By Karolos Grohmann
MILAN, Feb 22 (Reuters) - The Milano Cortina Games surpassed expectations despite a large number of obstacles in the run-up to the world's biggest winter multi-sports event, the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday, ahead of the closing ceremony.
The Games, which started on February 6 with a dazzling opening ceremony at the San Siro stadium in Milan, were under extreme pressure for years due to tight deadlines and a number of building delays, with the widely dispersed
venues across northern Italy posing additional challenges for organisers.
But when the curtain falls with the closing ceremony in the arena of Verona, organisers and the IOC can breathe a sigh of relief.
"They have been fantastic," IOC President Kirsty Coventry said in her address to members at the Olympic body's session. "It could not happen without incredible teamwork... and we had it every step of the way."
"Over the last two weeks we have seen and experienced incredible Games. I have no words really," said Coventry, presiding over her first Games after her election last year.
It was a completely different picture only a few weeks before the start, with organisers scrambling to complete the Santagiulia ice hockey arena as well as the newly built sliding centre in Cortina d'Ampezzo, a hotly debated project throughout preparations due to the cost and tight construction deadlines.
Despite vocal IOC opposition, Italy decided midway through preparations in 2023 to build a new sliding centre in Cortina. The IOC had suggested that organisers could shift the competition to another country and an existing sliding centre.
The Italian government refused to move any Olympic events outside the country and opted to build a new one, piling more pressure on the embattled organisers.
A series of protests took place on the day the Games began in the Italian financial capital to oppose the presence of analysts from a department that falls under U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while U.S. Vice President JD Vance, present at the opening ceremony, was booed when shown on the stadium's big screens.
IOC SNUB
Such were the IOC's concerns before the Games that when Milano Cortina Games chief Giovanni Malago, an IOC member, ran for a spot on the Olympic body's executive board on the eve of the opening ceremony, he failed spectacularly.
Some 48 fellow members voted against him in a clear snub. It is extremely rare for an IOC member of a host nation to face such opposition from fellow members prior to staging the Games.
But when the Olympics got under way most operations went off without any major problems, surprising organisers.
While Olympics traditionally struggle with teething problems or more serious issues that can affect venue operations or even a lack of atmosphere, the Games in Italy did not face a major crisis while the winter weather played along to offer impressive snowy Alpine backdrops.
Initial transport concerns between Milan and the mountain clusters in the Dolomites eased almost instantly, mainly due to the limited number of spectators commuting between the two because of the long travel times that can reach six or seven hours. Most fans chose to stay in either Milan or in the mountains.
The European time zone of the Games also meant increased viewership both across the continent and the key market of North America, compared to the previous two winter editions held in Asia.
U.S. rights holder NBCUniversal CMSCA.O sold out advertising spots for the Games a month before they started, the company said in January.
The Games also got a major boost domestically with Italy picking up 30 medals, including 10 golds by Sunday morning, to make the top five on the medals table, and increased viewership and ticket sales during the Games with several hundred thousand sold during the competitions, to bring the total to around 1.5 million from 1.2 million at the start of the Games.
"Thank you for never ceasing to believing in us," Games chief Malago told the session. "For supporting us in the most difficult moments and there were not a few."
"Together we were stronger than any challenge and any adversity," he said.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
