Editing 2006 Winter Olympics (section)

==Controversies==
The Games had issues with covering costs and international attendance. Due to a lack of funding by the Italian Government, TOROC risked dissolution.

===Metro===
The [[Turin Metro|metro]] was finally opened to the public on 4 February 2006, after a 45-day delay. It operated on a shorter stretch (''XVIII Dicembre'' (Porta Susa) to ''Fermi'' – 11 stations) than originally forecast; it finally reached the main railway station (''Porta Nuova'') and the rest of the city centre more than one year after the Games, in October 2007. For the duration of the Games, a single ticket (5 euros) covered use of both the metro and other means of public transportation for a whole day. However, during the Games, metro service stopped at 6:00&nbsp;pm, making it impractical for spectators of evening events. Furthermore, the metro did not reach any of the Olympic venues. On the other hand, the bus service was heavily improved for the Games, although still inadequate at night hours.{{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}

===Doping===
During the games, Italian police raided the Austrian athletes' quarters in search of evidence of blood doping. The raid was conducted due to suspicions over the presence of biathlon coach [[Walter Mayer]], who had been banned from all Olympic events up to and including the [[2010 Winter Olympics|Vancouver Olympic Games in 2010]] due to previous doping convictions. Around the time of the raid Mayer and two Austrian biathletes, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann, tried to escape and fled back to Austria. Later, the Austrian ski federation president said that the two athletes told him they "may have used illegal methods". Six skiers and four biathletes were also taken for drug screens by the [[IOC]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Ariel|last=David|url=https://www.scribd.com/document/102464771/2006-02-22|title=Austrians change tune about inquiry|date=22 February 2006|access-date=24 October 2016|agency=The Associated Press|publisher=The University Daily Kansan|location=Lawrence, Kansas, US|page=3B|archive-date=25 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025044302/https://www.scribd.com/document/102464771/2006-02-22|url-status=live}}</ref> Those substance screens later returned negative results.

On 25 April 2007, six Austrian athletes ([[Roland Diethard]], [[Johannes Eder]], [[Wolfgang Perner]], [[Jürgen Pinter]], [[Wolfgang Rottmann]] and [[Martin Tauber]]) were banned for life from the Olympics for their involvement in the doping scandal at the 2006 Turin Olympics, the first time the [[IOC]] punished athletes without a positive or missed doping test. The Austrians were found guilty of possessing doping substances and taking part in a conspiracy, based on materials seized by Italian police during the raid on the living quarters. The Austrians also had their competition results from Turin annulled.<ref name=AustTurin>{{cite web|agency=The Associated Press|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-04-25-austrians-banned_N.htm|title=Six Austrians banned from Olympics in Turin doping scandal|publisher=USA Today|date=26 April 2007|access-date=24 October 2016|archive-date=11 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161111091019/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2007-04-25-austrians-banned_N.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>

List of athletes with doping convictions in these Games:
* Russian [[Olga Medvedtseva|Olga Pyleva]] was stripped of her silver and other medals in the 15&nbsp;km biathlon event after testing positive for [[carphedon]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185095,00.html|title=Russian Biathlete Expelled From Torino for Doping|website=[[Fox News]] |date=16 February 2006|language=en-US|access-date=6 August 2016|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120703025129/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,185095,00.html|archive-date=3 July 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* Brazilian bobsled athlete [[Armando dos Santos (bobsleigh)|Armando dos Santos]], ejected from the Games after a preventive antidoping test came positive (the results were from a test conducted in Brazil).<ref name="AdS2006">{{cite web|title=Dos Santos expelled from Brazilian bobsled team for doping|url=https://www.espn.com/espn/print?id=2330182&type=story|agency=Associated Press|access-date=22 February 2009|archive-date=26 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026072636/http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=2330182&type=story|url-status=live}}</ref>

The IOC has retested nearly 500 doping samples that were collected at the 2006 Turin Games. In 2014, the Estonian Olympic Committee was notified by the IOC that a retested sample from cross-country skier [[Kristina Šmigun]] had tested positive. On 24 October 2016, the [[World Anti-Doping Agency]] Athletes' Commission stated that Šmigun, who won two gold medals at the Turin Games, faces a [[Court of Arbitration for Sport]] hearing before the end of October.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1042965/smigun-vahi-facing-cas-hearing-after-positive-retest-at-turin-2006|title=Šmigun-Vähi facing CAS hearing after "positive" retest at Turin 2006|work=INSIDETHEGAMES.BIZ|first=Nick|last=Butler|date=24 October 2016|access-date=24 October 2016|publisher=Dunsar Media Company Limited|archive-date=25 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161025115726/http://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1042965/smigun-vahi-facing-cas-hearing-after-positive-retest-at-turin-2006|url-status=live}}</ref> In December 2017, IOC announced that re-analysis of samples resulted in no positive cases.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1059102/estonian-cross-country-skier-looks-to-be-in-clear-as-ioc-announce-no-positive-results-in-turin-2006-re-analysis|title=Estonian cross-country skier looks to be in clear as IOC announce no positive results in Turin 2006 re-analysis|date=13 December 2017|website=www.insidethegames.biz|first=Nick|last=Butler|access-date=21 February 2022|archive-date=21 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221173207/https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1059102/estonian-cross-country-skier-looks-to-be-in-clear-as-ioc-announce-no-positive-results-in-turin-2006-re-analysis|url-status=live}}</ref>

===Ratings and attendance===
{{Globalize|date=February 2010}}
A number of events reported low spectator attendance despite having acceptable ticket sales.<!-- citation needed, although is a personal opinion --> Preliminary competition and locally less popular sports failed to attract capacity crowd as expected. Organizers explained this was because blocks of seats were reserved or purchased by sponsors and partners who later did not show up at the events.{{Citation needed|date=February 2010}}

Several news organizations reported that many Americans were not as interested in the Olympics as in years past.<ref name="Interest">{{cite news|title=Ciao to the Winter Games |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022600137_pf.html |date=26 February 2006 |author=Shipley, Amy |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=19 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105125306/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022600137_pf.html |archive-date=5 November 2012 |url-status=live  }}</ref> It has been suggested that reasons for this lack of interest include the [[Broadcast delay|tape delayed]] coverage, which showed events in prime-time as much as 18 hours later in the Western United States.<ref name="Ratings">{{cite news|url=https://www.espn.com/olympics/winter06/columns/story?id=2345588 |title=The best, and real, drama is always at Olympics |date=26 February 2006 |publisher=[[ESPN]] |author=Caple, Jim |access-date=19 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111207030153/http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/winter06/columns/story?id=2345588 |archive-date=7 December 2011 |url-status=live  }}</ref>  Primetime viewing figures in Canada were also disappointing, especially after the early exit of the Canadian men's hockey team,<ref name="Canada ratings 2">{{cite news |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060223.wxolyblues0223_3/BNStory/Torino2006/home |title=Olympic hockey loss misses the net for CBC ratings |author1=McArthur, Keith |author2=Robertson, Grant |date=23 February 2006 |access-date=19 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124113816/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060223.wxolyblues0223_3/BNStory/Torino2006/home |archive-date=24 January 2016 |url-status=dead |location=Toronto |work=The Globe and Mail  }}</ref> though overall viewing figures were up from 2002.<ref name="Canada ratings">{{cite news |title=Olympics lose against fake games |author=Brioux, Bill |date=23 February 2006 }}</ref>