Star Metro - Ski chief confident of Olympic preparations

Johan Eliasch, speaking on the sidelines of the men's World Cup super-G in Kitzbuehel, played down concerns over the production of artificial snow at the Livigno site, which is to host the snowboarding and freestyle skiing at the Olympics.

"We have been very lucky with the cold weather," Eliasch said. "Snow production has been able to commence and hit all the targets.

"That was a concern at that stage (last month), but typical Italian passion -- they are world champions at getting everything to perfection at the very last minute."

Eliasch added: "I saw Livigno yesterday and it looks like certainly they have enough snow and that's the main thing."

Kirsty Coventry, who beat a field of candidates including Eliasch to become Olympic chief last year, said Wednesday that the dispersed sites of the Milan-Cortina Olympics had "added additional complexities" to the organisation of the Games that open on February 6.

Milan-Cortina organisers have used largely existing sites -- many of which have been used to host World Cup and world championship events -- but as a result they stretch over 22,000 km2 (8,500 square miles) from the Dolomites to the Po Valley.

"I do believe that we took the right decision in having a more dispersed games, but it has, and I think we can all say very openly and honestly, it has added additional complexities," Coventry said.

When asked how he was going to split his time between events at venues spread all around northern Italy, Eliasch joked: "Well, I have cloned myself, so there are four of me. It's the only way of doing it!"

- 'All spectacular' -

The Anglo-Swedish official, one of Britain's richest businessmen, insisted that "all our events will be spectacular".

"The men's downhill in Bormio is one of the most challenging downhills there is," he said.

"We are going to have this spectacular downhill with Lindsey (Vonn) at the age of 41 and a titanium knee. Who could believe that? She is fitter today, stronger than she was when she won in 2010 in Whistler.

"These are going to be the highlight events of the Olympics. And then, of course, we have very exciting Nordic competitions, cross-country, ski jumping, all the freestyle events.

"It's going to be just a phenomenal festival of sports for 16 days, which will captivate the whole world, showcase our sports and bring in new fans for the Olympic movement, for our sport. It will just be fabulous."

Eliasch also broached the subject of national quotas, which often mean that some top skiers from leading nations such as Austria, France, Italy or Switzerland miss the cut because athletes from lesser nations have to be included.

"The Olympics is one hand all about having all nations," the FIS president said.

"At the same time, we must always have the best sports with the best formats and the best athletes. We are unfortunately constrained for sustainability reasons.

"We worry how many people that we can bring in. And it's a fine balance between athletes, all the support staff, the accommodation available, the start lists in different disciplines and this requires a lot of work."

Eliasch added: "Trust me, I am a true believer in also prioritising the sport for the athlete. And here we need to be clever so that in some cases we are a bit skewed."

L.Girard--SMC