What does the 500 person limit mean in practice?

When the number of people in the competition area is limited to 500 people, it brings limitations to many functions. The Kontiolahti Athletes competition organizers reduced the number of participants in cooperation with the International Biathlon Union (IBU).

- In practice, we have started looking for the minimum composition with which we can get through the games. We have a good situation for the people of Talkoo in that they are able to operate in many different areas. It enables us to move people from one task to another. So, in practice, a person can do something else in the morning and then move to the event management, for example, to work on the shooting range. That way we can keep the number of people within the given limits, the assistant director of the competition Kimmo Turunen says.

Normally there are 600–700 people from Talkoo in total. Now the number is about 150 people, of which the competition technical personnel's share is less than a hundred people.

- In a normal World Cup, the strength of the competition technical personnel is 200, which has now been scaled down to well under half. The shooting range requires quite a lot of people, as do the activities in the finish and starting area. In addition, there are enough security guards to ensure safe sports, says Turunen.

There are more than a hundred people there for televising the Games and other media.

Photo: Irma Lehikoinen