Winter sports fans should be pencilling in
their holidays for August with the announcement yesterday of
a confirmed programme of events for New Zealand's first
Winter Olympics-style games.
Winter Games New Zealand organisers have added two ice hockey
tests for Dunedin between transtasman rivals Australia and
New Zealand to the programme.
The ice hockey tests open the nine-day event, which runs from
August 22 at venues around Otago.
Organisers have billed the line-up as the world's largest
winter sports event outside the Olympics.
It is predicted the games will attract about 800 elite
athletes, who will contest 20 different disciplines of ice
and snow sports.
Winter Games chief executive Arthur Klap said building the
programme had been a complex exercise but the support of the
various national sporting bodies around the world, together
with the FIS, had been exceptional.
The only "disappointment" had been missing out on securing a
short track speed skating World Cup event, he said.
However, the "really strong" programme would provide winter
sports in New Zealand with a significant boost a year out
from the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.
Otago venues include Dunedin (figure skating, ice hockey),
Queenstown skifields Coronet Peak and the Remarkables (alpine
ski racing, freeskiing, snowboarding) and Wanaka's Cardrona
Alpine Resort and Snow Farm (cross-country skiing,
freeskiing, snowboarding), while Naseby will host a week-long
curling tournament.
Winter triathlon - at the Snow Farm - will also feature as a
demonstration sport in the programme.
Spectators will have free access to all the events, including
the opening and closing ceremonies, and the games would be
broadcast on television to international audiences, Klap
said.
The programme had been designed to provide a strong
representation for all sports, including adaptive snow
sports, and to give athletes an opportunity to gain valuable
competition experience in an elite environment prior to
Vancouver in 2010, he said.
Winter Games: Key dates
August 22, 23: New Zealand v
Australia ice hockey, Dunedin.
August 23-29: Curling, Naseby.
August 24, 25: Nordic skiing, Snow Farm, Wanaka.
August 25, 27: Alpine ski racing, Coronet Peak.
August 25, 26: Freeski and snowboard halfpipe, Cardrona
skifield.
August 28, 29: Figure skating, Dunedin.
August 30: Snowboard, freeski big air and closing ceremony,
Coronet Peak.
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