(ATR) Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will give a speech to IOC members in Milan-Cortina’s final appeal to secure 2026 Winter Olympic hosting rights.
An Italian NOC source confirmed to Around the Rings that Conte would participate in the bid’s presentation on Monday when the IOC votes for the 2026 host city. Stockholm is the only other candidate.
"We have the prime minister with us because he signed the guarantees," he said.
Conte will join an 18-strong group of athletes who form part of the bid team in Lausanne. Nine male and nine female Olympians and Paralympians who collectively have 81 medals are part of a delegation of 100 Italians lobbying to secure the 2026 Winter Games. Among them are Alberto Tomba and Arianna Fontana.
"We bring here the monuments of Italian sport – past, present and future. We have a huge number of athletes because athletes are at the centre of our project," the NOC official said.
Around 20 members of the bid delegation have arrived in the Olympic capital, including CONI president Giovanni Malago who came on Tuesday. Along with Conte and cabinet undersecretary for sport Giancarlo Giorgetti, the Italian Olympic chief is a key figure in the pitch to the IOC membership on June 24.
Most of the delegation will be in Lausanne on Thursday. The two mayors of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will be in attendance, together with representatives from all levels of government and heads of the regions that are part of the Olympic hosting plan. The presidents of Serie A giants AC Milan and Inter Milan are also due to attend.
The Italian Olympic source told ATR that the Italian bid would deliver more surprises in the build-up to the IOC vote.
"The surprises are not finished… day by day, step by step. We don’t want all the fireworks now," he said, hinting at further high-profile Italian figures attending the IOC vote.
Reported by Mark Bisson
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