The Torino organizer's fear of a terror attack is running high and on Thursday they simulated a bomb attack. Two bombs "exploded" at the main railway station and more than 728 firemen, security forces and doctors/medical staff were involved in the test.

Similar excersises have also been tried in Rome, Milan and Naples.

However in Naples it actually caused a real incident as the rescuers needed rescue themselves, after two ambulances crashed.

It doesn't really sound promising...

The Italians have invested a lot in security measures during the Winter Games, and recently added $12m more to the funds earmarked extra Olympic security.

Threats have been posted on various radical Islamic web sites, who say Italy and Britain could be attacked because it has troops in Iraq. Officials stress, however, that no specific threat was made regarding the Turin Olympics.
Still the government is taking no chances. Last month, it expelled a Moroccan-born Muslim preacher from Turin, saying he represented a danger to public security. Italy raised its security alert after the July 7 suicide bombings in London's transit system, stepping up measures at airports, government buildings, embassies and monuments. A recent intelligence report said radical Muslims, mainly from Morocco and Tunisia living in Turin's Piedmont region and several others in northern Italy, posed a risk to Western interests.

Management of security is in the hands of the Interior Ministry and the officials who arranged security following the death of Pope John Paul II on April 2. They are assembling a force from the national police, the paramilitary Carabinieri, the customs and tax police and forest rangers.

Italian police officials say they have been working closely with embassies and representatives of six or seven countries, sharing intelligence information and other data. A security seminar in Rome last month drew representatives from major international sports events, including the Salt Lake City and Athens Olympics and soccer's World Cup in Germany next year.

According to The Hindu four Indian athletes will attend the upcoming Winter Games. The athletes, which also includes one woman, will compete in luge, alpine skiing and cross country skiing. Allthough not traditionally famous for its performance in the Winter Olympics, the Indian Olympic Federation aims to provide them the best training in the next four months.

India had three representatives in the 1988 Games and two in 1992 but only Kesavan (luge) had been carrying the Indian tri colour in the last two editions of the Games.

This blogger wishes them the best of luck!

For the first time the IOC has licensed the Olympic Games brand for a mobile phone game. The lucky partner is I-play, a well established mobile games developer. The game will be based on the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino and is scheduled for release in january 2006, just in time for the start in February.
To ensure the authenticity of the game, aptly named Torino 2006, the developers will work in close cooperation with the Organising Committee. According to I-play, it will capture the excitement and passion of the 2006 Olympic Winter Games on mobile, allowing mobile phone users worldwide to test their skills at a number of signature Olympic Winter Games disciplines, including Downhill Skiing, Ski Jumping, Curling and Bobsleigh.

After the sales opened again, ticket sales has increased dramatically. Over 15.000 tickets were sold in one week, and the demand is increasing. So for those of you who are eager to get ringside tickets for any major event, it's more or less too late. Although I guess there are still some tickets for women curling availible... Anyway, it's time to hurry up. In Italy they've also started the advertising campaign aiming to ignite the Olympic spirit amongst Italians, and judging from feedback, it's working very well. According to the sales office tickets for about 100 of the 177 events on the competition programme are running low. For some sports there aren't tickets for all the different price ranges, although at the moment it is still possible to satisfy almost all requests.

If you happen to be a make-up artist or costume professional and are located in Torino around the opening ceremony date 10th February, the Torino Olympics Opening Ceremony wants YOU!

If you're not in one of the above mentioned categories, you can still volunteer as they also need drivers and set assistants. Some other requirements are:
- Available at least 5 days before and during the Winter Games and willing to have at least 20-25 times rehearsals before the ceremony.
- Tendencies for exhibisionism (not an official requirement, but the thought of having two billion TV viewers watching should give you a warm sizzling feeling...)
- And maybe not so difficult; have energy, passion and enthusiasm.

4500 volunteers have already been selected, so you won't be lonely. Some details about the show have already been leaked - at least when it comes to costumes.
It will be a grand opening comprising 6000 costumes for stage performers, 5500 pair of shoes, and 500 ice skates (obviously some sort of grand skating scheme.)

Read more (Italian)

After a short break it seems like ordinary mortals will again be able to purchase tickets for the upcoming Winter Games. According to the organizers TOROC "the break was necessary to allow seats to be assigned to people already holding tickets". Why you need to assign tickets to people already holding them, is a mystery to me. I'll presume this means distribution of tickets to sponsors, friends, families and pets etc. Anyway tickets are again availible through ordinary channels and the sale will hopefully continue uninterrupted until everything is sold out. Already over half a million has been sold so you better hurry if you want to see something particular, as demand is said to increase in the coming months. In total it is excpected that more than 1.5 million spectators will attend the upcoming events in Torino.

If you're abroad, you can order either from the the official website or if you're so lucky to be within the EU you can call +39 039 83 82 50. All tickets will be sent to buyers until 2 January 2006.

At 12.30 PM the Olympic Torch relay will start its voyage towards Turin. As a symbolic and traditional gesture the flame will first travel around Greece for 10 days and arrive in Rome on December 8. In Italy, the first tochbearer will be Athens Olympics marathon winner Stefano Baldini, who will recieve the torch from Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi during a ceremony at the presidential palace.