Winter Olympics begin disrupted by an excessive amount of SNOW! Construction unfinished, snowboarding cancelled… and eco-warriors make a multitude of the rings in Milan!
The Winter Olympics are off to a chaotic start after a headache of unfinished construction, eco-warrior protests… and, somewhat bizarrely, too much snow.
Events began on Wednesday but the Games will officially commence on Friday with the opening ceremony until February 22.
Team GB‘s spirits are high as UK Sport are targeting a record of eight medals this year, but they’ll be depending on conditions holding up in northern Italy.
The first women’s downhill skiing training session was due to take place in Cortina d’Ampezzo on Thursday morning but that has been cancelled due to heavy snowfall.
Lindsey Vonn – the American skiing legend who has decided to compete despite rupturing her ACL – was due to take part in the session.
It was supposed to be her first chance to test her capacity since a horror crash on the course in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, last Friday, which led to her being airlifted to hospital.
Heavy snowfall led to the cancellation of the women’s downhill skiing first training session on Thursday at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics
The depth of the snow has been disruptive in the build-up to the events in northern Italy
Wednesday’s curling competition was temporarily brought to a halt by a power cut, less than 10 minutes into the action
An official statement said: ‘Due to the ongoing snowfalls and the weather forecast, the FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) has to cancel the first official Women’s Downhill training in Cortina on February 5.’
It appeared that the snow caused some issues in the build-up to the curling on Thursday, too.
The lights went out at the curling venue just 10 minutes into the event due to a power failure and BBC commentator Steve Cram explained the impact of the snowfall.
‘It’s fair to say not everything was ready, as such. Just things going on in and around the venue,’ he said.
‘It’s snowed pretty heavily all day, which hasn’t helped matters necessarily.’
The build-up to the Games has also been marred by the incomplete state of several of the sporting venues.
Several photos have showed how Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo are not yet fully ready, with a report in German outlet Bild describing it as ‘one giant construction site’.
To begin with, the gondola up to the Tofana slope in Cortina, where women’s alpine skiers will compete, is yet to be finished, while the cable car that is supposed to transport fans to watch was still waiting for the cabins to deliver on Monday.
The lights were out for around four to five minutes, before competition was able to resume
The construction site of the unfinished Apollonio-Socrepes lift for spectators seen this week
The gondola up to the Tofana slope in Cortona for women’s alpine skiing seen incomplete
The cable car supposed to transport fans was still waiting for the cabins to arrive on Monday
A report suggested the cabins are supposed to arrive at some point on Tuesday.
It was expected that most of the work would have been completed by Monday to allow technical and safety inspections to take place, but this won’t be the case.
The report adds that one construction worker predicted it could take another two weeks for this to be completed, although one engineer guessed it would be closer to one week, with skiing events starting on Saturday.
Several photos show individuals hard at work to resolve this, with cranes present and key bits of equipment and structure still not in place.
As a result of the cable car not yet being finished, schools in Cortina will reportedly be forced to close on February 10 and 12, and potentially also on February 11.
This is to reduce traffic in the area, with more fans having to use shuttle buses to get to the skiing venues now.
In an internal memo leaked, Andrea Francisi, Chief Games Operations Officer, said : ‘The loss of this strategic infrastructure just before the start of the Olympic Games presents us with significant organisational challenges and has a significant impact on traffic flow management and security.’
This is a huge blow to organisers, with a completed cable car site able to transport up to 2,400 passengers per hour.
Greenpeace activists defaced the Olympic rings with oil in front of Milan’s historic cathedral
The picture is similar in Milan where ice hockey is taking place. There were reports that the venues wouldn’t be ready on time for the first matches on Thursday, but that is fortunately not the case.
Finishing touches went down to the wire.
‘For the whole team that’s been working on it — that’s built the venue — it’s amazing what everyone’s accomplished,’ said Veronika Muehlhofer, the venue manager at Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.
‘We still have cleaning and things to perfect for the first game [Thursday], but these are my ninth Games, so you always come down to lots to do in the last few days. And then any time we drop the first puck, it’s like a big relief.’
Meanwhile, Greenpeace eco-zealots decided to deface the Olympic rings in Milan with black oil – just as the eyes of the world turned on the city for the arrival of the torch.
Their protest was against Eni, the oil and gas giants who are sponsoring the Games.
‘Kick the polluters out of the Games,’ read one banner in front of Milan’s cathedral.
