FIS President, Gian Franco Kasper, is satisfied with the XX Olympic Winter Games ¨C Torino 2006:
¡°From a sporting perspective, the Torino Games were one of the best Olympic Winter Games we have had.¡± Mr. Kasper had high praise for the outstanding preparation of the courses, hills and other sports infrastructure, and for the tireless work the organizers, including many volunteers, performed at all times of the day and many nights to prepare the venues. Despite the numerous postponements, there was never a real risk of race cancellation due to the immense organizer engagement and rapidly changing weather conditions.
With regards to the number of medal-winning nations in the FIS disciplines, Mr. Kasper highlighted the broad distribution of FIS medals among 19 nations, even with the Austrian dominance of Alpine Skiing and grave disappointments for some, traditionally very strong skiing nations that underperformed.
¡°I am also very pleased about the extremely high quality of the Olympic TV production where the decision of the organizer to engage international specialists for the various disciplines really paid off,¡±
FIS President commented and added: ¡°The ratings have been relatively high everywhere, with the exception of the USA where the focus on delayed coverage and highlights does not seem to work any longer given the current availability of modern communication technologies. Regardless, even NBC recorded a very strong average of 20 million viewers per broadcast.¡±
Mr. Kasper concluded: ¡°The Torino Games turned out to be excellent for us, especially compared to the expectations of some. Given the success of the new FIS events, such as snowboardcross, we also plan to submit a request to the IOC to include additional events in the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver in 2010.¡±

Contact:
Riikka Rakic
FIS Communications Manager
+41 79 64 34 281
rakic@fisski.ch