Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
STEPHEN WILSON
Associated Press
LAUSANNE, Switzerland - The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin posted a small deficit, and the IOC wants a clear picture from London organizers of the rising infrastructure costs for the 2012 Summer Games.
A year after Turin, organizers reported Thursday a projected shortfall of $32 million on their operating budget of $1.58 billion, believed to be one of the first Olympic deficits in decades.
"We are very satisfied," Turin organizing committee chief Valentino Castellani said. "This is only a 2 percent imbalance of our total budget."
He said the red ink - to be covered by the city - was mainly due to a "technical problem" related to payment of VAT, or value added tax.
Castellani said the organizing committee had projected in January 2006 that the deficit would be $53 million, while some had put the figure at $130 million to $195 million.
The final figure will be confirmed by the end of March, he said.
Olympic organizing committee budgets cover the operational aspects of managing and running the games, and are met mainly by television rights fees, sponsorships, licensing and ticket sales. The budgets do not include the major infrastructure costs related to the games.
The previous Winter Olympics, held in Salt Lake City in 2002, turned a profit of $56 million. The 2004 Athens Olympics posted a surplus of $166.79 million for the organizing committee - though the overall costs for Greece totaled more than $14.05 billion.
Financing was also at the heart of discussions Thursday on the London Games, where soaring costs for the main Olympic Park have caused a heated political and media stir in recent weeks.
According to some reports, the costs have doubled and could reach as high as $17.6 billion. Regeneration of a 500-acre site in Stratford, east London, is at the heart of the Olympic project.
Gilbert Felli, the IOC's executive director for the Olympic Games, said the committee is happy with the pace of London's preparations and put the financial controversy down to a "political discussion inside British politics."
"Confidence is there, we have no doubt that everything will be delivered on time," he said.
But Felli said he and other IOC officials traveling to London later this month will ask for a document giving a complete breakdown of the costs.
"We need to have a clear picture of it," he said. "We like to have clarity. It should be transparent. People need to understand. At the end of the day, what is important is the cost of what was supposed to be delivered in the bid remains the same."
The IOC is concerned that the public wrangling over London's costs is hurting the Olympic brand around the world, scaring off potential bid cities.
"It's not good for the image of the sport and the Olympic Games," Felli said.
Meanwhile, the IOC's coordinator for the 2008 Olympics gave another upbeat assessment of preparations in Beijing, 18 months before the games take place in the world's most populous nation for the first time.
"One can only give positive reports," Hein Verbruggen said. "Things are going very, very well. The main thing is there are absolutely no delays whatsoever in any aspect of the organization."
While Beijing is on track or ahead of schedule in venue construction for the Olympics, the main concern has been over air pollution and heavy traffic.
"It's clear the environmental problems in Beijing are pretty well handled," Verbruggen said. "They've done pretty much everything they promised to do. We have gotten very good guarantees from the Chinese."
China plans to take "all kinds of measures" to ensure clean air during a series of Olympic test events being held this year, he said.
"What they will do for the environment is not just for the games," Verbruggen said. "They delivered what they have promised. We are absolutely convinced there will be an important legacy after the games in terms of environment."
Verbruggen said the IOC board approved Beijing's designs for the Olympic medals, another key milestone in Olympic preparations. He declined to give details of the medals, saying they would be announced by Chinese officials in Beijing