2006 Winter Olympics

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Neve and Gliz, the 2006 Olympics mascots, on display in Turin

The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XX Olympic Winter Games, were held in Turin, Italy from February 10, 2006, through February 26, 2006. They marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games; the country has previously hosted the VII Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo in 1956. Italy also hosted the Games of the XVII Olympiad in Rome in 1960.

The official logo displayed the name "Torino", the Italian name of the city, but the city is known as "Turin" in both English and the local language, Piedmontese. The Olympic mascots of Torino 2006 were Neve ("snow" in Italian), a female snowball, and Gliz, a male ice cube. The official motto of the XX Olympic Winter Games was "Passion lives here".

The Turin metropolitan area at 1.7 million, is the largest city to have ever hosted a Winter Olympics; the title will fall to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, (2.1 million) when that city hosts the XXI Olympic Winter Games. The 2002 Salt Lake City games also claims this title because at the time of the Olympics its metropolitan population was 1,516,227[Salt Lake population figures] by the United States Census and some events were held in the Provo metropolitan area of 400,209[Provo population figures] by the United States Census, which the state of Utah calls a single metropolitan area of 1.9 million[Utah remark page 10] by the state of Utah and the U.S. government describes as two metropolitan areas in a single urban area.

Contents

Sports

The Games featured 84 medal events in 15 disciplines grouped over 7 sports. Events that made Olympic debut in Turin included mass start biathlon, team sprint cross country skiing, snowboard cross and team pursuit speedskating. The classical men's 50km and women's 30km distances, which were held at the previous Winter Games in 2002, were not held in these Games, as these events were alternated with freestyle events of the same distancesIn the recent years, the Freestyle events and the Classic events have been switched each Olympic Games.; in fact, most of the cross country skiing events at the Torino Games involved different distances from those in Salt Lake City.

Disciplines

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Results

Medals table

Gold medal and flower bouquet.

(Host nation highlighted; sorted in terms of most gold medals- IOC ranking')



Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics
Summer}}} Olympics



2006 Winter Olympics medal count
Rank	Country				Total Medals
1	Summer}}} Olympics	11	12	6	29
2	Summer}}} Olympics	9	9	7	25
3	Summer}}} Olympics	9	7	7	23
4	Summer}}} Olympics	8	6	8	22
5	Summer}}} Olympics	7	10	7	24
6	Summer}}} Olympics	7	2	5	14
7	Summer}}} Olympics	6	3	2	11
8	Summer}}} Olympics	5	4	5	14
9	Summer}}} Olympics	5	0	6	11
10	Summer}}} Olympics	3	2	4	9
Summer}}} Olympics	3	2	4	9

The 2006 Olympics logo on display in Turin

Athletes with the most gold medals

Summer}}} Olympics - Michael Greis (Biathlon): 3 gold medals

Summer}}} Olympics - Jin Sun-Yu (Short track speed skating): 3 gold medals

Summer}}} Olympics - Ahn Hyun Soo (Short track speed skating): 3 gold medals

Athletes with the most medals

Summer}}} Olympics - Cindy Klassen (Speed skating): 5 (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

Summer}}} Olympics - Ahn Hyun Soo (Short track speed skating): 4 (3 gold, 1 bronze)

Nations with medals in most disciplines

Summer}}} Olympics: 10 disciplines, 21 events

Summer}}} Olympics: 9 disciplines, 21 events

Summer}}} Olympics: 8 disciplines, 9 events

Summer}}} Olympics: 7 disciplines, 25 events

Summer}}} Olympics: 7 disciplines, 21 events

Summer}}} Olympics: 7 disciplines, 15 events

Summer}}} Olympics: 7 disciplines, 13 events

Medal sweep events

Summer}}} Olympics: 3/3 medals in Men's Slalom

Summer}}} Olympics: 3/3 medals in Women's single luge For team sports, the following countries won a medal in both men's and women's events:

Summer}}} Olympics: curling; short track speed skating relay; Speed skating team pursuit

Summer}}} Olympics: biathlon relay

Summer}}} Olympics: biathlon relay; Cross country skiing relay

Summer}}} Olympics: Cross country skiing relay

Summer}}} Olympics: short track speed skating relays

Summer}}} Olympics: biathlon relay

Summer}}} Olympics: Cross country skiing team sprint; Ice hockey

Highlights

Opening Ceremony - February 10
Opening Ceremony: Stefania Belmondo lit the Olympic flame.
More highlights...

Day 1 - February 11
Biathlon: Michael Greis of Germany wins the first gold medal of the 2006 Winter Olympics, with a victory in the individual 20km race.
Freestyle skiing: Jennifer Heil becomes the first Canadian woman to win a medal in moguls. Norwegian Kari Traa wins the silver and Sandra Laoura of France wins the bronze.
More highlights...

Day 2 - February 12
Figure skating: Michelle Kwan of the United States withdraws from the Olympics following a groin injury in practice. Emily Hughes is named her replacement.
Snowboarding: Shaun White of the U.S. team takes the gold medal at the men's snowboarding halfpipe event.
More highlights...

Day 3 - February 13
Biathlon: Russian Svetlana Ishmuratova wins the women's 15 km biathlon.
Speed skating: Joey Cheek of the United States wins the gold medal at the 500m long track event, skating both runs in less than 35 seconds; the fastest time of any other competitor was that of silver medalist Dmitry Dorofeyev, with a 35.17. Lee Kang-Seok of Korea wins a bronze medal, the first Korean medal in (long track) speed skating in 14 years.
More highlights...

Day 4 - February 14
Ice hockey: In the women's competition, Canada defeats Sweden 8-1 and will face Finland in the semi-final. The United States defeats Finland 7-3 and will face Sweden in the other semi-final match.
Speed skating: Svetlana Zhurova of Russia takes gold in the women's 500 m event. Wang Manli and Ren Hui of China win the other two (2) medals.
More highlights...

Day 5 - February 15
Luge: Austrian brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger won the doubles competition. Teams from Germany and Italy took the silver and bronze.
Nordic combined: High winds in the ski jumping hill forced the jury to abandon the team competition midway through the second round. The teams resumed the next day. The Norwegians withdrew due of illness.
More highlights...

Day 6 - February 16
Cross country skiing: Kristina Šmigun wins her second gold medal of the Games with a victory in the women's 10km classical and remains the only Estonian to medal.
Curling: In men's action, Great Britain edges Germany 7-6, Switzerland keeps New Zealand winless by winning 9-7, Canada edges Norway 7-6, and the United States defeats Sweden, 10-6.
More highlights...

Day 7 - February 17

Poster of Lindsey Jacobellis in New York City.

Snowboarding: Tanja Frieden of Switzerland takes the gold in women's snowboarding cross after Lindsey Jacobellis of the United States falls on the second-to-last jump while performing an unnecessary method grab to give up the largest lead of the entire tournament. Jacobellis settles for silver, while Canada's Dominique Maltais takes bronze after recovering from a crash.
Skeleton: Duff Gibson of Canada takes gold, just ahead of fellow Canadian Jeff Pain. Swiss slider Gregor Stähli wins the bronze. The 39-year-old Gibson becomes the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympics history.
More highlights...

Day 8 - February 18
Alpine skiing: Croatian Janica Kostelić takes gold in the women's combined. Austria's Marlies Schild wins the silver and Anja Pärson of Sweden finishes third.; Kjetil André Aamodt wins gold for Norway in the men's Super G, beating Hermann Maier of Austria. Ambrosi Hoffmann takes bronze for the Swiss.
Biathlon: Germans Kati Wilhelm and Martina Glagow finish first and second in the 10km pursuit; Albina Akhatova of Russia takes bronze.; Vincent Defrasne wins gold for France in the 12.5km pursuit event, followed closely by Ole Einar Bjørndalen of Norway. Germany's Sven Fischer takes bronze.
More highlights...

Day 9 - February 19
Bobsleigh: The German bob driven by Andre Lange wins gold in the men's 2-man event 0.21 seconds ahead of the Canadian bob of Pierre Lueders and Lascelles Brown and 0.35 seconds ahead of Martin Annen's Swiss sled. Brown becomes the first Jamaican-born competitor to win a Winter Olympic medal.
Speed skating: Marianne Timmer of the Netherlands wins the women's 1000m in 1.16.05, 8 years after winning in Nagano. Cindy Klassen of Canada comes in second and favorite Anni Friesinger of Germany wins the bronze, 0.06 seconds behind Timmer.
More highlights...

Day 10 - February 20
Curling: After downing Denmark 8–1, Norway becomes the third team to qualify for the semi-finals in the women's competition, joining Sweden and Switzerland. Canada beats Denmark 9-8, occupying the fourth playoff spot.
In the men's competition, Canada defeats the United States 6-3 to qualify for the semi-finals, and will play the USA again in the first game of the medal round.
Ski jumping: Austria wins the team event for the first time. Finland takes the silver, while Norway takes the bronze.
More highlights...

Day 11 - February 21
Bobsleigh: The German team of Sandra Kiriasis and Anja Schneiderheinze win gold in the women's event ahead of teams from the United States (Shauna Rohbock and Valerie Fleming) and Italy (Gerda Weissensteiner and Jennifer Isacco).
Nordic combined: Felix Gottwald of Austria wins gold in the LH Sprint competition while Norway's Magnus Moan and Germany's Georg Hettich finish in the silver and bronze positions.
More highlights...

Day 12 - February 22
Alpine skiing: Anja Pärson of Sweden wins her first Olympic gold medal in the women's slalom; her fifth career medal. Austrians Nicole Hosp and Marlies Schild take silver and bronze.
Cross-country skiing: Chandra Crawford of Canada wins a gold medal in her Olympic debut in the women's 1.1 km sprint. Germany's Claudia Künzel edges out Russia's Alena Sidko to earn the silver.; Björn Lind of Sweden claims the gold medal in the men's sprint in a rout. Frenchman Roddy Darragon edges out Swede Thobias Fredriksson to earn the silver.
More highlights...

Day 13 - February 23
Curling: The Swedish women's team skipped by Anette Norberg win the gold medal match against Switzerland with a 7-6 double take out on the hammer of the 11th end. Canada defeats Norway in the bronze medal match 11-5.
Freestyle skiing: China's Han Xiaopeng wins gold in men's aerials by a little more than two points over Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus. Vladimir Lebedev of Russia wins bronze.
More highlights...

Day 14 - February 24
Cross country: Kateřina Neumannová of the Czech Republic wins the 30 km freestyle event. Russian Julija Tchepalova claims the silver and Pole Justyna Kowalczyk gets the bronze.
Curling: Canada defeats Finland 10-4 in the gold medal match to win the nation's first gold medal in men's curling after winning silver in Nagano and Salt Lake City. The United States men's team defeats Great Britain by a score of 8-6 to take the bronze medal, America's first medal in curling.
More highlights...

Day 15 - February 25
Bobsleigh: The German bob driven by Andre Lange wins gold in the 4-man event 0.13 seconds ahead of the Russian bob driven by Alexandre Zoubkov and 0.41 seconds ahead of Martin Annen's Swiss sled.
Short track speed skating: American Apolo Anton Ohno wins the men's 500m, earning his second career gold medal. Canada's François-Louis Tremblay wins the silver, while Ahn Hyun-Soo of South Korea earns the broze, his third individual medal of the 2006 games. Ahn would later win his third gold medal of the Turin Olympics in the 5000m relay, becoming one of the most decorated Korean Winter Olympic athletes ever.
More highlights...

Day 16 - Closing Ceremony - February 26
Ice Hockey: Sweden defeats Finland 3-2 to take the men's ice hockey gold medal, with Nicklas Lidström scoring the deciding goal in the final. The Czech Republic takes the bronze after beating Russia.
Closing Ceremony: Manuela Di Centa gives the gold medal to his brother Giorgio.
More highlights...

Venues

Landsat 7 image of the Italian Alps with some of the venues marked.

Olympic areas

Olympic events were mainly held in Turin, but other events (namely skiing, snowboarding, and the track sports) were held in mountainous outlying villages for obvious reasons.

Turin

Many venues are located in the Olympic District in central Turin, including:

Oval Lingotto - Speed skating
Torino Esposizioni - Ice hockey
Palasport Olimpico - Ice hockey
Stadio Olimpico - Opening and closing ceremonies
Palavela - Figure skating, short-track speed skating
Olympic Village

Other locations

Location of Turin (Torino in Italian) and some other venues

Bardonecchia, located in Alta Val di Susa, was the site of the snowboarding competitions. An Olympic Village is also located in Bardonecchia.
Cesana-Pariol was the competition site for luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton.
Cesana-San Sicario was the site of biathlon and alpine skiing events.
Pinerolo, a town of 35,000, located 50 km from Turin, was the host of curling events.
Pragelato was the site of cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and nordic combined competitions.
Sauze d'Oulx, a resort located 80 km from Turin, was the host of the freestyle skiing events.
Sestriere, located 100 km from Turin, was the site of alpine skiing events. An Olympic village is also located in Sestriere.

Olympic villages

Official Olympic training sites

Chiomonte
Claviere
Prali
Alpe Lusentino - Domodossola (VB) (Alpine Skiing)
Riale - Formazza (VB) (Nordic Skiing)

Olympic mountain training site

Torre Pellice

Participating NOCs

A record of 80 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) entered athletes at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. This was an increase of three from the 77 represented at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. The number in parentheses indicates the number of participants that NOC contributed.

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Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (2)

Summer}}} Olympics (3)

Summer}}} Olympics (9)

Summer}}} Olympics (5)

Summer}}} Olympics (40)

Summer}}} Olympics (85)

Summer}}} Olympics (2)

Summer}}} Olympics (28)

Summer}}} Olympics (4)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (6)

Summer}}} Olympics (10)

Summer}}} Olympics (21)

Summer}}} Olympics (196)

Summer}}} Olympics (9)

Summer}}} Olympics (78)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (24)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

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Summer}}} Olympics (85)

Summer}}} Olympics (5)

Summer}}} Olympics (28)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (102)

Summer}}} Olympics (89)

Summer}}} Olympics (3)

Summer}}} Olympics (164)

Summer}}} Olympics (40)

Summer}}} Olympics (5)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (20)

Summer}}} Olympics (5)

Summer}}} Olympics (4)

Summer}}} Olympics (2)

Summer}}} Olympics (4)

Summer}}} Olympics (5)

Summer}}} Olympics (host)(184)

Summer}}} Olympics (112)

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Summer}}} Olympics (56)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (6)

Summer}}} Olympics (40)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (58)

Summer}}} Olympics (3)

Summer}}} Olympics (6)

Summer}}} Olympics (7)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (7)

Summer}}} Olympics (4)

Summer}}} Olympics (2)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (35)

Summer}}} Olympics (18)

Summer}}} Olympics (81)

Summer}}} Olympics (48)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

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Summer}}} Olympics (25)

Summer}}} Olympics (178)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (6)

Summer}}} Olympics (62)

Summer}}} Olympics (42)

Summer}}} Olympics (3)

Summer}}} Olympics (16)

Summer}}} Olympics (112)

Summer}}} Olympics (143)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (6)

Summer}}} Olympics (53)

Summer}}} Olympics (211)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Summer}}} Olympics (4)

Summer}}} Olympics (1)

Participating nations. Green: fewer than 10 athletes; blue: 10-49; orange: 50-99; red: 100 or more.

Despite the overall increase of NOCs and number of athletes, the following NOCs which competed at the previous Winter Games did not participate in Turin:

Puerto Rico

Host selection process

Turin was chosen as the host of the Olympics in 1999, defeating Sion in Switzerland by 53 votes to 36. This was just after the IOC had adopted new election procedures during the 108th Extraordinary IOC Session in light of the corruption scandals surrounding the votes for the 1998 and 2002 Winter Olympics. Since IOC members were forbidden to visit the candidate cities (in the interests of reducing bribery), the 109th IOC Session elected a special body, the Selection College, to choose finalist cities from the pool of candidate cities after each had made their final presentations to the full IOC Session; the full IOC Session will then vote on the cities chosen as finalist cities by the Selection College. Although six cities launched candidacies and made presentations to the full IOC Session in Seoul in June 1999, the Selection College chose only two cities to go forward to be voted upon by the full IOC Session: Sion and Turin. The candidacies of Helsinki, Finland; Poprad-Tatry, Slovakia; Zakopane, Poland; and Klagenfurt, Austria were dropped by the Selection College after all six candidate cities made their candidate presentations to the full session [link].

The selection of Turin over Sion came as a surprise, since Sion was the overwhelming favorite. Media speculation was that the choice of Turin was due to the combination of four factors: Turin's overwhelming population size difference (Turin had a population 1.5 million, whilst Sion's was only 27,000), the skills of the Italian bid team, the IOC's desire to compensate Italy for the recent selection of Athens over Rome for the 2004 Summer Olympics, and finally a way to retaliate against Switzerland for the whistleblower role played by IOC member Marc Hodler in the revelation of the 2002 corruption scandal. ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Organization

Out of 40,000 applicants, 25,000 volunteers were selected to help the athletes, spectators and journalists, and to prepare the competition sites. They were selected by the recruiting program Noi2006.

Construction

"Palasport Olimpico"

65 sporting facilities, various infrastructures, sport villages for athletes and media, and transportation infrastructures were constructed for a total of 1.7 billion eurosWinter Olympics Return to Italy Opening Ceremonies Begin February 10 in Turin [link].

Among the most important sporting facilities that were used:

The Stadio Olimpico (Turin) (formerly known as Comunale stadium);
5 sports halls (3 new, 2 rearranged): the "Palazzo a Vela" designed by Gae Aulenti (to host short track and ice skating), the Oval Lingotto (speed ice skating), Torino Esposizioni (ice hockey), the Ice stadium in corso Tazzoli, the Palasport Olimpico designed by Arata Isozaki (ice hockey);
The Olympic arch of Torino;
Olympic villages of Torino, Bardonecchia and Sestriere;
The ice stadium in Pinerolo, re-arranged and enlarged, to host the curling competition;
A new stadium in Torre Pellice (ice hockey);
12 new intermediate-level ski lifts in Cesana Torinese, Cesana San Sicario, Sestriere, Bardonecchia, Claviere, Sauze d'Oulx;
di Pragelato;
The tracks for bobsled, luge, and skeleton in Cesana (the second international track in Italy, along with the one in Cortina d'Ampezzo);

The most important transport infrastructure works were:

The Torino Subway (VAL system), which for the Olympic games connected Collegno to the railway station of Porta Susa.
The upgrade of 11 state roads and motorways connecting Turin with other Olympic sites.

In the city, from the urban point of view, the main developments were the Palafuksas, a glass building designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, the new civic library designed by Mario Bellini, the new Modern Art Gallery and the great project of the "Spina", that will provide urban regeneration over an area of 2 million square meters through the construction of an underground urban railway and the re-utilization of abandoned industrial areas.

Broadcasting

The 2006 Olympic Winter Games were broadcasted worldwide by a number of television broadcasters:

An extensive list of official broadcasters is found at [The Games on Television] section of the Torino Games official site.
The BBC provided television and radio coverage of the winter Olympics in the UK - the TV coverage was presented mainly by Grandstand regulars such as Hazel Irvine and Clare Balding. Most of the coverage was shown on BBC Two, with some on BBC One, and there was also BBCi for Freeview, Satellite and Cable (digital TV) viewers. Freeview provides an extra two screens whereas all 3 interactive streams were available to UK users only on bbc.co.uk and Digital Satellite and Cable such as Sky Digital.
CBC, Radio-Canada, TSN, RDS, and CBC Country Canada broadcasted the 2006 winter Olympics in Canada, with CBC Radio One, CBC Newsworld and RDI providing Olympic news and updates.
NBC, CNBC, MSNBC, USA Network, Telemundo, and Universal HD broadcasted the winter Olympics in the USA. (American Forces Network rebroadcasted some of this coverage for military personnel serving outside the United States.)
Seven Network broadcasted the games in Australia.
TVNZ broadcasted the Winter Olympic Games in New Zealand.
TV 2 broadcasted the games in Denmark.
MediaCorp 5 broadcasted the games in Singapore.
Astro broadcasted the games in Malaysia.
CCTV-5 broadcasted the games in the People's Republic of China.
ARD and ZDF broadcasted the winter Olympics in Germany every second day each.
France 2 and France 3 broadcasted the winter Olympics in France.
Eurosport and BNT broadcasted the winter Olympics in Bulgaria.
RAI broadcasted the games in Italy.
Channel 2 broadcasted the games in Israel.
HRT broadcasted the games in Croatia.
ORF broadcasted the winter Olympics in Austria.
SF and TSR broadcasted the winter Olympics in Switzerland.
Televisa and TV Azteca broadcasted the games in Mexico.
YLE broadcasted the winter Olympics in Finland.
NRK and SportN broadcasted the winter Olympics in Norway.
SVT broadcasted the winter Olympics in Sweden.
NOS on Nederland 2 broadcasted the winter Olympics in The Netherlands
Sportv on the Sportv 2, a Globosat sports channel, broadcasted for the first time all days and all events for the Winter Olympics in Brazil.
RTS broadcasted the winter Olympics in Serbia.
RTCG broadcasted the winter Olympics in Montenegro.
Česká televize broadcasted the winter Olympics in Czech Republic. It introduced a new sport channel called "ČT4 Sport" on the occasion of the start of the winter Olympics.
Televiziunea Română and Eurosport broadcasted the winter Olympics in Romania.
RTÉ broadcasted in the Republic of Ireland highlights on RTÉ One
ETV broadcasted the winter Olympics in Estonia.
TVP broadcasted the winter Olympics in Poland

Eurosport also provided live coverage of events to viewers across the EU and Europe. The BBC also broadcasted many events live over the Internet for free viewing by internet users in the United Kingdom.

Olympic problems

Bankruptcy threats

The financial situation of the Organizing Committee has gradually become more and more difficult. The latest development was a 64 million euro financial shortfall appearing at the end of 2005, mainly due to the fact that Italy's draft budget for 2006 did not include the government's promised final 40 million euro allocation to Olympic organizers. This shortfall could have led the Torino 2006 Games to declare bankruptcy. The concerns went as far as starting to define the first step of a bankruptcy procedure for Torino 2006, which could have happened if the organizing committee had failed to approve its budget at a January 20, 2006 board meeting. Finally, the Italian Government promised to cover the shortfall.

Subway

The subway was finally opened to the public on February 4 after a 45 day delay. It operates on a shorter stretch (XVIII Dicembre to Fermi - 11 stations) than originally foreseen, only reaching the main railway station (Porta Nuova) and the rest of the city centre one year after the Games. For the duration of the Games, a single ticket (5 euros) covered use of both the subway and other means of public transportation for a whole day. Transportation officials don't expect much overcrowding.

Weather

A number of Alpine competitions were delayed because of low visibility caused by snowfall. Despite these events being postponed, most were later held in better weather without any problems.

Doping

Italian police raided the Austrian athletes' quarter in search of evidence of doping. The raid was conducted due to suspicions over the presence of biathlon coach Walter Mayer, who had been banned from all Olympic events up to and including the Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010 due to previous doping convictions. Around the time of the raid Mayer and two Austrian biathletes, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann, tried to escape and fled back to Austria. Later, the Austrian ski federation president said that the two athletes told him they "may have used illegal methods."[link]. After some days the results of the tests of all 10 tested Austrian athletes were presented and were all negative. List of athletes with doping convictions in these Games:

Olga Pyleva was stripped of her silver medal in 15km biathlon event after testing positive for carphedon.
Armando dos Santos ejected from the Games after a preventive antidoping test came positive.

Ratings and attendance

A number of events reported low spectator attendance despite having acceptable ticket sales. Preliminary competition and locally less popular sports failed to attract capacity crowd as expected. Organisers explained this was because blocks of seats were reserved or purchased by sponsors and partners who later did not show up at the events.

Several news organizations reported that many Americans are not as interested in the Olympics as in years past [link]. It has been suggested that reasons for this disinterest include the tape delayed coverage, which showed events in prime-time as much as 18 hours later in the West, and also due to the lack of success achieved by big-name American athletes. [link]

In Canada, CBC's coverage has also posted disappointing numbers, which were reduced as the Canadian men's hockey team was eliminated early in the competition. Primetime ratings reached only as high as #7 in the weekly ratings. However, ratings for live, afternoon coverage have attracted 300,000 more viewers than the taped, primetime coverage. Overall, only primetime coverage has suffered, dropping 45 percent from the 2002 Games, with the entire coverage being 52 percent ahead from 2002. [link] [link] [link] Meanwhile on TSN, the numbers for its live curling coverage (which aired as early as 3:00am EST) were between 300,000 and 500,000 viewers. [link]

Security measures

As with every Olympics since the 1972 Olympics in Munich and increasingly since the 2002 Winter Olympics, there was heavy security due to fears of terrorism.

The organizers further increased security measures [link] in connection with the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy and insisted that the Olympic Games were going to be safe, which they were; the Olympics concluded without a major breach of security occurring.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[media]

Wikinews has an entire section of news on:

Official websites

Official Website - [In Italian], [English] and [French]
[International Olympic Committee's Turin Page]
City of Turin - [In Italian], [English], [French], [Spanish] and [German]

Other sites

Official broadcasters

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[MSNBC]
[NBC]
[NOS]
[NRK]
[ORF]
[RAI]
[RTS]

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Notes

Olympic Games Sports Medalists NOCs Symbols		Summer Olympic Games>Summer Games 1896, 1900, 1904, 1906, 1908, 1912, (1916), 1920, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024
		Winter Olympic Games>Winter Games 1924, 1928, 1932, 1936, (1940), (1944), 1948, 1952, 1956, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022
		Athens 2004 — Torino 2006 — *Beijing 2008* — *Vancouver 2010* — *London 2012*

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2006 Winter Olympics

Sports

Disciplines

Results

Medals table

Athletes with the most gold medals

Athletes with the most medals

Nations with medals in most disciplines

Medal sweep events

Highlights

Venues

Olympic areas

Turin

Other locations

Olympic villages

Official Olympic training sites

Olympic mountain training site

Participating NOCs

Host selection process

Organization

Construction

Broadcasting

Olympic problems

Bankruptcy threats

Subway

Weather

Doping

Ratings and attendance

Security measures

See also

External links

Official websites

Other sites

Official broadcasters

Notes