Pressure builds on Milano Cortina organisers amid climate concerns and funding issues

VAL GARDENA – Pressure is mounting on Italian authorities to accelerate preparations for the Milano Cortina Olympics amid funding gaps and unusually warm temperatures, as the head of world skiing openly advocates a fundamental overhaul of how future Winter Games are hosted.

With the Games due 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 sport, as rising costs, climate pressure and under-used infrastructure fuel calls for a rotating model of permanent Olympic hosts.

Proponents argue that such a model – in which a small pool of established venues would host the Winter Olympics on a recurring basis – 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 in Italy were facing technical difficulties not because of shortcomings by local organisers, but because of funding issues at government level.

Games organisers, meanwhile, 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 organizing committees. It’s just simply a lack of funding from the Italian government,” he told Reuters in an interview.

“It’s really important that every effort is now made to make sure that everything is ready on time.”

Eliasch also warned that readiness alone was not enough.

“We know that we will get everything somehow ready on time,” he said. “But the question is... what 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.”

He added 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.”

Snowmaking 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,” Eliasch 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 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 – 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 said.

On a rotation model, he added: “It is a very logical step to take... And the Games are getting more and more expensive. Huge investments, billions of dollars, are being invested in (new) infrastructure, which becomes wasted after the Olympic Games have been held.”

In other news, American skiing star Lindsey Vonn will compete in her fifth Winter Olympics after officially booking her spot on the US team, the US skiing federation confirmed on Tuesday.

Vonn, 41, returned to competition a little over a year ago after a break of more than five years, and has impressed this season with four podium finishes, including one victory in five races. She leads the World Cup downhill standings after three starts. REUTERS, AFP