MILAN, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Building a new sliding centre in Italy instead of moving to another country as recommended by the International Olympic Committee was the right decision, the head of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics said on Friday.
Organisers successfully completed a brand new sliding centre in Cortina just in time for next week's opening of the Games despite IOC pressure a few years ago to move it to an already existing facility to save time and money.
Games CEO Andrea Varnier said he felt vindicated by the decision given that hosting the sliding competitions elsewhere was fine in principle but far too complex a prospect to consider mid-way through preparations.
"It was quite an adventure, time was limited," he said on the Games website.
"But as our Games are widespread, I'm very open to having venues outside of the host country, but this should be discussed at the beginning of the journey. In the middle (of the journey), to go and do one sport in another country is extremely complex."
The Olympics start on February 6 with the opening ceremony at the San Siro stadium.
The Italian organisers' decision to build a new sliding centre was vehemently opposed by the IOC and meant constructors had their backs to the wall from the start of the project.
Italy's neighbours Austria, Switzerland and France as well as nearby Germany all have existing sliding centres.
Varnier said a new sliding centre was a major boost for Italy. "If you want to develop a sport, you need to have at least some training facilities in the country, and Italy has a long tradition in sliding sports," he said.
"It's important to offer (this infrastructure to) these athletes that we glorify when the Games are on."
The IOC, which is eager not to leave white elephants behind at host cities, eventually welcomed the new sliding centre and praised its delivery on a tight timescale.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
