Cortina, there will be no bobsleigh track at the 2026 Olympics

Surrender (and fool). Bobsleigh, luge, skeleton and parabobs races at the Winter Olympics and Paralympics Milan-Cortina 2026 It will not be held in Cortina as initially envisaged in the nomination master plan in 2019. This was announced this morning Giovanni MalagoPresident of CONI, as well as Member of the International Olympic Committee and President of the Milan-Cortina Foundation, on the occasion of his speech from the rostrum of the 141st session of the International Olympic Committee. International Olympic Committee Which is held in Mumbai, India.

Malago explained that he received the letter from the government two days ago, but he was very pessimistic in recent days on the occasion of the European Olympic Committees summit in Istanbul (see Spy Calcio of October 11). The government should have allocated another $50 million to $60 million, re-bid and found a company willing to build. In the end it would have been over 140 million for a track with a very uncertain future. Environmentalists have gotten in the way, and now Cortina will have little to do with women’s games, curling and skating. We will not build a 1,400-seat Olympic village, but a smaller one. There will be savings, true, but also lost profits.

Governor Luca Zaia strongly supported this path. Thomas Bach She advised him to travel abroad. Initially, after Raggi rejected the Olympics in Rome, they also considered St. Moritz, where they would now go, but then political considerations prevailed. This is the result. Now the institution, the head of Malago, will decide where to go, that is, to St. Moritz, a normal road, a few kilometers from Livigno and Sio is satisfied. Time has been lost, Commissioner Simiko Saint Andrew He searched in vain for a building company in Cortina. Innsbruck now stepped in, and rejected it: the costs were too high, and the system was not environmentally friendly (tons of ammonia). Piedmont returned to the leadership of Cesana, having wasted 110 million euros on the occasion of the 2006 Turin Games and the track was immediately reduced to a skeleton.

Minister Aboudi He explained that this was not possible with another loss and the risk of angering the International Olympic Committee. The choice not to build in Cortina was today praised at the IOC summit in Mumbai: Prince Albert of Monaco, head of the Sustainability Committee, said this was compatible with climate change. Bach thanked the Italian government for its support, and said that he had met with President Meloni several times, most recently 15 days ago in New York, and that he had received enthusiastic and basic support. So far, the government has allocated $3.6 billion for the Games: will that be enough? There will be savings now in Cortina, but the shame still remains. There will be savings in Milan, and there will be no medal square in the Duomo.

Savings were also made with Baselga di Pinè: the speed rink cost too much so the races were shifted to the Rho Expo. It is also impossible to build a Palasharp in Milan: two hockey competitions (women’s) are also at the Rho Gallery. Milan’s Santa Giulia Hockey Facility 1 (Men) is now being built: Costs have increased in recent years between Covid and the wars. The anti-doping laboratory has been saved: it is also a matter of money and threatens another foolishness. In short, since we won the Games on June 24, 2019, the path has been full of obstacles. Times call for belt tightening. Paris 2024 did so as well, following Macron’s recommendations. But Italy is doing very poorly when it comes to the Games.