Winter Olympics at Albertville May Have Lost Up to $64 Million

The Olympic organizing committee for the Winter Games in Albertville lost at least $58 million staging them, a Grenoble newspaper reported Thursday.

The Games may have lost up up to $64 million, according to a report prepared by Finance Ministry inspector Nicolas Dufour, the Dauphine Libere reported.

The committee (COJO) maintains the deficit is closer to $38 million.

COJO is scheduled to present its final report on the Winter Games July 9 at a meeting in Paris.

Costs ballooned as preparation for the Games progressed, and COJO’s original budget of $470 million soared to $754 million.

Many of the small Alpine communities that hosted Olympic competitions went into heavy debt to finance building or refurbishing athletic, waste treatment and other facilities.

COJO co-president Michel Barnier said last month that the French government agreed to cover 50-67% of any losses COJO incurred in staging the Games.

The newspaper said Paris is negotiating with the national government and Savoy, the region that hosted the Olympics, to determine to what extent the government will cover the loss.