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Olympic Blog

Pique Newsmagazine editor Bob Barnett is on the ground and on the mountains with news and photos from Torino, Italy.
torino_2006
Safe and secure, so far

February 19 Despite the fact that Danish and American flags hang on the balconies outside Pique Newsmagazine’s European bureau in Bardonecchia, there has to date been no fear or hint that the bad guys in the global war on terrorism are anywhere nearby.

Indeed, the only connection between the Olympics and terrorism seen so far in these mountain towns is Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which is playing in several theatres.

Of course the large police presence, the check points for private vehicles on mountain roads and the ubiquitous mag & bag stations at every venue and athletes village may be enough to dampen the enthusiasm of any would-be terrorist.

Or it may be that the outdoor sports of the Winter Olympics are just not of much interest to people other than those who know the sports and the athletes. How much of a political statement would be made by attacking a bunch of cross-country skiers in the woods or a pair of men stacked on top of each other and lying on a sled rocketing down a luge track? And just what is that AWACS plane that is apparently flying overhead looking for, a missile aimed at Bode Miller?

An uneducated guess would be that German authorities will have far more stringent and complicated security matters to deal with when that country hosts the World Cup of soccer this summer.

Perhaps that is the beauty of having all the outdoor sports spread out over nine venues and five mountain towns: there is no one focal point for terrorists. However, there is also no focal point for spectators or people just interested in being part of the Olympics.

As for the police presence, there are a few carabinari at the train stations and walking the streets but they are armed with no more than a pistol; nothing to make you think the global war on terrorism has escalated.

It’s at the venues themselves that security is tightest, although “tight” seems to be one of those words whose meaning is subject to various regional interpretations in Italy. At one athletes village a Whistlerite managed to wangle his way in despite having no accreditation. At another, a Whistlerite was told he couldn’t even photograph the buildings.

Speaking of athletes villages

If memory serves, one of the reasons the Cheakamus location was chosen for the Whistler athletes village was it was going to be easier to provide security to an isolated compound than it would be to an area like Rainbow, which is right next to Alpine Meadows.

But Vancouver’s athletes village will be in an area that is almost downtown, and the athletes villages in Sestriere and Bardonecchia are right in the hearts of those towns. Mind you, the athletes villages are surrounded by fencing, but it’s nothing more than would protect an inner-city school.

The fencing is also wrapped in Torino 2006 banners and the athletes hang their nation’s flags outside their rooms, so it’s not as though the villages are disguised and no one knows where they are.

And one of the virtues of having the athletes village in the heart of a town, from an athlete’s perspective, is that it’s an easy walk to the bars, clubs and restaurants.

The return of the log person

The Log Man

One of the best characters in David Lynch’s weirdo TV series Twin Peaks was the Log Lady. Her male counterpart is apparently Swiss.

The men’s alpine ski races are some of the signature events of the Winter Olympics, particularly for the nearby countries that share the Alps: Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France. For Saturday’s super G many fans came dressed in the colours and costume of their nation or alpine region. The Germans were decked out in red, yellow and black and furry animal headgear. The Italians sang O Solo Mio while they waited for the race to start. The Norwegians sported Viking helmets with horns.

And one Swiss fellow brought his log.

With a thick beard, an alpine felt hat and a Swiss flag he already looked like a mountain man, but on his back he had a small canvas pack — with a log strapped to the top of it. The hinges on the log suggested the inner contents may have been schnapps rather than wood.

YP goes to school

Peter Young

February 18 – If the Torino Olympics are a school for VANOC and the people putting on the 2010 Games, one of the most attentive people in class is Peter Young, the long-time race organizer for Whistler-Blackcomb.

Young, better known as YP, has been in Sestriere since early February, and will remain here until the Paralympics conclude in mid-March. He’s been working with the jury for the men’s races; on the hill inspecting the courses in the morning, sitting in on jury meetings in the evening and participating in discussions about scheduling, training runs and what needs to be done to make the courses safe for racing.

“I’ve been having an unbelievable learning experience here in Sestriere,” Young said.

“I’ve worked on quite a few World Cups and the Olympics is just such a whole other animal in terms of… I guess what makes it different is the security and also the media and the whole complicated aspect of the broadcast. It’s not just one show that you’re looking at if you have to change the schedule, it’s all the other events that are going on at the same time.”

The alpine ski events of the 2006 Olympics are spread over three different mountains, with three different finish areas, in Sestriere Colle, Sestriere Borgata and San Sicario Fraiteve. The situation will be different in Whistler in 2010.

“Here I think it’s a little more complicated than it will be in Whistler,” Young said. “Because in Whistler we will only have one stadium, one big double finish area, so the infrastructure won’t be quite as big. It’ll be a little more efficient.

“There may be some challenges with the scheduling and potential re-scheduling of events with that setup, but that’s some of the stuff we’re learning now as we’re here; how it works. We’re kind of already working on our schedules and backup plans and what have you.”

The finish for the men’s and women’s alpine events in Whistler will be on the Timing Flats above Creekside. There will be some major reshaping of the area, starting this summer, in order to accommodate the stadium and some changes to the men’s and women’s courses.

“We’ll have a double finish at the Timing Flats,” Young said.

“The women’s course will be coming down Franz’s and Frandola and Fortner’s Corner and that area into the finish. And then the men will be coming down the Dave Murray through Coaches Corner. And at Heinz’s Hop, now, the course will hang a tighter right and it will go right out to the power line. And then there will be a new Hot Air for the men’s finish.

“The theory is we’ll be able to run training runs for both men and women simultaneously, and that way we’ll be able to keep on with the schedule.”

After more than a week of sunny, cold weather this weekend the clouds and snow moved into the mountains around Sestriere, known as the Milky Way. Course preparations for last weekend’s men’s downhill and combined downhill looked relatively simple, but Young said the race jury worked very hard with local ski instructors and members of the Italian military to get things ready prior to the Games.

“About a week before (the Olympics started) they had 40 cm of new snow, so they had a lot of work to do and a lot of preparation in churning the snow up, applying lots of water to the hill with the water bars to make it really hard,” Young said.

“It’s sort of interesting to see how with the men’s courses they apply a lot more water, it’s a lot harder then the women’s. And also interesting to see how they can change the surface a little bit from men’s to women’s events by doing a little grooming on top of that water-barred surface.

“For the Paralympics, which will all be here in Sestriere, they’ll also recondition the hills so they’re not quite as hard.”

All in all, school is going well for Young.

“I’ve just met so many great people here in Italy,” he said. “I totally respect what they’re doing on the hill. I think they’re doing a fantastic job. Lots of them are wanting to come and work in Whistler in 2010.”

The Olympic experience

By Bob Barnett

February 17 – Bardonecchia is a nice town of perhaps 6,000 people, 90 kilometres from Torino in the Piedmontese Alps. It has a train station and a pedestrian-friendly main commercial street lined with what appear to be locally-owned pastry shops, sports stores, bars, restaurants, grocery stores and retailers. On the balconies of many of the buildings are flags from various nations participating at the Olympics.

The merchants are friendly; welcoming to foreigners and residents alike as they stroll down Via Medail in the evenings in search of an aperitif and the finger food that, by Piedmont custom, accompanies a drink before dinner.

Bardonecchia also has three ski areas on its outskirts, one of which — Melezet — is hosting the snowboard events.

Melezet is three or four kilometres outside of town, on the way to the local golf course/cross-country ski area. The stands at the base of the halfpipe and snowboard cross courses hold about 4,000 spectators, and behind the stands is a small village of tents housing food outlets, souvenir shops, toilets, the ubiquitous mag & bag security check points and all the offices required by press and officials.

The events themselves have, so far, come off well. But after the medalists take the podium and the national anthem is played the energy and excitement dissipates. Spectators try to find the correct bus to take them back to wherever they may be staying, in Bardonecchia, Oulx, Cesana or two hours away in Torino. There is no gathering place where Norwegians, Germans, Americans and all the other spectators who have come thousands of kilometres can celebrate. And particularly after a high-energy event like snowboard cross, that’s a shame.

The situation is similar at San Sicario, which hosts the women’s downhill and the biathlon events. The spectator areas are well removed from whatever village centre there is in San Sicario. After the event people are crammed into buses and shuttled back down the mountain to another transportation hub, or to endure a long bus ride home.

The events at most mountain venues work, it’s just that, as Gertrude Stein said, there’s no there there. For spectators, the Olympic experience at some of these events is no more than another competition — a very important competition, but not much else. As only official Olympic sponsors are allowed to sell products within the venue areas, spectators don’t even get to taste the local beer or sausages.

Of course it’s different in Torino, where the whole city surrounds the ice venues and people gather nightly in the piazzas for the official medal ceremonies and concerts. There is even a sense of the Olympic ideals when you bring several thousand people of various nationalities together in a baroque piazza under a full moon to listen to music and watch fireworks. And the bars and restaurants surrounding the piazzas do a good business selling Barolo wines, truffles and pasta.

Among the mountain venues, Sestriere also works. It works because there is a central gathering point, a piazza lined with shops and bars and restaurants, within walking distance of the finish line for all the alpine technical events. People gather in the piazza to watch events on the giant TV screen, to have a drink or just to hangout and watch the Herman Maier fan club try to outdo the Giorgio Rocca fan club with a cacophony of bells, horns and funny little hats.

Is there is a lesson for Whistler in this? A preliminary suggestion would be getting spectators back to the village quickly and efficiently after an event is key. But the decision to have the medals ceremony for the Whistler events in Whistler is also crucial.

A night on a town

February 16 – Whistler is sponsoring several Whistler Pub Nights at B.C. Canada House during the Olympics, and Wednesday’s event had a genuine Whistler feel to it.

Guarding the door of the log house was the Rev. Mike Varrin, cleverly disguised in men’s clothes. On the decks was DJ Mat The Alien. On the dance stage, in white dreadlocks and a furry bikini, was Ace MacKay-Smith. Celebrating his 40 th birthday (but not his women’s team’s downhill results) was Rob Boyd. Staff Sgt. Norm McPhail had just returned from a tour of venues with security personnel. Tourism Whistler was represented by Diane Mombourquet and Michelle Comeau Thompson, while the Whistler-Blackcomb contingent included Dave Brownlie, Doug Forseth, Stuart Rempel, YP and Christina Moore.

Standing in for the RMOW was John Rae, who is here until April working for TOROC. Councillor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden was due to arrive in Italy yesterday while Mayor Ken Melamed and administrator Bill Barratt will be here next week.

All of which makes one wonder: Who’s running things in Whistler?

Or maybe things are running better than ever.

The fox guarding the hen house?

Perhaps it was TOROC that assigned GLC manager Mike Varrin to doorman duties at the pub night as a way of keeping an eye on him.

The Reverend, it seems, managed to manoeuvre his way into one of the athlete villages, even though his athletic credentials are a little bit short of Olympic status.

Varrin was busy Wednesday night, as there was a lineup to get into the log house all evening.

B.C. Canada House is a hot spot for Turinese, at least those who know about it. Located within walking distance of the medals plaza and Torino’s landmark Mole Antonelliana, the log structure stands out amongst centuries-old baroque buildings and piazzas.

Not everyone in Torino knows about it, but not everyone in Torino is tuned in to the Olympics. Last Sunday’s soccer showdown between Torino’s Juventus, the leaders of Italy’s Serie A league, and Inter Milan, who are in second place, got more local press coverage than any single Olympic event.

Olympic camping

Jones Tent and Awning got its start in Vancouver following the Great Fire of 1886 that left only a dozen buildings standing. Everyone lived out of tents until new buildings could be constructed, and Jones became the unofficial supplier of fire survivors.

There hasn’t been any great fire at the Torino Olympics, but spectators, media and officials at the mountain venues are learning all about living in tents.

The number of tents, and the space they occupy at each venue, is staggering. Food services, doping controls, media centres, porta-potties, offices, official Olympic merchandise and a dozen other functions are all housed in tents packed around the grandstands at each venue. Between all the tents is a labyrinth of paths defined by wire fences festooned with Olympic banners.

The 2010 Games may give Jones Tent and Awning its biggest boost in more than a century.

Three models promoting Aspen The Series, an internet webisode series, pose with fans at Sestriere.

Making their presence felt

February 14 – Sestriere is the focal point for the mountain events at the Torino Olympics, as it hosts all the men’s alpine races and the women’s technical events, and is the best known of the six mountain towns hosting Olympic competitions.

But it’s not the only ski area with a presence here.

Hanging from a balcony overlooking the main piazza in Sestriere is a banner for Steamboat, the Colorado resort synonymous with Billy the Kidd.

In another corner of the piazza is a bar and a little wooden kiosk occupied by the Valais region of Switzerland. At the kiosk they are serving samples of raclette and hot wine. In the bar, Swiss TV is beaming home images and quotes from Swiss ski fans.

But for pure bang for your buck you can’t beat Aspen — even though the Colorado resort probably didn’t spend a dollar directly on marketing.

Aspen The Series, a TV show presumably, grabbed all the attention in the piazza this afternoon when three models dressed in white, tight-fitting clothing with the TV series logo on their backs strolled through and posed for pictures with anyone and everyone interested.

And there were a lot of men interested.

Even members of a traditional Italian alpine band, wearing stretch pants of their own, stopped playing to have their pictures taken with the girls.

The curling action being shown on the big screen in the plaza at the time just didn’t seem to hold people’s attention.

Location, location, location

B.C. Canada House, the rendezvous point in central Torino jointly sponsored by the provincial and federal governments, has produced a promotional newspaper it is handing out to people who stop by.

The three-section broadsheet is full of stories about B.C. high-tech companies, business opportunities, and profiles of Whistler and other tourism destinations. There are also “ads” in the paper for B.C. Canada House sponsors — mostly agencies of the federal and provincial governments.

One full-page ad for Leading Edge B.C., the government-industry partnership that promotes B.C. as a high-tech centre, features a photo of Whistler’s Shannon Byrne, president and CEO of Paradata Systems Inc. The main lines in the ad reads: “I can locate my technology company anywhere. I chose B.C.”

While that was the case, Paradata was sold last month to the California firm Payment Processing Incorporated.

Seven jobs were lost in the merger, but 70 per cent of the 25 Paradata employees remain in either their Whistler or Vancouver offices.

Family comes first

February 13 – The reality of hosting numerous sports events in the mountains hit home Sunday afternoon, when the men’s downhill was going on at Sestriere, a women’s downhill training run was taking place at San Sicario, there was cross-country skiing at Pragelato and they were preparing for the men’s luge final at Cesana.

All these sites are linked by a single, two-lane mountain road, with Sestriere at the top of the pass that connects San Sicario and Cesana in the Susa Valley with Pragelato in the Chisone Valley. With events ending at roughly the same time, vehicles were filing into Sestriere from both sides.

Contrary to clichéd predictions, the problem wasn’t Italian driving habits or a lack of buses, although there weren’t any empty seats to be found. Rather it was the vans — some with police escorts — carrying members of the Olympic family that seemed to need to be ahead of each bus leaving Sestriere, while simultaneously confronting buses coming up to the ski area. The resulting three-vehicle alignment on a two-lane road had predictable results.

The 30 km ride back to the mountain transportation hub of Oulx, which normally takes about 45 minutes, took an hour and a half Sunday afternoon. Not an outrageous delay, but it makes one appreciate how VANOC’s decision to move the freestyle and snowboard events to Cypress Bowl simplified the transportation logistics.

In 2010 Whistler will have three event venues — the bobsleigh/luge track on Blackcomb, the alpine events at Creekside and the Nordic events in the Callaghan valley — with the village as the hub. Between Creekside and the village will be a busy stretch of road for buses and vehicles carrying Olympic family members, but Alta Lake Road does offer a secondary route, for those in the know.

But it’s a little more complicated than that. The Creekside events may end at the Timing Flats on the Dave Murray Downhill, which means there will be a lot of traffic on the road up to Taluswood. Similarly, getting spectators, athletes and Olympic family members down from Base II on Blackcomb to the village will cause some headaches. But at least they aren’t the main arteries into and out of town.

Retail from sheds

It hasn’t been a banner winter for snow in Sestriere. While it looks good on TV and is ideal for ski racing, the snow is scarce enough that even at 2,000 metres southern-facing slopes are bare.

That, combined with the fact that all the slopes in Sestriere and San Sicario and one of Bardonecchia’s three ski areas were closed to the public for part of January and the entire month of February, has turned ski and snowboard shops into souvenir stores. There is at least one retail space in Sestriere with a “for rent” sign in the window.

The retailers that are doing a little better are the regional artisans and specialty food producers who are operating out of what look like wooden garden sheds lining the entrance to the main plaza in Sestriere. Locally-produced honey, chocolates, carved wooden figures and bottles of grappa are moving a lot better than ski and snowboard equipment.

There are lots of spectators for the mountain events, with Scandinavians, Germans, French and Americans particularly conspicuous and enthusiastic. But most are here to cheer on their athletes and celebrate, rather than ski or shop.

Dog-gone Games

Don’t take it as the definitive statement on the state of retail in the mountains during the Olympics, but a lonely customer wandering down the aisle of a grocery store the other day surprised a little wiener dog in the midst of relieving itself under a shelf. Apparently he’d found a place in the middle of the store where he was rarely disturbed during business hours.