Preparing For 1960 Games

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28150, 13 December 1956, Page 13

Preparing For 1960 Games

While the 1956 Olympic Games were being held in Melbourne, Italians were busily preparing for the 1960 Games in Rome.

According to Italian newspapermen in Melbourne for the Games, the Italians plan to make the 1960 Games an even greater success than the Melbourne Olympics. Rome, they said was already booked out by the world’s sports fans and it was ho longer possible to book first-class hotel accommodation for the period of the Games.

With four years to go, the Italian Olympic Committee has already completed a 100,000-seat Olympic stac.ium and it still has another £8,000,000 to spend—£2,soo,ooo more than the total construction programme lor Melbourne Games. The huge sum of money needed will come from soccer pools. Rome’s biggest advantage ove v Melbourne will be her historic monuments which will act as a spectacular backdrop for the sporting venues. The Colosseum and the chariot racers’ Circus Maximus will return to their original role of sporting stadiums. There was a time when the circus could accommodate 500,000 spectators. Plans for the Olympic village have already been drawn up. It is planned to have two villages built, one for men and one for women, and these will be sited on opposite banks of the Tiber river.