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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, February 24, 1992                   TAG: 9202240047
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

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WITH HELP FROM ABOVE, ALBERTVILLE EARNS PRAISE

The French pulled it off, but should anyone else try it again?

With a bit of luck, a lot of planning and plenty of help from the heavens, the most spread-out Games in Olympic history passed relatively smoothly.

Covering 650 square miles and 13 venues, the Albertville Olympics defied the doomsayers' nightmare scenario of massive traffic jams, snow-blocked mountain roads and stranded tourists.

For Jean-Claude Killy and Michel Barnier, co-presidents of the organizing committee COJO, the outcome was a vindication of their 11-year project to bring the Games to the entire Savoie region.

"Today, I can say that we succeeded in organizing happy and successful Games," Killy said. "It's an enormous satisfaction."

The Games even exceeded the expectations of the International Olympic Committee, which had sometimes wondered about the wisdom of its choice since selecting Albertville in 1986.

"Holding the Winter Olympics in the heart of the mountains, spread over 13 venues, was an enormous challenge," said IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch in his speech at the closing ceremonies. "It was not easy, but you succeeded. The Games will go down in the history of the Olympic movement as among the best ever."

Much of the success was because of the cooperation of the weather. Only one event, the women's Alpine super G, had to be rescheduled because of snow.

"We were blessed by good weather conditions," Killy said. "But we also did a lot of planning in advance. We picked the right people. We made the right choices most of the time. It's a lot of planning and a little bit of luck."

Killy also described the Games' success in terms of numbers: a record 64 participating nations and 2,174 athletes; 941,650 tickets sold, 20 percent above projections; 28,000 paying spectators for the men's downhill; and millions of television spectators around the world.

On the financial front, Killy reiterated that organizers will find out in the next few weeks whether they succeeded in breaking even on their budget of 4 billion francs ($800 million). Any deficit will be limited to 3-5 percent, or $2.4 million to $4 million.

Next stop, Lillehammer, Norway. Story on B4

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