Latest news with #ChristopheDubi
Reuters
09-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
IOC countersigns 2030 Winter Games contract with French organisers
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 9 (Reuters) - The International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday it had countersigned the 2030 Winter Olympics host contract with French organisers after all financial guarantees were met. In October 2024 France had provided financial guarantees to the IOC that still needed parliamentary ratification, after being picked conditionally in July last year to organise the 2030 Winter Games. "We are extremely happy with this. The contract was to be signed at this stage. There were a number of conditions discussed," Olympic Games Executive director Christophe Dubi told a press conference. "Those conditions have been met, with additional guarantees provided," he said. "This has allowed for the signature to take place." The French Alps bid had been the preferred choice since June last year but due to elections and political instability, it had been unable to deliver the necessary state and regional financial guarantees in time. France previously staged the Winter Games in Chamonix in 1924, Grenoble in 1968 and Albertville in 1992.
USA Today
06-02-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
With one year to go, Milan Cortina hoping to build on enthusiasm of Paris Olympics
Hear this story Just as the high from Paris is beginning to wear off, there's another Olympics and Paralympics right around the corner. The Milan Cortina Olympics begin a year from Thursday. Given this is the first Winter Games since the COVID-19 pandemic and the Western Europe location makes it easily accessible for most fans, expect a rollicking show like the one in Paris. Raucous, happy fans packing public spaces and stands, athletes happy to be competing in front of families and friends, and all of it with a picturesque backdrop — though it'll be the Italian Alps instead of the Eiffel Tower. 'In Paris, you saw the power of sport. You saw the power of the Olympic Games to bring people together,' said Kit McConnell, sports director for the International Olympic Committee. 'This is what's waiting for us on snow and ice in one year in Milan Cortina.' Milan Cortina will be the largest Winter Games yet, with 116 medal events in 16 sports for the Olympics. There are 79 medal opportunities in six sports at the Paralympics, which are March 6-15, 2026. Here's what else you need to know about next year's Winter Games: Where are the 2026 Winter Games? The Milan Cortina Olympics and Paralympics will be held across eight sites in northern Italy. Figure skating, speedskating, short track and ice hockey will be in Milan, while women's Alpine skiing, curling, bobsled, luge and skeleton will take place in Cortina. Men's Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering will be in Bormio; biathlon in Antholz; freestyle skiing and snowboarding in Livigno; Nordic combined and ski jumping in Predazzo; and cross-country skiing and Nordic combined in Tesero. Verona will host both the Olympic closing ceremony and the opening ceremony for the Paralympics. That sounds a bit spread out It is. Milan and Cortina are more than 250 miles apart, Cortina to Bormio is almost 200 miles, Bormio to Milan is 122 miles, Milan to — you get the picture. Though you can reach the various sites by car, train or bus, these are not Games where the snow and ice sites are in close proximity, as they were in Salt Lake City, Vancouver and Pyeongchang. 'These are not the Games where you will be watching three events a day, unless you are in Milano and you stay in Milano. But if you want to be in the mountains and then looking at some ice events, this will be impossible, right?' said Christophe Dubi, the IOC's executive director. 'For all of us, it will all be in how we plan for the events, where we are going to go. And then for the organizers to have all the resources that are needed,' Dubi said. 'You can't do it all. It has to be planned." Pro tip: Bookmark the Milan Cortina schedule and move Google maps to the front of your home screen. Is Milan Cortina ready for these Games? Organizers mostly made use of existing venues, including some that were used when the 1956 Winter Games were held in Cortina. The others are regular hosts of World Cups or world championships, which eliminates most of the angst in the lead-up to the Games. But there's always something, right? Against the IOC's objections, local organizers decided to rebuild the sliding track that was used in 1956 at an estimated cost of $123 million, and it isn't done yet. The IOC will decide in March if the track can be used, and there are two key tests in the coming weeks. The first, the icing of the track is expected to be done some time this month. Then there is what is called 'pre-homologation,' which is a fancy word for athletes and officials from the bosled, luge and skeleton federations inspecting and testing the track to make sure it meets their standards. And if the track isn't done? The IOC had wanted the Olympic sliding events to be held in Austria or Switzerland, but the Italians didn't want to pay one of their next-door neighbors to help throw their party. Instead, the track in Lake Placid, N.Y., is Plan B. 'Very much (the Cortina track) is Plan A for the Games and we're very confident and hopeful that it will remain on track,' McConnell said. 'But there's a lot of work still to do and it's being very closely monitored by everyone involved.' Speaking of headaches, what's the status of the Russians? Just as in Paris, don't expect to see 'Olympic Athletes from Russia' or 'Russian Olympic Committee' teams. After years of trampling on Olympic ideals with little to no consequence, Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine remains something even outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach can't excuse. The IOC is allowing the various sport federations to make the call on whether any 'individual, neutral athletes' from Belarus and Russia can compete, but the conditions are so strict very few will make it to Milan Cortina. For example, the International Skating Union, which governs figure skating, speedskating and short track, is allowing only one skater each at a series of qualifying events later this year. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation, which governs Alpine skiing, snowboarding, freestyle skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined, has yet to lift its ban. And despite some thought the return of NHL players to the Olympics might entice the International Hockey Federation to lift its ban of Russia and Belarus, it announced earlier this week that it was 'not yet safe' to do so. 'As the current security conditions do not allow the necessary requirements for the organization of tournaments guaranteeing the safety of all, the IIHF must maintain the current status quo until further notice,' the federation said. This likely means we've seen the last of Alexander Ovechkin, who is 39, at the Olympics. Wait, the NHL is back? Yes. And let us all rejoice, because the Olympic tournament is better with NHL players. Fortunately, commissioner Gary Bettman agreed, announcing last year that the NHL would return to the Winter Games for the first time since 2014. Even better, the agreement is for both Milan Cortina and the 2030 Winter Olympics. Who are the athletes to watch for Milan Cortina? The NHL players, obviously. Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor Hellebuyck — they're all too young to have played in the last Olympic tournament. Though if they need some pointers, maybe they can ask Matthew Tkachuk's dad. Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin will again be favored in multiple Alpine skiing events. Ilia 'Quad God' Malinin has dominated men's figure skating this, umm, quad, and it should be more of the same in Milan. Jessie Diggins might be even better than she was in 2018, when she led the U.S. women to the team sprint gold in cross-country skiing. Jordan Stolz has been rewriting the record books in speedskating, winning the 500, 1,000 and 1,500 titles at each of the last two world championships. Chloe Kim will be looking for a three-peat in snowboarding while the ageless Lindsey Jacobellis could add a few more medals to her haul. Are there any new events? Yes! Ski mountaineering, better known as "skimo," is an endurance sport that combines skiing and climbing. Competitors will climb a hill, first on foot and then on skis, and then ski down. It is popular both as an elite sport and for weekend warriors in Italy, France and Switzerland. "It's a great fit for these Games," McConnell said. "We'll measure the success of that. With the next Games in the French Alps, we'll see if they choose to put forward ski mountaineering, as well." Women's ski jumping has added the large hill event, and there's now a mixed relay in skeleton. Instead of the individual Alpine combined, which featured downhill and slalom runs, there is now a team combined that pairs a speed skier with a technical specialist. Paris had gender equality. What about Milan Cortina? No, but it's getting closer. Women are expected to make up 47% of the more than 3,500 athletes competing, McConnell said. 'The job is not done yet because it's not 50% and we still have that goal. But it's a record level and another big stepping stone to that gender equality in the Olympic Winter Games,' McConnell said. Tom Schad contributed. Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why a top IOC executive is coming to Utah
Next week, a top International Olympic Committee executive will be in Utah to kick off planning for the 2034 Winter Games. The organizers of Utah's next Olympics are in 'a very unusual situation,' IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told the Deseret News Tuesday in a virtual interview from the organization's Swiss headquarters. 'We have a 10 years' life span. We have very little to do on the fundamentals for the Games, that is, the venues,' since the facilities from the 2002 Winter Games are set to be used again. 'We have what you know is a perfect situation.' 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' — IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi So what's there to talk about during his two-day visit that follows a stop in Los Angeles, the host of the 2028 Summer Games? Plenty, it turns out. Utah has yet to announce an organizing committee for the Olympic Games, even though the host contract signed by Gov. Spencer Cox after last year's July 24 IOC vote set a Christmas Eve deadline for putting what's known as an OCOG in place. That's coming 'pretty soon,' Dubi said. 'We're having now regular conversations in every shape and form.' But he also wants to know how Utah will use the time it's been given under the new, less formal bid process to organize another Winter Games. Previously, organizers had just seven years to get ready for one of the world's largest sporting events. There needs to be a decision 'on the priorities in what is the land of opportunity,' Dubi said. 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' Detailed planning, he said, can wait. 'It's urgent to wait with respect to Games organization,' Dubi said, the same advice he offered nearly a year ago during an inspection tour of Utah's Olympic venues, citing the advances to come in artificial intelligence and other technology. He said preparation also need to get underway to ensure Utah's Olympic organizers get the most out of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, just a year away. That includes figuring out who needs to go, Dubi said. 'It sounds a long time, a year, except that we are operating over a very large territory. The plans have to be extremely well designed' for the Utah observers in Italy, he said. 'It has to be planned now.' Unlike Utah's compact Olympics, where every venue is within an hour of the athlete housing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, the Milan-Cortina Games are spread across a wide swath of Italy. That means the lessons there for Utah organizers won't be about logistics like transporting athletes from Point A to Point B, Dubi said. 'The geographical distribution is so different that this is absolutely not what they're going to be looking at,' he said. Instead, Dubi suggested Utahns focus instead on what Italians are bringing to the Olympics. 'It's the way the Italians will deliver in each and every venue,' he said, bringing the spirit of the Games to the streets just as Paris' 2024 Summer Games did. 'It's the experience you can deliver if your are generous enough to have not only the venues hosting the best sport.' Closing streets, providing gathering places for the public and 'offering the best possible hospitality outside of the best possible field of play. This is where Italians will be really, really good,' Dubi said. 'You have to be part of the best of what winter sports can offer.' In Utah, he said, 'it will have a different flavor, different color, different music, different everything. But what you're looking for as a participant is that warmth, and that feeling of being part of something very special.' Whether felt as an athlete, a volunteer or a spectator, that's 'a once in a lifetime experience.' Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that was behind the bid, said he's looking forward to the visit by Dubi and his team, calling the IOC executive 'a great friend going back to our partnership together in 2002.' Bullock said they'll 'begin the early phase of outlining our integrated planning process. They have deep knowledge in many areas that will help us ensure we put on the best Games possible.' He stopped short of saying the organizing committee will be announced during Dubi's visit, set for Feb. 13 and 14. Bullock, who's 69, is expected to be named the leader of the OCOG while setting up a successor. A new bill introduced this session at the Utah Legislature would require the governor and legislative leaders to sign off on the head of the organizing committee. Utah taxpayers are the guarantor of the privately funded Games expected to cost a total of $4 billion. 'I really like the way that is being approached,' Dubi said, since 'an organizing committee is always a public-private partnership' that needs the 'consent of those backing and those that will support the Games.' The IOC would also expect to be 'consulted, and comfortable with the choice,' he said, describing Bullock as 'someone I always very much admire and consider as a friend. He's a very special individual, for sure.' Dubi said Utah's organizing committee will likely be similar to the one that oversaw the 2002 Winter Games. Unlike in the rest of the world, the organization responsible for staging a Games in the United States is entirely privately financed. The 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps, for example, already has funding committed from regional and national authorities, but the 'economic capacity' of the United States is much larger compared to the European market, he said. 'It's incredible, the support you have' for sport, Dubi said, including from wealthy donors. 'It's only in the U.S.' He said there's 'dynamism' that comes from a private organization that has the backing of public authorities. That includes U.S. President Donald Trump. Just days before being sworn in, Trump pledged his support for the Los Angeles Games during a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida with Casey Wasserman, LA28's president and chairman. 'These are America's Olympics,' Trump told Wasserman, according to a report in Axios based on an unnamed source. 'These are more important than ever to L.A. and I'm going to be supportive in every way possible and make them the greatest Games.' Dubi said that 'shows the commitment of Washington to what for sure will be extraordinary Games' in a city that has seen more than 10,000 homes destroyed and at least 29 lives lost in the recent wildfires. 'Our hearts and minds go to all those that have been affected. But at the same time, with this very American spirit, which is in such adversity, fight back and demonstrate that we can come back stronger,' Dubi said. 'This is something cultural deep-rooted in the U.S.' The Olympics being held twice in the United States within a six-year span reflects the IOC's level of trust and the quality of the relationship, he said. To him, the United States means opportunities. 'What do we invent in Los Angeles in what is the most buzzing of the entertainment and sports market,' Dubi asked, before returning to the site of the 'extraordinary' 2002 Winter Games, in 2034. 'What do we invent for these Games,' he said, calling Utah a place 'where the conditions are perfect.'
Reuters
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Sliding centre for Italy's 2026 Games on track, icing to start in February, says IOC
BERLIN, Jan 31 (Reuters) - The sliding centre of the Milano-Cortina 2026 winter Olympics will be delivered on time, with the icing of the track to start next month, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday. With Feb. 6 marking one year to go until the Games, the sliding venue for the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions remains on an extremely tight deadline. It has been on one ever since the construction started after Italy opted to build a new facility instead of using an existing one in a neighbouring country. The IOC had repeatedly voiced concerns over the planned new track, saying the use of an existing sliding centre outside Italy would keep costs down and cut preparation time. "We have a very clear action plan: icing of the venue by the end of February and pre-homologation by the end of March," Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told Reuters in an interview. Pre-homologation in this case means the international bobsleigh and skeleton federation and the luge federation familiarising themselves with the track, testing the venue and making any necessary modifications before actual test events with competing athletes are held there prior to the Games. Dubi said the test events in the venue would be held as planned to deliver the project for the Feb. 6, 2026 start of the Olympics. Milano-Cortina Games organisers, however, raised eyebrows earlier this month, announcing that they had picked Lake Placid in the United States as their Plan B for next year should anything happen to the sliding centre project's timelines. Several of Italy's neighbouring countries have existing sliding centres. Dubi said the IOC had wanted a Plan B but the Italian organisers' choice of location was not one that needed the Olympic body's approval. "We did not need to sign off on the location. That's not our responsibility," Dubi said. "We signed off on a Plan B. We asked for a Plan B because we knew the schedule was incredibly compressed. Being where they are (with progress on the sliding centre) considering when they started is something to be pleased about," Dubi said. Organisers are also racing to complete the multi-purpose Arena Santa Giulia which will be used for ice hockey. Part of a wider development of the area, the arena has also been on a tight deadline since the start of its construction just over a year ago. It is planned to be delivered to organisers in the second half of 2025, just a few months before the Games start. "It started when it started. As a result it was a tight delivery timeline," Dubi said. "We will get there on time but it is a venue that will be delivered to the organising committee towards autumn. That's why I am speaking about a tight timeline."
