Nagano Games More Like Winter Fiasco
The biathlon course sits under a blanket of newly fallen snow out on the edge of the village, finished at last. By fall, the new highway and express train route will be ready.
But as innkeeper Michio Sato looked out at a cloud of steam billowing up from the snow-rimmed hot spring that has been his family’s livelihood for three generations, he heaved a tired sigh.
“At first everybody was ecstatic when they heard the Olympics were coming,” said Sato, head of planning for the 1998 Winter Games in this quiet, two-traffic-light town. “Now, it’s more like we’re resigning ourselves to fate.”
On Feb. 7, 1998, the Winter Games descend on these slopes in the Japan Alps. With one year to go, Nagano is buried under an avalanche of squabbles over everything from budget overruns to hotel accommodations for picky foreign officials.
And as the countdown to the multibillion-dollar sports extravaganza ticks on, a hoped-for outburst of enthusiasm has been replaced by cold feet.
Organizers have reason to feel shell-shocked:
Hockey officials, expecting high interest because NHL stars will be making their Olympic debut, complained the new hockey arena, built at a cost of $169 million, wasn’t big enough. They finally agreed in December to accept the arena with a capacity of 10,014, adding temporary seats.
The international alpine skiing federation has criticized the downhill course as too short, and wants the slalom moved from its present site to a venue about 40 miles away. Local officials are concerned about how much such a move would cost. Nagano recently agreed to move the venue for the combined slalom from Yamanouchi to Hakuba, putting it at the same site as the men’s and women’s combined downhill.
The international figure skating federation has threatened to pull that centerpiece competition out of the Nagano region altogether unless its leaders are provided with better hotel accommodations during the games.
The biggest concern by far, however, is the ever-swelling cost of the games.
After being picked as host in 1991, Nagano organizers estimated the games’ operating expenses would be around $644 million. The latest cost estimate put the bill at $800 million.
But Nagano’s Olympic burden goes far beyond just operating costs.
Not included on the organizing committee’s price-tag is the cost of building new venues - including a $127 million figure skating stadium, a $288 million speedskating arena and $72.8 million for a revamped ski jump. The new highway and super-express train route also are separate, megabudget projects.
The cost of building the venues is being split between the local and national governments. But host sites will have to foot the bill for the facilities’ upkeep - which for Nagano city alone is expected to cost $17 million a year.
“It is like we’ve bought ourselves the Great Wall of China,” said Juichiro Imai, a former Nagano city council member. “We can’t afford these things, and they will be useless once the games are over.”
Olympic supporters argue that such criticisms are shortsighted, and that hosting the games will put Nagano’s many ski resorts on the international tourism map.
“We want to show the world what we have to offer,” said Nozawa mayor Tetsuo Kubota. “We want to make our village an international resort as soon as possible.”
xxxx 1998 Winter Games Facts and figures on the 1998 Winter Olympics, to be held in Nagano, Japan, Feb. 7-22: The host: Nagano, population 350,000, is the largest city in a prefecture (state) by the same name in the heart of the Japan Alps, about 125 miles northwest of Tokyo. The cost: Organizers estimate the operating cost of the Games at $800 million - about $580 a second during its 16 days. The size: About 3,000 athletes and officials are expected to participate in the Games.