The International Olympic Committee no longer expects to have to throw local Olympic organizers a multimillion-dollar fiscal lifeline.

Just days before the opening of the 2010 Winter Games, IOC president Jacques Rogge said VANOC is now so financially flush he is confident the organization can balance its operating budget without relying on an unprecedented offer of IOC assistance pegged as high as $22-million.

“Oh yes, absolutely. I want to be very clear on that,” Mr. Rogge told reporters here Monday when asked if VANOC can avoid a deficit without the aid of the well-heeled IOC.

Only last August, in an Olympic first, the IOC privately agreed to help bail out – if necessary – hard-pressed 2010 Olympic organizers, who were struggling with the revenue fallout from a worldwide recession.

The pledge put a spring in the step of VANOC officials, ending months of uncertainty over whether they could balance the organization's $1.75-billion operating budget.

Part of VANOC's concern was the loss of $30-million in hoped-for sponsorship revenue from the IOC itself. The recession whittled the number of IOC corporate sponsors to nine from its target of 11, resulting in less money flowing to the 2010 Games.

But Mr. Rogge said VANOC CEO John Furlong and deputy CEO Dave Cobb assured him at a meeting Monday morning that they are confident their budget will be balanced, once all the bills and revenues are toted up.

“We will see what materializes, but the confidence is there,” the IOC president said.

VANOC officials seemed caught off guard by Mr. Rogge's remarks, however, and appeared less sanguine about his rosy prediction of a balanced budget without the IOC needing to pitch in.

In an emailed statement, spokeswoman Renée Smith-Valade said: “What I can tell you is that, as we've stated in the past, our plan is to stage the Games with a balanced budget.

“The IOC has confirmed that once the Games are over, and all of the expenses and revenues are known and final, if we need financial support from them to deliver on that goal, they're willing to participate.”

In addition to the $30-million shortfall in anticipated funds from the IOC's sponsorship program, VANOC fell short in re-selling $42-million worth of billboard advertising that organizers bought up throughout the Lower Mainland to ensure a display advertising monopoly for Games sponsors and partners. Luxury, VIP ticket packages also fell short of projections.

On the plus side, however, Games merchandise has been a run-away success, particularly the sale of millions of $10 red Olympic mittens, and VANOC inked several late sponsorship deals.

Mr. Rogge said there is no worry about the IOC's cash situation. “The finances of the IOC are in good shape,” he declared.

On other matters, the powerful IOC president gave the athlete villages in Vancouver and Whistler a rave review.

“From what I have heard -- I have not seen -- from all the experts and the athletes, both villages are absolutely fabulous,” Mr. Rogge said, noting that he would be touring Vancouver's Olympic Village Tuesday morning with Governor-General Michäel Jean.

He hinted that the 2010 Olympic host villages are in the running for his nod as “best ever athletes' village”.

Meanwhile, Mr. Rogge voiced his concern over the future of the Winter Olympics in the face of global warming.

Snowboard and freestyle skiing courses on nearby Cypress Mountain have been plagued by a prolonged spell of balmy, snowless weather, forcing organizers into a frantic scramble to keep the venue packed with enough snow. The site of the next Winter Olympics, Sochi, is a Black Sea resort in Russia that rarely gets snow, although there are mountains not too far away where skiing takes place.

“Global warming is worrying the entire world,” said Mr. Rogge, “and it might affect the Winter Games in the future.”

He said the IOC commission evaluating post 2014-bids for the Winter Olympics now pays increasing attention to climate and snowfall statistics of prospective host cities.”Of course, like banking, there are no guarantees that what happened in the past will happen in the future."