2006 Torino, Italy

The Olympics return to Italy after a half-century

Last Updated: Monday, February 1, 2010 | 2:56 PM ET

CBC Sports

The Olympic flag is carried during the Closing Ceremony of the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

A half-century after the Cortina d'Ampezzo Winter Games, the Olympics returned to Italy in 2006.

In celebration of the event's arrival, Olympic organizers wanted to ensure that Turin dazzled on the world stage, and no expense was spared. A new subway system and 65 new sporting facilities were constructed, including a stadium, an arena and five sports halls. These new amenities compounded to make the Turin Games the most expensive Winter Olympics ever - at a cost of $1.7 billion euro (about $2.7 billion Cdn).

Turin was a success in many ways. There was the record number of countries involved (80) - with some, such as Albania, Ethiopia and Madagascar, participating for the first time. There was success on the broadcast front, with television coverage of the Games totalling 16,311 hours, an increase of 57 per cent over Salt Lake City four years earlier.

The global audience watching the Games also experienced a surge, increasing by 2.5 per cent from the last Games to a total of 3.1 billion viewers - thanks to an increase in the number of countries broadcasting the Games.

Once competition began, Enrico Fabris thrilled his home country by earning bronze in the 5,000-metre speedskating event, making him the first Italian to capture a medal in long-track speedskating. He then joined teammates Matteo Anesi, Stefano Donagrandi and Ippolito Sanfratello, guiding the Italians to gold in the pursuit event and 1,500 m.

Having already secured the title of youngest skier to win an Olympic gold medal in 1992 (at the age of 20), Norwegian alpine skier Kjetil Andre Aamodt also earned the title of oldest skier to win a gold medal at the Olympics in Turin. Before Turin, Aamodt already held the Olympic record for most career medals (eight) in alpine skiing. He made more history after winning gold in the super-G - a competition he first won in 1992. Aamodt became the first skier to earn four medals in the same event and the first to capture four gold medals overall.

China's Zhang Dan and Zhang Hao attempted a quadruple salchow throw in the pairs figure skating final, a move yet to be landed in competition. Dan fell as she hit the ice, smashing into the boards. Although in pain, Dan continued skating and the pair landed every other jump to finish second.

Drug abuse, an issue at every Games, was once again thrust to the forefront when a raid was conducted after officials suspected banned Austrian coach Walter Mayer was staying in the athletes' living quarters.

Learning of the raid, Mayer and two Austrian biathletes, Wolfgang Perner and Wolfgang Rottmann, fled to Austria and later admitted they "may have used illegal methods."

Evidence seized in the surprise search included roughly 100 syringes, unlabeled drugs and a blood transfusion machine.

Canada's performance

Turin was Team Canada's most successful Olympics ever - if you don't count the 40 medals the nation won at the boycotted 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games. A total of 191 Canadian athletes, 108 men and 83 women, participated, capturing seven gold, 10 silver and seven bronze medals. Danielle Goyette of the women's hockey team was given the honour of flag bearer at the opening ceremonies.

Freestyle skier Jennifer Heil got Canada off to a great start on the very first day of competition, winning gold in the moguls event. At the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, Heil, 18 at the time, finished fourth in the moguls, just one-hundredth of a point out of the bronze-medal position. Following Turin, Heil completed the season by winning her fourth straight World Cup title.

Canadian athletes dominated the speedskating events, which accounted for half of the medals Canada earned overall.

Speedskater Cindy Klassen cleaned up, with gold in the 1,500 m; silvers in the 1,000 m and team pursuit races; and bronze medals in the 3,000 m and 5,000 m.

Led by Newfoundland skip Brad Gushue, the men's curling team returned to form in Turin, hammering Finland 10-4 to win gold. The victory came four years after Edmonton's Kevin Martin suffered a heartbreaking loss to Norway in the final at Salt Lake City.

On the women's side, Alberta's Shannon Kleibrink breezed through her bronze-medal match, with an 11-5 victory over Norwegian Dordi Norby.

In hockey, the defending champion men's team endured a humiliating elimination from the Games, falling 2-0 to Russia in the quarter-finals. The women's hockey team, however, successfully defended its title, beating Sweden 4-1 in the final.

Earlier in the semifinals, the United States suffered a shocking shootout loss to Sweden, marking the first time in international competition that the Americans had lost to anyone other than Canada. Duff Gibson, 39 at the time, became the oldest Canadian to get a gold medal in Olympic history when he sped to victory in the skeleton competition with a time of one minute, 55.88 seconds.