Prague  - Three years ago Katerina Neumannova surged to the front on the finish line for the Czech Republic's first-ever Olympic gold in Nordic skiing.

Now, her triumphs in sports management depend on how she glides through the Nordic World Championships that open in northern Czech town of Liberec on Wednesday.

Neumannova, who turned 36 on Sunday, was hailed the Czech Republic's latest sporting hero when she grabbed the historic gold in the 30km cross-country ski race at
2006 Turin Olympic.

But it took only 18 months for "golden Katka" to turn into a villain.

She took over as the president of the championships' organizing committee in July 2007 amid an ugly and highly-publicized row with previous leadership.

"The only defence is to handle it well. The only answer to distrustful critics is a well-organized event," she told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in a telephone interview.

Neumannova, who ended her career a few months earlier after winning back-to-back 10km world titles, was attacked as too inexperienced for running such a monster event, which returned to Eastern Europe after nearly four decades.

Indeed, the run-up to the cross-country, Nordic combined and ski-jumping championships proved rocky.

Neumannova was tasked with putting on the event at a venue on the town's edge that is only 400 metres above sea level. Each thaw tends to destroy its competition track.

The warm-up events in Liberec were haunted by mild weather and critics slammed Neumannova for trucking in snow, on one occasion from natural reserves.

This time around, her team calmed down in mid January when its snow guns produced plenty of snow amid freezing temperatures. But the machines' months-long persistent humming, while not violating noise rules, irritated nearby residents and sparked more critical press.

Critics have also pointed out that the event has sucked up more than 1.6 billion koruny (70 million dollars) in taxpayers money, contrary to original promises of zero state financing.

Moreover, six days before the championships' grand opening the Supreme Audit Office released a scathing report on questionable use of related government funding by the Education Ministry, the city and the local Technical University.

While the agency inspected funds that were not spent by Neumannova's organization committee, the audit's outcome cast yet another, last-minute shadow over the championships.

And as many local businessmen are looking forward to cashing in on the season's highlight, some worry that potential greed could damage the town's reputation.

"I worry that Liberec will make a bad name for itself if businessmen enflame prices," said 32-year-old restaurateur Radek Niesner.

Despite criticism and worries, Neumannova remains upbeat, promising visitors a great sports spectacle. "Competitors will have no time to rest," she said of the race course, which she managed to try out herself a week ago.

How the event turns out will either make or break Neumannova's career in top-tier sports management, including her ambitions to serve on her country's Olympic Committee.

Still, after the grueling waits for frost she is not sure if putting on high-level skiing events is what she wants.

"I am half decided that I no longer want to only depend on the whims of nature," she said matter-of-factly. (dpa)