Milan Cortina are the most spread-out Olympics ever. What this means for fans and athletes

The Milan Cortina Winter Games are the most spread-out in Olympic history.

For the organizers of the Feb. 6-22 Games, it was a choice to use existing infrastructure as much as possible, but this means no central hub and strategic choices for spectators. The Games will span over 22,000 square kilometers (8,500 square miles).

Here is what it means in practical terms.

Choices and strategies

For any visitor to the Games, it would be extraordinary difficulty to see ice sports in Milan, men’s Alpine skiing in Bormio, snowboarding in Livigno, cross-country skiing in Predazzo, biathlon in Anterselva and women’s Alpine skiing in Cortina, before heading to the closing ceremony in Verona.

It's a circuit that covers over 850 kilometers (530 miles) and would amount to nearly 13 hours of non-stop driving.

Organizers sought to take advantage of existing infrastructure but there still been hiccups getting the Cortina sliding venue and the Santagiulia ice hockey arena in the city of Milan finished on time.

Spreading out the Games reduced the number of new structures, and allowed more areas in northern Italy to benefit from the investments and tourim that come with such big events.

But it also deprives the Games of one emotional center, meaning spectators must make hard choices about which events to attend, and athletes will have difficulty cheering on teammates in far-flung disciplines.

A complex itinerary

Mona Patel, a Los Angeles-based lawyer, and her partner worked out an itinerary months in advance to attend men’s downhill skiing and snowboarding in the Valtellina cluster near the Swiss border, as well as bobsled and luge in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

They hope to catch skating events in Milan on the way in and out of Italy. If they pull it all off, they will have hit three of the four Olympic clusters.

To make it work, they booked one accommodation in Valtellina and another in South Tyrol, putting them in range for their selected mountain events and allowing them to hit the slopes themselves.

Patel said the complex itinerary was made affordable through HomeExchange — she used points she had built up by putting her own real estate in California on the exchange platform, and spending them for places in Italy.

“Our priority is to see Olympic events,” Patel said. “If there is going to be a powder day, we would love to get out. Sometimes if there is an event in the afternoon or evening, we can do both. We are not daunted by the distances.”

Making it a family experience

This will be Lars Thorn’s sixth Olympics, but the first for his wife and two young children. Coming from southern California, he ruled out outdoor competitions because of the cold weather and decided to focus on ice sports in Milan. Distance was another factor — though he is sorry to miss Lindsey Vonn, who is still hoping to compete in Cortina despite a weekend knee injury.

“With two little kids, being outside in the elements doesn’t lend itself to a family experience,” Thorn said.

He’s planning to take his 5-year-old son to long track speed skating and men’s and women’s hockey — all reachable by public transport in Milan — while his wife and daughter take in Milan’s sights.

His next Olympics will be close to home in Los Angeles, where he will be able to walk to four venues from home and reach another seven by a quick ferry ride — a logistical contrast from Milan Cortina.

The first Olympics with 2 hub cities

The headliners of Friday’s opening ceremony, like Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, will perform in Milan’s San Siro Stadium. But to ensure that all competitors from the far-flung venues can participate in the Parade of Athletes, elements of the ceremony will be broadcast from Livigno, Predazzo and Cortina.

With these also being the first Olympics with two hub cities and with events clustered in four areas, organizers also had to find housing not only in Milan and Cortina, but in four other sites: Anterselva near the Austrian border, Bormio and Livigno near the Swiss border, and the Val di Fiemme in the Trentino autonomous province.

Milan is the only city getting a legacy Olympic Village, which will become housing for 1,700 students after the Games. A temporary village was built in Cortina; existing hotels and facilities were adapted in the other locations.

The last time Italy hosted the Winter Games, in Turin 2006, spectators buzzed about the medals ceremony each day in the center of the city, which became a focal point of the Olympic spirit. Because of the distances, medal ceremonies in Milan Cortina will be held at the venues immediately after the competitions.

“If you have tickets to an event, it’s nice to see the crowning of the champion,” Thorn said. But he added that the Olympic Plaza in Salt Lake City, as in Turin, created a unique atmosphere.

“That, I think, is one of the highlights, for the city to feel like they are part of it,” Thorn said.