Cortina mayor Ghedina, who helped bring the Winter Olympics back to the Dolomites, defeated in election

Four months ago, Gianpietro Ghedina was front and center on the Olympic and world stage, receiving the Olympic flag alongside Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala at the Beijing 2022 closing ceremony. Now, he is out of office.

Ghedina, 57, who was highly engaged in the lead-up to Milano-Cortina 2026 winning the right to host the Winter Olympics, some 70 years after the Italian Dolomites ski resort last had the honor, lost a mayoral election in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy earlier this week. Ghedina received 24.5% (690 votes) losing to 53-year-old Gianluca Lorenzi, who garnered 37% (1,044 votes) in a four-candidate race. Fifty-seven percent of those entitled to vote in the resort town comprised of numerous second home owners, went to the polling station.

The outgoing mayor addressed Cortina residents on his Facebook page: “I would like to thank the many people who have worked with me with seriousness and dedication during these five years of administration.

“Extremely difficult and challenging years that have tested me strongly but also rewarded me; from the floods of Alvera and Mortisa to COVID-19, from managing the (FIS Alpine Ski) World Championships under the pandemic to the assignment of the Olympics,” Ghedina wrote.

Cortina resident Massimo Militti responded: “As a lover of Cortina D’Ampezzo and the Cortinesi, I congratulate you for everything you have done, and for taking Cortina higher and higher.”

Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) president Giovanni Malago, who closely collaborated with Ghedina to successfully bring the Winter Olympics back to Italy, said he welcomed the change, while commending his colleague.

“If the citizens of Cortina have chosen this way it means that this is what they consider positive for their city,” Malago commented to Around the Rings. “I know very well the new mayor. I know that he has always been in favor of the Games and I know that he will work for the good of the Olympics.

“Thank you to Gianpietro Ghedina for his commitment to the bid and to the Games. Best of luck to my friend Gianluca Lorenzi.”

Ghedina dedicated a large part of his mandate to the 2026 Olympic project, including helping to pull off the 2021 Alpine Ski World Championships during the pandemic and the costly renovation of Cortina’s once world famed bobsleigh track. Initially shunned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which pushed for sliding events in 2026 to be held at an existing track in either Innsbruck or St. Moritz, the elaborate Olympic venue reconstruction project is estimated at 61 million Euros, with substantial maintenance costs over the years to follow. Veneto president Luca Zaia has also fervently backed the project and insists the regional government will cover all costs.

It is difficult to assess exactly how much the controversial bobsleigh project may have weighed in Ghedina’s defeat, as the new mayor Lorenzi, a former “hotelier” who considers himself an “environmentalist” appears to also support the renovation of the track, which has been shut down for 14 years.

Lorenzi said he is prepared to spearhead Cortina’s future towards the 2026 Games and will take on the challenges related to re-building the classic Olympic venue, which will once again honor Italian bobsleigh legend and six-time Olympic medalist Eugenio Monti.

“We will devote ourselves to the Olympic task, without forgetting the problems of Cortina,” Lorenzi said. “As for the bobsleigh run, the services conference has just been held, but I don’t know the results yet. From the first day, I will open the dossier.”

Another major project facing the new mayor is the construction of the Olympic village for 2026, to be located on the outskirts of Cortina in adjacent Fiemmes. While the village is proposed to be temporary, significant urbanization works and construction lie ahead.

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