The upcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi are going to be impressive, modern and secure, IOC member and president of the International Ski Federation Gian-Franco Kasper has said.
“The Games will be terrific and we will have the most modern
venues you can imagine. The expectations are good,” Kasper
told Reuters in a telephone interview.
Despite the widespread media scaremongering about the potential
threat of terrorist attacks during the Games, Kasper said he is
“convinced Sochi will be the safest place in the world during
the Olympics.”
More than 30,000 law enforcement officers will be ensuring the
security of the Games, which start in Sochi on February 7. The
strict security measures mean the authorities might be
“bureaucratic, not very flexible,” fears Kasper, who is
also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member.
“But we know that we need security. We know there is a terrorism
problem not only in Russia but all over the world,” the FIS
president added.
Kasper’s chief concern has been the reportedly reduced number of
spectator seats for some of the Olympic sports events due to
security reasons. Such measures “do not help to create a
special atmosphere,” he said.
The Swiss official, who is not in favor of the ever-increasing
costs of the Olympics and had predicted a return to a smaller,
more “sensible” scale of the Games, also reiterated his
criticism of Sochi’s $50 billion price tag.
“Those costs in Sochi are enormous and a bad example for
future candidates. Most nations cannot afford it. Switzerland or
France could never afford such amounts. Particularly for the
Winter Games,” Kasper said.
He did, however, concede that Russia had to build the whole
mountainous infrastructure from scratch, which he finds
impressive.
“We have to see that what we did in the Alps we needed 150 years
and they had to do it in five years. If you see that, then it
shocks you,” the skiing federation official said.