Winter Olympics begin with colour splash and dope row
(New Kerala)
Updated: 2006-02-11 15:22

Turin (Italy): The Turin Winter Olympics opened with a spectacular ceremony amid a row over doping control procedures that robbed a dozen skiers of the chance of racing in the weekend's first competitions.

A two-hour show in the Stadio Comunale Friday marked the start of 16 days of competition, four years after the last Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo underscored the feminine mystique of these Olympics when she lit the flame.

Three-time Olympic champion ski stars Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni had carried the flame into the arena before handing over to the 36-year-old Belmondo, Italy's most decorated winter Olympian, with 10 medals in her career, including two golds.

For the first time, the Olympic flag was carried into the stadium by a team of eight women that included Italian actress Sophia Loren and Kenyan 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai.

Some 2,000 of the 2,500 Olympic athletes from 82 countries marched into the stadium in front of a 35,000 crowd and a worldwide television audience estimated at two billion.

The Olympic Oath was spoken by Italy's slalom skiing gold medal hope Giorgio Rocca and a nine-year girl, Eleonora Benetti, sang the Italian anthem.

Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi officially opened the third Olympics in Italy, following the 1956 Winter Games in Cortina d'Ampezzo and the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

US First Lady Laura Bush and British premier Tony Blair's wife Cherie chatted in the stands protected by 15,000 police officers and army personnel.

Security was massive, with the local airport closed, F-16 fighter jets patrolling the airspace and AWACS surveillance planes in operation.

But before the ceremony, international ski federation (FIS) officials barred Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle, a German relay gold medallist from 2002, and 11 other skiers from Sunday's opening cross-country races after testing revealed abnormal red blood cell levels.

The German ski federation (DSV) lodged an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an attempt to clear the way for Sachenbacher-Stehle to compete on Sunday.

"We have a problem that athletes who have done nothing wrong, and all tests in the end will be proven negative, have to wait five days and cannot compete," said Ernst Jakob, the German ski federation (DSV) team doctor.

Robel Teklemariam, the first ever Winter Olympic athlete from Ethiopia, was among the group of suspended skiers who will be allowed to compete next week if tests on Monday show their red blood cell count has returned to permitted levels.

FIS instituted strict anti-doping measures after two major scandals in recent years.

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