games are getting more and more expensive.
"Huge investments, billions of dollars, are being invested in infrastructure, which becomes wasted after the Olympic Games have been held.
"For Olympic Winter Games, to pull all that together, they need at least five or six years' notice," he said.
Eliasch said the ideal number would be between six and eight rotating venues.
Climate pressure is accelerating the debate.
"Climate change could become an existential threat," Eliasch said.
"The only logical way to bring costs down to reasonable levels is to have a rotation scheme."
The stakes extend far beyond winter sport.
"We are competing with Formula One, NFL, NBA, football — we have to be at the forefront," he said.
"The five rings are magical. And that's something we must protect at all costs."
Reuters/ABC
