Eye On Torino: Some say Turin, some say Torino

Eye On Torino: Some say Turin, some say Torino{mosimage}The debate about whether to call the Winter Games host city by its Anglicized name, Turin, or its Italian name, Torino, has been a hot topic of discussion lately in the United States.

In Italy, though, there is more discussion about how to refer to the games’ Alpine towns. Is it Sauze d’Oulx or Salice d’Ulzio? Sestriere or Sestrieres with an ”s” on the end?

Towns with French and German names across all of northern Italy had their names Italianized in the Fascist era after World War I.

Sauze d’Oulx became Salice d’Ulzio and Sestrieres had its French-sounding ”s” cut off in 1935. Salice eventually reverted to its original name of Sauze, while Sestriere kept the ”s” off.

The towns now officially are called Sauze d’Oulx and Sestriere. But there are still many people who get it wrong.

”People here call it Sauze and people from outside call it Salice, erroneously,” said Maddalena Marcuzzi of Sauze’s Chamber of Commerce.

Marcuzzi said Sauze comes from the dialect Patois, a mixture of French and Piemontese.

Making things more complicated in Sestriere is the fact that the company that runs the town’s ski area is called Sestrieres, with the final ”s.”

Sestriere will host alpine skiing and Sauze will be the site for freestyle skiing during the games.

NO SNOW LEOPARD: It doesn’t look like Ghana’s ”Snow Leopard” is going to make it to Torino. But a couple of other African skiers and Hubertus Von Hohenlohe of Mexico should make it.

The Snow Leopard – 31-year-old Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong – did not gather enough qualifying points in time for Monday’s deadline.

Skiers from countries without a top-500 skier have to gather points from the International Ski Federation to qualify. Athletes start with 1,000 points and must get down to 140 for slalom and giant slalom and 120 for downhill and super G.

Nkrumah-Acheampong had 220 points, FIS rules specialist Sonja Reichen said.
Nkrumah-Acheampong’s supporters were looking into the possibility of a wild card, but FIS says that is impossible.

”There are no wild cards for the Olympics,” Reichen said. ”Unfortunately, there is no way for him now. He will have to improve if he wants to compete in future major events.”

Cristiana Tomasini, who works with Nkrumah-Acheampong at his training ground in Val di Fiemme, said they were still hoping for some sort of break.

”There still may be a possibility, but it’s very small, we have to be realistic,” she said. ”It’s too bad for everyone that was doing their all to make this happen.”

Senegal’s Leyti Seck has qualified for slalom, giant slalom and super G and South Africa’s Alexander Heath in all four disciplines, Reichen said, adding that the final decision will be up to Olympic organizers and the skiers’ national Olympic committees.

Von Hohenlohe, a descendant of a dethroned royal family from a former principality that is now part of Germany, looks ”likely” to have qualified for super G, Reichen said.

Also, Marino Cardelli of the tiny republic of San Marino – nestled in central Italy – qualified in slalom.

Reichen said her office was still crunching numbers and the official list would not be published until Feb. 6.
”It’s a very complicated process,” she said.

FLAME PROTESTS: Games government supervisor Mario Pescante says 32 protests have marked the Torino torch relay since it left Rome on Dec. 8.

While none of the protests has interrupted the relay, Pescante is starting to worry about a bigger protest during the Games.

”I’m extremely perturbed. These people are protesting a symbol of peace. They’re just looking for a stage to show that they exist,” Pescante said. ”They number a few dozen, whereas there are thousands of people supporting the relay.”

Several of the protests have been against Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola, citing alleged abuse of workers by the company in Latin America.

Nicola Raffa, an Italy-based representative of Coca-Cola, has said the company has nothing to hide and even arranged for the leader of a neighborhood association in Rome to visit Coca-Cola’s facilities in Colombia in March.

Other protests have targeted the high-speed rail link being built across the Torino area to France. They say construction would harm the environment. The latest demonstration came Tuesday in Venice against a plan to save the sinking city from high tides.

SMOG SOLUTION: The lack of rain and snow in Torino lately has led to high smog levels.

The city has announced a traffic ban for this Sunday and the following Sunday, Jan. 29.

City spokesman Riccardo Caldara said the bans were instituted in place of the usual weekday procedure of alternating traffic between even- and odd-numbered license plates.

”It’s not as bothersome to people trying to get around town and people working on the Olympics,” he said. ”During the Olympics there will absolutely be no restrictions.”

Besides emergency vehicles, Olympic organizing committee vehicles also will be permitted to circulate.

”We hope it rains or snows soon,” Caldara added.

MARTINI PARTIES: George Clooney has a house on Lake Como. During the Olympics, though, it might be easier to find the actor in the small hamlet of Pessione on Torino’s outskirts.

That’s where the distillery and museum of Martini & Rossi S.p.A. – the world’s leading vermouth producer – is located.
Clooney is the face of Martini & Rossi ads in Italy and the company is planning parties at its Pessione facilities during the Games.

Count Luigi Rossi – the Rossi in Martini & Rossi – lives in Torino and is also planning high visibility during the Olympics.

– The Associated Press