Backstory: Olympics by the numbers

Turin's turnstiles

908,000 people live in Turin, the largest city ever to host the Winter Games. [Editor's note: The original story overstated Turin's population and incorrectly ranked Turin as the second largest city ever to host the Winter Games.]

1 million fans have bought tickets to the Games.

20,000 volunteers will work the event.

10,000 journalists have been accredited.

2,784 athletes from 87 countries are competing.

258 athletes from 16 nations competed in the first winter Games in 1924.

84 events will be staged.

3 are new: snowboardcross, mass-start biathlon, team- pursuit speedskating.

$107 million has been spent on security at the Turin Games.

$310 million was spent at Salt Lake City in 2002.

$1.4 billion was spent at the 2004 summer Games in Athens.

221 American athletes will compete in Turin.

87 members of the US team are past Olympians.

5 is the number of Olympic Games that female speedskater Chris Witty has competed in - more than any other US team member.

54 is the age of the US team's oldest competitor, curler Scott Baird.

16 is the age of the US team's youngest members: figure skater Kimmie Meisner, snowboarder Elena Hight, and ski jumper Anders Johnson.

2 sets of married couples will compete for the US team: speedskaters Jennifer Rodriquez and KC Boutiette, and ice dancers Melissa Gregory and Denis Petukhov.

2 sets of twins will compete: biathletes Lanny and Tracy Barnes, and Nordic combined athletes Brett and Eric Camerota.

2 additional sets of siblings are on the team: curlers Cassie and Jamie Johnson, and cross-country skiers Kris and Justin Freeman.

88 m.p.h.: bobsled
85 m.p.h.: luge
80 m.p.h.: downhill skiing
55 m.p.h.: ski jumping
38 m.p.h.: long-track speedskating
17 m.p.h.: cross-country skiing
5 m.p.h.: curling
(the speed of the rock)

$4 billion in revenue was taken in from the Games by the International Olympic Committee between 2001 and 2004. The money came from broadcast rights (53 percent), corporate sponsorships (34 percent), ticket sales (11 percent), and licensing (2 percent).

$3.5 billion is how much NBC paid to broadcast five Olympic games between 2000 and 2008.

2 billion viewers from 200 nations are expected to watch the Turin Olympics, spending 13 billion cumulative hours in front of their TVs.

838 urine tests will be conducted by the International Olympic Committee to check for doping.

362 blood tests will be conducted.

7 athletes were caught using illegal substances in the 2002 winter Games - more than the combined total of all previous Winter Games since testing began in 1968.

$17,100 is the amount US Olympic swimmer Anthony Ervin sold his gold medal for on Ebay last year. He donated it to tsunami relief.

Bonuses countries pay to their athletes for winning a gold medal.

Italy $157,000
Czech Republic $43,000
Japan $26,000
US $25,000
Switzerland $16,000
Australia $8,000
Canada $0.

1st Norway has won 260 medals in winter Games.

2nd The USSR has 194.

3rd The US has 191 (including 67 gold, 71 silver, and 51 bronze).

43rd Bulgaria has one bronze medal.

3 sports have never yielded medals for Americans: Nordic combined, biathlon, and curling.

11 is the number of consecutive Games in which either Russian or Soviet figure-skating pairs have won the gold - a record 38-year streak.

5 gold medals were won by US speedskater Eric Heiden in 1980, the most in one winter Olympics.

SOURCES: International Olympic Committee, US Olympic Committee, Sports Illustrated, Associated Press, NBC.