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Winter Olympic Games - Torino

Winter Olympic Games are the most important event for all winter sports fans and sportsmen. This year the best skiers, ski jumpers, figure skaters, speed skaters and many other athletes will compete in Torino, Italy. The XX Olympic Games starts February 10, 2006. During the seventeen days of competition the world will breathe the special and unique atmosphere of the Winter Olympic Games!

The history of Winter Olympic Games is very rich. The first Olympic Games ever were held in ancient Greece, in the town of Olympia, in 776 B.C, and the first winter competition took place in 1924, in Chamonix, France. The athletes representing sixteen nations participated in this outstanding sport event. Until the Winter Games in Lillehammer in 1994, the competition took place the same year as the Summer Olympic Games. Nowadays, winter competition is held every four years, but always in a different year from the summer event. The interest for the Winter Olympic Games is huge both among athletes and public. In the last competition in Salt Lake City in 2002, more than 2,000 sportsmen representing 70 nations participated in 78 different sporting events.

Why are Winter Olympic Games so unique? They are a wonderful sporting event gathering the best sportsmen and sport enthusiasts from all over the world. Furthermore, during the period of competitions the famous Olympic Spirit seems to influence inhabitants of all continents, and values such as peace, fair play, brotherhood, enthusiasm, commitment, determination, loyalty and dialogue become omnipresent. Olympic Games are not just a simple sporting event. They remind everyone about values, which tend to be forgotten nowadays.

The whole world awaits the Opening Ceremony that will take place at the Olympic Stadium in Torino, February 10, 2006 at 8pm. During the spectacular show full of special effects, dances and music, the athletes will march through the stadium waving their national flags and waiting impatiently for the competition to start. But the most important moment of the Opening Ceremony is the appearance of the Olympic Flame that will burn on the Olympic Stadium till the last day of the Winter Competition in Torino.

The unique symbol of the Olympic Games, dating back to the Games of ancient Greece, the Olympic Flame was lit in Olympia in November 2005. December 8, 2005 it was brought to Rome, where the great relay started. For two months, the Olympic Flame will pass all the regions, provinces and main cities of Italy. It will be carried by thousands of torchbearers, who were carefully chosen for this honour. The torchbearers will bring the Olympic Flame to the Olympic Stadium in Torino during the Opening Ceremony.

During seventeen days, spectators will admire the best sportsmen competing in fifteen different disciplines: cross-country skiing, Nordic combined, Alpine skiing, ski jumping, snowboard, biathlon, curling, figure skating, freestyle skating, ice hockey, speed skating on the short track and on the long distance, luge, skeleton and bobsleigh. Athletes will compete to win the gold as each of them has sacrificed months of training to win the prize of the dreams. Therefore great emotions, unforgettable moments and tears of joy are guaranteed!

The Closing Ceremony will take place February 26, 2006. It will be great possibility to congratulate the champions and to live again the most spectacular and beautiful moments of the Winter Olympic Games in Torino.

If you don't have the possibility to visit Torino during the XX Winter Olympic Games, make sure to watch this spectacular sporting event on TV. Let's hope, that the effort and great joy of athletes, the unique atmosphere of the Olympic Stadiums and the values accompanying every competition will last in our memory for a very long time!