Sawt Falasteen - With 100 days to go, Milan Winter Olympics chiefs 'can see finish line'

"Our complex organisational model is falling into place," said Andrea Varnier, the chief executive of these Games as organisers prepared to mark 100 days to the opening ceremony on Wednesday.

They were using the event in Milan to unveil the full designs for the medals and to reiterate, as their president Giovanni Malago told AFP, that preparations for the Games, which run February 6-22, are under control.

"We can see the finish line," Malago said, "but even if the schedule is met, we can't waste a single day before kickoff."

Christophe Dubi, Executive Director of the Games at the International Olympic Committee (IOC), acknowledged that the far-flung 2026 event, spread across northern Italy from Milan to the Dolomites, present a challenge for fans because "you don't go from Milan to Cortina by fast train".

Organisers are making an effort to create a sense of community for athletes and fans.

The opening ceremony will take place at San Siro, the iconic football stadium that is home to the Milan clubs, with simultaneous parades in three mountain competition venues. There will, for the first time, be two Olympic cauldrons: one in Milan and in Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Dubi said organisers were also repeating one of the succesful innovations of last summer's Paris Games.

"Every evening, there will be a form of Champions Park in Milan, Bormio, Val di Fiemme," said Dubi. "With the impression, wherever you are, that it is the celebration of the Milan-Cortina Games."

The estimated final bill is 5.2 billion euros (6.05 billion dollars). Of that 3.5 billion euros are for infrastructure, a far cry from the colossal editions of Sochi (2014), Pyeongchang (2018), or Beijing (2022).

The Italian organisers largely used existing venues with ice sports in Milan. Bormio and Cortina host alpine skiing and across the Dolomites the biathlon will be in Anterselva and Nordic skiing in Val di Fiemme. Livigno in the Italian Alps hosts snowboarding and freestyle skiing.

"This is the first time that we're not changing a landscape to organise the Olympic Games, but rather changing the organisation of the Games based on the landscape," said Varnier.

The IOC is closely monitoring the final preparations.

"Between now and the delivery of the Games, there's this highly uncomfortable period for the organisers, and therefore for the IOC, with the installation of the temporary facilities and then the training of the last people, especially the volunteers," said Dubi.

- 'Progressing well' -

Only two of the 13 venues are new for these Games.

One is the controversial Cortina bobsleigh run, built after a long wrangle by the Italian government against the advice of the IOC, which will soon host its first international competition.

The multi-purpose Santa Giulia arena in Milan, where the ice hockey tournaments will be held, is still under construction by a private operator.

Until it is completed "there will be 800 people per day on the site," said Dubi. "Something we saw with the Grand Palais in Paris or the Velodrome in Rio. It's impressive, things are progressing well, but until it's finished, it remains at the top of our priorities."

On the political level, one issue has been resolved: the Russian and Belarusian athletes, who will be admitted under a neutral banner and strict conditions.

Yet the the pro-Palestinian protests that caused chaos on another road event, the Spanish Vuelta bike race in September, raise concerns for the torch relay, which begin on December 6 in Rome before touring Italy.

Protestors clashed with police outside the stadium when Italy played Israel in a men's World Cup qualifier in Udine, in the foothills of the Alps, in October.

"We are not in the same context," said Dubi. "Sport, and this is fundamental, brings people together."

U.Shaheen--SF-PST