A quick primer on the host city and the issues and faces to watch for from Feb. 10 to 26

10 Things to Know About Turin

	The need for speed: Chad Hedrick's goal is to equal Eric Heiden's 26-year-old record of five golds at one Winter Olympics. AP

1. FIAT The city is home to Italy's biggest car manufacturer, whose name is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino (literally, Italian Automobile Factory in Turin). Alfa Romeo and Lancia, both Fiat subsidiaries, are also based here.

2. THE MOLE ANTONELLIANA Built to be a synagogue but now a film museum (Italy's movie industry began in Turin), the nearly 550-foot-tall domed edifice, topped by a spire, towers above the city and is the official symbol of these Olympics.

3. THE SHROUD OF TURIN Believed by some to be the burial cloth of Jesus, it is stored in the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista.

4. HANNIBAL In 218 B.C. the Carthaginian general (and his 37 elephants) marched over the Alps near the Olympic downhill venue in Sestriere and destroyed what is now Turin.

5. JUVENTUS The Turin soccer club, known for its black-and-white-striped uniforms, is the most successful in Italian history, with 28 national titles.

6. PIAZZAS The city has 163 of these open squares, whose look was incorporated in Olympic venue design.

7. LAVAZZA You like coffee? This brand is manufactured in Turin.

8. PO Italy's longest river runs along the city's eastern edge.

9. POLITICS Left-leaning; Italy's Communist party was founded by a Turin native in 1921.

10. THE ITALIAN JOB Rent the 1969 original, filmed in Turin, to see car chases on the roofs of what are now the figure skating arena and the main press center.

Big Questions

SO IS IT TURIN OR TORINO? Turin is the Anglicized version of the Italian name, Torino -- just as Rome is of Roma and Florence is of Firenze. NBC is using the sexier-sounding Torino but isn't likely to start referring to past host cities as Athinai (the Greek name for Athens) or München (the German name for Munich).

ARE THERE TERRORISM FEARS? Yes, but no specific threats. Turin has spent $107 million on security; Salt Lake City spent $310 million in 2002 and Athens $1.4 billion in 2004.

WHO'LL BE THE U.S.'S BREAKTHROUGH STARS? If you exclude past medalists and familiar names such as Sasha Cohen, the top candidates include long-track speedskaters Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick, snowboarders Gretchen Bleiler, Lindsey Jacobellis and Shaun White, and ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto.

HOW WILL MICHELLE KWAN FARE? Her free pass onto the U.S. team after an injury-plagued season puts her under extreme pressure to justify her selection. Winning a medal would be a crowning feat.

WHO'LL LIGHT THE TORCH? The favorites are three-time Alpine skiing gold medalists Deborah Compagnoni and Alberto Tomba, 10-time cross-country skiing medalist Stefania Belmondo and Italy's '94 gold-medal-winning men's 40K cross-country relay team. The guess here: Tomba.

Long, Long Shots

These long shots will win fans' hearts, if not any medals.

ANNE ABERNATHY, U.S. Virgin Islands, luge. Known as Grandma Luge, the 52-year-old, who was born in Florida but maintains her permanent residence on St. Thomas, will be competing in her sixth Games -- and will be the oldest female Winter Olympian ever.

SHIVA KESHAVAN, India, luge. The former University of Florence student, whose mother is Italian, placed 28th in Nagano in 1998 as a 16-year-old and finished 33rd in Salt Lake City in '02.

ISAAC MENYOLI, Cameroon, cross-country skiing. The 33-year-old architect, who now lives in Milwaukee, finished 65th in the 1.5K sprint in Salt Lake City.

PRAWAT NAGVAJARA, Thailand, cross-country skiing. The 47-year-old professor of computer engineering at Drexel was 66th in the 1.5K sprint in 2002 but dropped out of the 30K pursuit because of cramping.

KWAME NKRUMAH-ACHEAMPONG, Ghana, Alpine skiing. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, but raised in Ghana, the 31-year-old, known as the Snow Leopard, took up the sport three years ago while working at an indoor ski center in England.

ROBEL TEKLEMARIAM, Ethiopia, cross-country skiing. The 31-year-old moved to the U.S. in 1983 when his mother took a job at the U.N. He learned to ski at a boarding school in Lake Placid, eventually earning an athletic scholarship to New Hampshire.

New Sport

In snowboardcross, packs of four boarders race down a 700-meter (.43-mile) course. Nate Holland and women's favorite Lindsey Jacobellis are among the American riders to watch.

The Ratings Game

Look for a few new faces during the record 418 hours of coverage on NBC and its sister networks, including two-time women's hockey medalist Cammi Granato, who will do color commentary for that sport, and former soccer star Julie Foudy, who will be an NBC Sports Desk reporter.

Top Speeds

BOBSLED: 88 mph

LUGE: 85 mph

SKELETON: 82 mph

SKI JUMPING: 70 mph

DOWNHILL SKIING: 50 mph

LONG-TRACK SPEEDSKATING: 38 mph

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: 17 mph

CURLING (velocity of the rock): 5 mph

History Makers

OLE EINAR BJØRNDALEN, Norway, biathlon. With five career gold medals in just two Olympics, he is a good bet to at least tie the Winter Games record of fellow Norwegian Bjørn Daehlie, a cross-country skier with eight golds. (Bjørndalen won four golds in Salt Lake City alone.)

JANICA KOSTELIC, Croatia, Alpine skiing. A triple gold medalist in Salt Lake City and the current World Cup overall leader, she could be the first woman Alpiner to win four career golds. If she makes the podium in downhill, she'll be the first skier to have won medals in all five Alpine disciplines.

TODD HAYS, U.S., bobsled. The World Cup two-man and four-man leader could win America's first men's bobsled gold since 1948.

Money for Medals

Here's a sampling of the bonuses that countries will give to athletes who win an individual gold medal.

ITALY: $157,385 (130,000 Euros)

CZECH REPUBLIC: $42,762 (1 million koruna)

JAPAN: $25,582 (3 million yen)

U.S.: $25,000

SWITZERLAND: $15,587 (20,000 Swiss francs)

AUSTRALIA: $7,512 (10,000 Australian dollars)

CANADA: None

Turin Games II

In March the ninth Winter Paralympics will bring 534 athletes from 41 countries to Turin to compete in Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, wheelchair curling and ice-sledge hockey, in which players such as the U.S.'s Alexi Salamone sit on small, two-blade sleds and propel themselves with the spike-tipped tops of their hockey sticks.

The Mascots

NEVE and GLIZ represent two essentials of Winter Olympic sports: snow and ice. The snowball- and ice-cube-headed creatures, designed by Pedro Albuquerque of Portugal, were chosen after an international competition.

-- Brian Cazeneuve

Issue date: February 6, 2006