Pyeongchang Olympic test events in doubt,
FIS chief
Send a link to a friend
[February 10, 2015]
By Steve Keating
BEAVER CREEK, Colorado (Reuters) - It is
"almost impossible" that ski and snowboard test events for the 2018
Pyeongchang Olympics scheduled for next year will go ahead as planned,
the president of the International Ski Federation (FIS) told Reuters on
Monday.
|
Gian Franco-Kasper, the longtime (FIS) president and influential
International Olympic Committee member, said political squabbling
and proposed venue changes could result in the postponement of a
number of test events.
"We had them here, a big delegation (Pyeongchang organizers) and now
they think about changing snowboard, freestyle, everything, although
it is almost finished," Kasper said during a break in competition at
the alpine ski world championships.
"The new places make test events almost impossible, next year,
particularly the alpine."
Pyeongchang's preparations for the first Asian winter Olympics
outside Japan have been hit by budget problems and delays in some
venues.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/10/images/ads/current/stacy_sda_121014.png) The FIS has tentatively penciled in a men's downhill and Super-G for
the South Korea winter resort on next year's World Cup schedule.
A snowboard halfpipe and parallel slalom World Cup scheduled for
next season in Pyeongchang and a freestyle test event at Phoenix
Park are also in jeopardy, Kasper said.
In December, Reuters reported that Pyeongchang organisers and two
international federations were discussing the possibility of moving
some sliding competitions from the South Korean city to Japan.
[to top of second column] |
![](../images/ads/current/tires250x300.gif)
"We had all the promises but nothing happens," charged Kasper.
"There is a political background, a battle between who is paying the
government of the province or the state.
"They have extreme delays and still a lot of unanswered questions,
problems which are not solved and as it looks (now) not solved
within the next year. So we all have serious doubts.
"It will work out but right now it doesn't look too good."
(Editing by Mark Lamport-Stokes)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/10/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png) |