Prague  - Katerina Neumannova may have hung up her skis but she will be present at the Nordic world championships in Liberec as head of the organizing committee.

The February 18-March 1 championships for cross-country skiers, ski-jumpers and Nordic combined skiers return to eastern Europe for the first time in 39 years since the
1970 event was held in then Czechoslovakia in Vysoke Tatry.

Neumannova, who turned 36 on Sunday, retired after the 2007 season in which she won a second straight 10km world title. She then got the organizing committee top job in a 2008 overhaul of the organization after preparations did not go according to plan.

"We are doing a few things differently," said the former world champion whose new job brings "much more responsibility" than skiing for medals.

Weather conditions also appear to be in her favour after warm weather played havoc with the test events last year at the venues in Bohemia.

"We have not only produced snow over a period of three weeks, the weather forecast is also promising," said Neumannova.

The presence of 635 athletes from a record 62 countries is to generate plenty of attention for the host nation and city of 100,000, which aims to promote the region as a winter sport venue.

A grand-scale opening ceremony on Wednesday including veteran hard rockers Deep Purple is also to raise awareness.

"We decided to stage an opening ceremony which is normally only known at Olympic Games," organizing committee spokesman Zdenek Soudny said recently in a radio interview.

Located in the north of the country close to the German and Polish border, organizers hope for plenty of fans from the neighboring countries at attend the 20 events.

Those fans will have to pay the full price, while local school children get in for free and Liberec residents get a 20 per cent discount on the tickets priced at between nine and 110 euros.

Interest could rise if the 2008 World Cup champion Lukas Bauer does well for the home team, but organizers have also called for a national effort to make the championships a success.

"Those who are not fans are not Czechs," says one of the promotion slogans for the event. (dpa)