Turin Italy

Only 15 months before the start of the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, with organizing committee executives locked in a power struggle with government officials, the president of the organizing committee said Thursday he would quit. Valentino Castellani said he would submit his resignation from TOROC, as the committee is known, at a board of directors' meeting Nov. 24. Unclear was whether the resignation would be accepted and, if so, who would succeed him. The Games begin Feb. 10, 2006.

Sergio Pininfarina, who headed a family company known for its designs of sleek Ferraris and other cars, has died. He was 85. Pininfarina died Monday night at his home in Turin, the company announced Tuesday. No cause was given. The company founded in 1930 designed cars for Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Lancia, Cadillac, Rolls-Royce and Volvo but is most closely associated with Ferrari, designing nearly all of its models since the 1950s. The design house was started by his father, Battista "Pinin" Farina, who later changed the family name to Pininfarina.

When the flame went out Sunday night at Olympic Stadium, the spotlight shifted immediately to the next edition of the Games, the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, which begin Feb. 10, 2006, not even 18 months from now. It's hardly certain, officials said, that Turin -- in Italian, Torino, the name the city will be called on NBC's Olympic telecasts -- will be ready. For public consumption, Olympic insiders express only modest concern. Behind the scenes, they are far more direct.

Not unusually, Shani Davis spent most of Wednesday alone in his room, except for a morning jog. He studied his journals and race plan. Again he endeavored to do what no one had. Again he internalized any pressures and doubts, trusting only himself to escape them. Later, gliding along the Richmond Olympic Oval in the minutes before the 1,000-meter race that could redefine his grip on history, he was once more effectively alone, as the Chicago native likes it and unapologetically means it to be. Hands on hips, Davis snapped off a yawn.

The 2006 Winter Olympics open in two months, with construction projects still dotting this city, operational concerns abounding, hundreds of thousands of tickets still unsold and little buzz in the air, particularly in Italy, about the Games. The Olympic flame arrived in Rome last week, heralding the onset of the Games. The Turin-based newspaper La Stampa put the news on page 43.

NBC anchor Brian Williams will join veteran sportscaster Bob Costas in hosting the opening ceremonies of the Turin Winter Olympics, airing at 8 p.m. Friday on NBC. It will be the first Olympics gig for Williams, who fills the role "Today" anchor Katie Couric played during the recent games in Sydney, Salt Lake City and Athens.

Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti has been named artistic director of the Turin Film Festival, an event that focuses on young directors and independent movies from around the world. "[The festival's] work in researching new cinema and finding less conventional authors is of great importance," Moretti said Wednesday in a statement. "I accepted ... to become artistic director in the hope of contributing to strengthen it."

Giuseppe Negro, a retired truck driver in his 70s with a gray mustache and plaid beret, is quite happy that the Winter Olympics have come to his hometown of Turin. But you'd never know it from his face. He doesn't smile, his eyes do not gleam, even as he praises the Games. "We are all very happy and trying to make the city look good.

Home-ice and home-hill advantage at the Salt Lake City Olympics helped U.S. athletes win 34 medals, the most by a U.S. Winter Games team and a dramatic leap from the 21 medals won by skaters, skiers and sliders at Nagano in 1998. The language and scenery will be different on the slopes of Sestriere, the sliding tracks at Cesana Pariol and snowboard course at Bardonecchia, but U.S. athletes are ready to make themselves at home on the medal stand at the Turin Games, which begin a year from today.

Apparently fearing the spectacle of police raids on the athletes' village at the 2006 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee expressed concern Thursday about Italy's anti-doping rules, under which athletes suspected of doping can face criminal sanctions.

Italian filmmaker Nanni Moretti has been named artistic director of the Turin Film Festival, an event that focuses on young directors and independent movies from around the world. "[The festival's] work in researching new cinema and finding less conventional authors is of great importance," Moretti said Wednesday in a statement. "I accepted ... to become artistic director in the hope of contributing to strengthen it."

The famously sullen residents of Turin said farewell to the Winter Olympics on Sunday, worried about the huge amount of money spent but savoring a new liveliness in a city not known for spirit or emotion. Turin officials pronounced themselves satisfied with their handling of the Winter Games, but braced for what is often called the Olympic Hangover. City boosters had a lot riding on these Games: They desperately hoped the $3.

With the roar of fireworks punctuating a rousing farewell, the 2006 Winter Games closed Sunday night, an Olympics to be recalled for feuds and falls, for ice dancing stare-downs and, perhaps most, for a late-night raid by police seeking evidence of doping.

He is fast becoming Italy's new sports hero, yet a few weeks ago he was virtually unknown. As the Winter Games come to a close, Enrico Fabris has emerged as the host nation's top medal-winner, accounting for half of Italy's gold intake, and the most successful skater in the 2006 Olympics. Fabris earned two gold and a bronze in the unlikely (for Italy) discipline of speedskating. Fans love him. Women post kisses on his website.

The ink on the index cards is starting to fade. The tape that holds the cards to the wall is starting to yellow. But the words on the cards -- oh, these are magic words, cherished words, secret words. These are old family recipes for nine flavors of gelato, the incredibly rich and impossibly delicious Italian ice cream. In a cramped room at the back of her shop, Elena Zane whips sugar, milk, cream, nuts, spices, chocolate bits and chocolate pastes into those heavenly flavors.

They finally found something to motivate an Italian populace that had greeted the Olympics with a big shrug. All it took was one word -- aperto -- to bring out the masses and pump life into the city. On Saturday night they hung "open" signs throughout the heart of Turin until the early-morning hours. At the museums, at the art galleries, at the cafes, aperto, aperto, aperto.

Italian police don't plan to raid the Olympic village, searching for steroids and other illicit substances, but a positive doping test at the 2006 Winter Games will launch a court case under Italy's anti-doping laws, officials said Monday. Mario Pescante, a senior IOC member and Italian government official, said during a news conference that authorities "want to avoid" having police in the village. The prospect of such a scene has been a major issue for the International Olympic Committee.

They finally found something to motivate an Italian populace that had greeted the Olympics with a big shrug. All it took was one word -- aperto -- to bring out the masses and pump life into the city. On Saturday night they hung "open" signs throughout the heart of Turin until the early-morning hours. At the museums, at the art galleries, at the cafes, aperto, aperto, aperto.

With gold and orange pompoms fluttering, roving bands of young women, about 100 in all, are serving as cheerleaders here at the speedskating oval, the hockey rinks, even the mountain venues. Two! Four! Six! Eight! Is this a turn to appreciate? The cheerleaders, who were recruited by Turin 2006 organizers, provide a more entertainment-style experience at the Olympics, where traditionally the essence of sport has taken center stage. The cheerleaders have drawn mixed reviews. "Cute!"

Every evening before she goes to sleep in her tiny cluttered apartment, Aurora Tosi carefully opens lace curtains to fill the bedroom with the most enduring symbol in sports. "My nightlight," she says. And every evening, from the other side of the bed, partner Valenti Giuseppi climbs up and closes those curtains. "It's too bright. How are you supposed to sleep?" he says.