L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

RAI production strike means Men's GS is postponed until Thursday

"This is fairly common in Italy for contract negotiations to drag on," explained Matteo Pacor when telling Racer Ready that the Men's Giant Slalom that was scheduled for Wednesday was postponed.  Matteo explained that the contract negotiations had been going on for some time and that production staff had declared a one day strike for Wednesday. The fact that the organisers have a spare day will help the organisers in getting a full compliment of races run.  However, it was not certain that the strike would just be a one day strike.

The race was called off for the day at 08.30 local time on Wednesday.  FIS were informed at 6pm local time on Tuesday evening that there was the possibility of a strike.  This was confirmed by EBU (European Broadcasting Union) at 18.48 (CET).  Gian Franco Kasper announced to a packed press conference at 10.30 on Wednesday that a final decision to cancel the race for the day was made as EBU could only guarantee that there was a 40% chance of production not breaking down.

It is not just a case of bringing in other technicians and cameramen to work the systems as the technology in each of the OB (Outside Broadcast) vehicles is set up differently.  The vast amount of technology involved makes it a logistical nightmare. 

The strike itself was called "an illegal strike, a wild cat strike," explained the President of FIS, Gian Franco Kasper.  "It is a human right in the civilised world to strike, but this was illegal as they did not give 24 hours notice," continued Kasper.  The strikers are local to the Lombardia Region, where the World Championships are being held.  The races in Santa Caterina, where the girls races have been held, are being produced by the RAI crews from Rome.  The strikers are from the Union called LiberSind and they are striking over contracts.

RAI have released a statement saying that they could have "amply guaranteed" that they could have covered and the broadcast the race.

Many journalists and fans of ski racing asked why something was not done about this earlier.  Many are asking why the race cannot go ahead anyway.  For the latter question it would upset the fans, spectators and volunteers not to mention the sponsors: The likes of Carlsberg, Audi and the other corporate sponsors have paid millions of €uros to have their name associated with the event due to the fact that Television would be there: No television and this devalues the race immediately.

Should the same situation be faced in the morning, organisers have worked out a plan that will mean the race should be able to go ahead.  "I have a 90% surety that the race will go ahead," Kasper explained.  "We are working with the Swiss, German and Austrian television companies to ensure that we have television coverage."

It is not just about the actual viewing that caused a postponement of the race.  "We need the television cameras covering the course so that we can see that every racer has skied the course," explained Kasper.  "Without the television crews and cameras, this cannot happen!"

This industrial action will not please the organisers of the Olympic Games next year in Turin and will lower the esteem of the Italian network when other events are being bid for.  Next years Olympics are not being produced by RAI but by TOROB (Turin Olympics Radio and Outside Broadcasting) and also involve production teams from other nations, the Swiss for instance will be producing the Super G and Downhill events for Turin.

Racer Ready has learned that the strikers are planning to strike again in the morning.  This should not affect the race as FIS and the EBU are working together with technicians from other broadcasters.  Whether they with stand together with their Union colleagues remains to be seen.

This is not the first time that Bormio or skiing has been hit by strikes.  In 1985, Kasper remembered, the races were hit by a similar strike. That time the international broadcast was not affected, only the Italian viewers.

Gian Franco Kasper asked the media to emphasis that the Italian Ski Federation "is not to blame as they do a fantastic job in promoting the sport".  The strike is not against the World Championships but against contractual issues.  With Italian trades unionists traditionally poor in using PR to promote their strikes, this could affect the remainder of the races.

Watch this space!

World Championships reaction...

Already the World Championships have been hit with bad press with high ticket prices, low attendance and