Failure to realize time is money more than doubled Athens' Olympic costs to a staggering $11 billion, according to recent accounts.
"A little bit, we are also people of the last minute," Turin organizing committee (TOROC) President Valentino Castellani said. "Hopefully, not the same as Athens."
Unless a projected revenue shortfall of about $250 million in a $1.7 billion operating budget has an impact on the way the 20th Winter Games are run, it is a problem only for Italy. The revelation last month of this potential problem has produced political intrigue worthy of the most Byzantine plot in a Verdi opera (think "Rigoletto" or "A Masked Ball"). The story is tantalizing but merely typical of the territory.
Same old, same old. Every big production looks like it's going to fall on it's face, then miraculously everything comes together at the last minute. The Los Angeles Olympics was certainly like that.
