Transport athletes to the Starting Gate of Downhil Course
The Nagano Olympic organizing committee (NAOC) on Wednesday decided to transport athletes and officials to the starting gate of the men's downhill by using the existing ski lift at Happo-one ridge instead of installing a temporary lift.

The decision came at a meeting of representatives from NAOC, the Ski Association of Japan and environmentalists, who discussed the effects on the environment of the Dec. 1 decision by NAOC's special advisory committee to raise the starting point.

Advisory committee members agreed to raise the starting point of the Feb. 8 race to 1,765 meters from the originally planned 1,680 meters on Mt. Karamatsu in the ski resort of Hakuba.

(December 24, 1997)