ROME -- The supervisor of next year's Turin Olympics says the Winter Games have become too large and risk becoming as burdensome as the Summer Games.
"We had to spend more than $21.72 million just for this winter's test events," said Mario Pescante, who is also an IOC
member and head of the European Olympic Committees. "This is
possible in a rich city like Turin, but can a small city do it?"
"I remember a marvelous Winter Games in Norway and in Nagano," Pescante said Thursday, referring to the '94 Olympics in Lillehammer and the '98 Games in Japan. "The Winter Olympics essentially only involve three continents. If they can only be in large cities, this becomes a problem."
Pescante said the first step in downsizing could come by rotating the Olympics on a continental basis the way FIFA does for the World Cup.
"Looking at the 2012 bids, there are four major European cities from large countries and New York," Pescante said of the July 6 vote to decide the host of the 2012 Summer Games. "I would like to see the Olympics in Africa or South America."
Pescante said he would share his ideas with his IOC colleagues when he arrives in Singapore for the vote on the 2012 host city. New York, Paris, London, Madrid and Moscow are the candidates.