Despite a few snafus, including serious technical problems with the timing system and starting gates at a recent snowboarding competition, the 2000-01 season of test events for the 2002 Olympic Games has had "excellent" results.
Cathy Priestner Allinger, managing director of sport for the Salt Lake Organizing Committee, said Monday the full slate of events, from the Five Nations Cup Hockey for men last November to World Junior Curling Championships that finished Sunday, were learning experiences for SLOC and managers of the venues.
"It wasn't without challenges," Allinger said told reporters at a briefing to wrap up results of the test events held at each of the venues that will host Olympic competition less than a year from now. She said aspects of the test events that were controllable were largely successful. Weather, she said, was an uncontrollable variable, but holding events during February provided a preview of problems that weather might bring and a basis for plans to mitigate them as much as possible.
She said the "full integration" of SLOC's various roles in hosting the Games and organizing the sports competitions has been the first priority of the testing.
"We've held as many events as quickly as possible" to try taxing the various systems, though the pressure will be "five-fold at Games time," she said.
Among the 16 official test events held this season at Utah Olympic venues were World Cup competitions in freestyle skiing, cross country skiing, nordic combined, ski jumping, luge, bobsled, skeleton, biathlon and snowboarding. Other international events were hosted in speedskating, curling, hockey and figure skating.
Allinger said some of the test events attracted more spectators than anticipated, including record numbers who attended hockey events and sold-out crowds at the Olympic Oval for world speedskating contests. However, Olympic-type crowds can't be simulated prior to the Games, Allinger said.
She praised the spectators at this season's events, saying they took an "international approach" to applauding and supporting the athletes even when their knowledge of some sports was minimal.
The advantages of off-site snowmaking was a lesson learned. Man-made snow is better than the real thing, so snowmaking techniques and the logistics of hauling man-made snow from remote sites will be fine-tuned before the 2002 Games, Allinger said. The man-made stuff will be used for all Olympic events requiring snow.
Soldier Hollow, the site of cross country and biathlon events; Olympic Park, where ski jumping, luge, bobsled and skeleton will be held; and Snowbasin, host to downhill and super-G events, will benefit from better snowmaking after this season, Allinger said.
World Cup downhill and slalom events have been canceled at Snowbasin and Deer Valley over the past two winters due to either too much snow or not enough. In February the men's World Cup Downhill/Super G competition was called off because of an overabundance of snow in spite of the fact 5.9 million cubic feet of snow was moved off the course at Snowbasin.
Night lighting will also be improved at the Ogden-area venue.
Since Soldier Hollow, near Midway in the Heber Valley, tends to be warmer and have less snow than some other venues, SLOC sports officials now have plans in place to make snow off-site and truck it to the course.
The World Cup parallel giant slalom in early March was an event that demonstrated what can happen when things run less smoothly than officials hope.
Electrical wires on the start mechanism burned out just before the afternoon finals. A back-up timing system also failed twice. Allinger said retesting and repairs are being conducted to avoid a repeat next year.
The problems were noted by Jean-Claude Killy, the French International Olympic Committee member and deputy chairman of the IOC Coordination Commission who was in town to oversee Games preparations.
Killy told reporters after hearing a report from the SLOC that "that's what test events are for."
Allinger concurred Monday with Killy but also said there are some aspects of hosting the Games that will have no real test prior to the 2002 Olympics, including transporting athletes, spectators and media representatives.
Several more test sports events will be held in the late summer and early fall, and SLOC is planning "table talks" and simulated training in handling all the "what ifs" that can be anticipated before February 2002, Allinger said.
E-mail: karras@desnews.com