TORINO: Notebook: Record numbers for Torino

TORINO: Notebook: Record numbers for Torino{mosimage}TORINO, Italy – More countries than ever are entered for the Winter Olympics, with Ethiopia and Madagascar sending athletes for the first time.

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said Wednesday that a record 82 National Olympic Committees were participating in Torino, up from the previous mark of 77 set at Salt Lake City, Utah, four years ago.

The record ”shows that the collaborative work being carried out by the IOC, the NOCs and the international (sports) federations continues to bear fruit and that interest in the Olympic Winter Games is increasing as each edition builds on the success of the” last, Rogge said.

Seven African countries have athletes competing in Torino.

Robel Teklemariam is entered in four cross-country events for Ethiopia, while Canadian-born Mathieu Razanokolona is representing Madagascar in the slalom and giant slalom events.

The IOC has 202 National Olympic Committees among its membership.

ROYAL OPENING: Monaco’s leader, Winter Olympics veteran Prince Albert, will be among some 40 royals, presidents and heads of government descending on Torino for Friday night’s Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony.

Albert, a veteran of five Winter Olympics as a bobsledder and an International Olympic Committee member, will be at the Olympic Stadium as Italy’s President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi declares open the Games, according to Italy’s AGI news agency.

U.S. President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair are not scheduled to watch the ceremony, but their wives, Laura Bush and Cherie Blair, will be there.

Norway’s King Harold will be among the expected crowd of 35,000 at the stadium while Sweden’s king is expected to arrive for the Games after the Opening Ceremony.

Others are leaving it to the last minute.

”The Spanish royal family, for example, has applied for special accreditation to take part,” a source at the organizing committee told AGI.

Spanish King Juan Carlos’ sister Pilar De Borbon, also an IOC member, already is in Torino.

SAFE SKIES: NATO is sending two British-based planes to Italy to patrol the skies above Torino during the Olympics.

The planes from the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force will boost Italian security by providing additional radar coverage and communications facilities, NATO said in a statement.

And they’re not new to the job.

Since 2001 the force has provided some 3,000 hours of airborne surveillance over more than 30 special events, NATO said.

Among events they have patrolled in recent years were the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome, the Spanish Royal Wedding in Madrid and the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, NATO said.

The aircraft are fitted with a unique E-3 Pulse Doppler radar which has the ability to detect, track and classify airborne targets up to 360 kilometers (224 miles) away at all heights, NATO said.

TICKETS ANYONE? More than 720,000 Winter Olympic tickets already have been sold, but there are new chances opening up to secure a seat for one of the events.

With just two days to go until the Games’ Opening Ceremony, new box offices opened Wednesday at all venues in Torino and the mountains, organizers said.

Among tickets still available are hundreds at 110 euro each for the popular men’s downhill on Feb. 12 and the men’s super G on Feb. 18 at Sestriere, organizers said in a statement.

Other events with tickets still up for grabs include the biathlon, cross country skiing, men’s hockey and women’s 1,000-meter speedskating.

BOUNCING CZECH: Czech luge athlete Jakub Hyman was treated by the Olympic Athletes Medical Station on Wednesday after a training accident at the track in Cesana.

Hyman was released after observation, Olympics organizers said in a statement. It was not clear if he would be fit to compete in Saturday’s qualifying run for the men’s singles event.

– Associated Press