The Torino Olympic organizers (TOROC) have lined up thousands of
school children to fill up the empty places in the stadiums during
the Games.
TOROC president Valentino Castellani admitted Monday that
tickets sales for some of the events, such as the luge, skeleton
and bob, were very poor but special low price tickets were to be
supplied to Turin schools to ensure spectators.
"We have a contingency plan to bring in boys and girls. It will
be an education for them," said Castellani.
He added that so far no event was sold out but that 700,000
tickets, about 85 per cent of those available, had been sold.
His comments came after the organizers presented their final
briefing to the IOC's executive board.
"We are very satisfied. We are ready. We are very committed,"
said Castellani.
TOROC director general Cesare Vaciago confirmed that there were
several transport problems but he insisted they will be sorted out
by the time the Games open on Friday.
Part of the problem is that 2000 drivers have been shipped in
from all over Italy and have yet to learn all the routes.
Another problem is getting local drivers to respect the special
Olympic lanes which have been installed to allow Olympic traffic to
move freely.
"We are confident the problems will be overcome in the next few
days. It is a learning curve," said Vaciago.
(China Daily February 8, 2006)