Latest news with #Milan-CortinaWinterGames
Boston Globe
3 days ago
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Mikaela Shiffrin says in essay she feels ‘like myself again' after recovering from ski racing crash, PTSD
Shiffrin was leading after the first run of the GS that day in Killington. With the finish line in sight on her final run, she lost an edge and slid into a gate, flipping over her skis. The all-time winningest Alpine World Cup ski racer then slammed into another gate before coming to a stop in the protective fencing. To this day, she doesn't know what led to the puncture wound, only that it was 'a millimeter from pretty catastrophic,' she told The Associated Press. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Shiffrin wrote in The Players' Tribune it was 'difficult to explain what the pain felt like. But the closest I can get would probably be, it was like … not only was there a knife stabbing me, but the knife was actually still inside of me.' Advertisement In late January, Shiffrin returned to the World Cup circuit. The giant slalom, though, remained a cause of anxiety and she skipped the event at world championships. Advertisement Ever so steadily, she's working on overcoming the mental trauma surrounding the GS as she gears up for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games. She won an Olympic gold medal in the discipline at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. She's been working with a psychologist to conquer her mental obstacles. 'I can admit that there were some extremely low moments,' recounted Shiffrin, who won her 'On particularly bad days, I'd question my motivation, or whether I still wanted to do this anymore. In my head, I'd be saying to myself: You know what, I kind of couldn't care less if I ever race again.' She and the therapist began looking at her recovery through the prism of PTSD. 'With me, I also think it's possible that the crash I had at the beginning of 2024 in Cortina, and then Killington happening … that those two crashes maybe built on one another,' Shiffrin said. 'I talked with my therapist about that, and she let me know that past trauma, or a history of traumatic events, can sometimes affect your reaction to new traumatic events.' She lost her dad, Jeff, five years ago in a home accident. Her fiancé and fellow ski racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde of Norway is still recovering from a serious ski crash on Jan. 13, 2024. Advertisement 'Maybe when I crashed and got that puncture wound, maybe that was kind of a perfect-storm situation for PTSD to take hold,' Shiffrin wrote. Shiffrin said one thing that's helped is 'getting back to a place of joy.' She closed her essay with: 'All I can do is smile with appreciation. Because, finally … I feel like myself again.'
CNN
20-03-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Kirsty Coventry elected new IOC president, becomes first woman and African in the role
Kirsty Coventry has been elected as the 10th President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), becoming the first woman and African to ever be elected to the position. Coventry, 41, will also be the youngest ever to assume the role and came through a field of seven contenders in the seaside resort of Costa Navarino in Greece to land the most powerful job in world sport. Coventry will officially take up the role on June 24, after incumbent Thomas Bach steps down following a 12-year spell in charge. Coventry will arrive at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty around the globe, question marks over the direction of the Olympic movement in the 21st century, and more scrutiny than ever on issues concerning gender identity and equality, among others. 'This is an extraordinary moment. As an nine-year girl, I never thought I would be standing up here one day getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours,' Coventry said after her election. Before becoming a member of the IOC, she was a standout athlete for Zimbabwe. Coventry has won seven of the country's eight Olympic medals to date. At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, she won three medals, including gold in the 200m backstroke before successfully defending her title four years later. The first round of voting on Thursday in Greece didn't proceed without issues though, with numerous voters complaining about problems with their technological voting systems. At one point, IOC director general Christophe De Kepper – who was hosting the voting – humorously said that a member was 'testing his patience' with his complaints. To the surprise of many, the voting was quickly closed after the first round with a winner already reaching the absolute majority (50% + one vote) mark needed. And after a 30-minute break, Coventry was announced as Bach's replacement and the 10th president of the IOC; of the 97 votes, Coventry received 49, while second-placed Juan Antonio Samaranch got 28. 'This is not just a huge honor, but it's also a reminder of my commitment to every single one of you that I will lead this organization with so much pride with the values at the core and I will make all of you very, very proud and extremely confident in the decision that you've taken today,' Coventry said. 'Thank you from the bottom of my heart, and now, we've got some work together. This race was an incredible race and it made us better, made us a stronger movement.' Coventry's first major event to oversee will be the Milan-Cortina Winter Games next year in Italy, with the Opening Ceremony less than 11 months away. In her manifesto for the IOC presidency, Coventry stated she hopes to make sport 'a bridge between countries and cultures, a source of hope and a force for good.' She also stressed her commitment to addressing inequality in sports, 'which also means strengthening women's sports by protecting female athletes and promoting equal opportunities for women at all levels of our movement.' This story has been updated with additional information.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics are 1 year away. One venue remains uncertain
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — In Sochi, workers were still hammering away in the media village and shower water ran yellow when journalists from around the world arrived for the 2014 Winter Games. The chaotic preparations for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro were labeled the 'worst' ever by a vice president of the International Olympic Committee. The next Olympics, though, might set an unofficial record for running late on preparations. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. That's because the century-old sliding center being completely rebuilt for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games is pushing the deadline so tight that the IOC has gone so far as to demand a Plan B option that would require moving bobsled, luge and skeleton events all the way to Lake Placid, New York, if the track in Italy isn't finished in time. Thursday marks exactly one year to go before the Feb. 6, 2026 opening ceremony at the San Siro stadium and the track in Cortina is still a half-completed construction site. The IOC has set a deadline for the end of next month for pre-certification of the Cortina track and nobody is saying for sure if it will pass the test. But Fabio Saldini, the Italian government commissioner in charge of the 118 million euro ($123 million) project, told The Associated Press during a recent visit that almost 70% of the track was completed — even if it was tough to tell inside the muddy and chaotic construction site. With 180 people working from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day to build the sliding center, the first ice is slated to be laid down on the track at the start of March. 'We have huge support from the construction firms, the government and (Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo) Salvini,' Saldini said. 'With everyone's support, we will be able to finish in time.' Construction began less than a year ago and no sliding track has been built in such a short timeframe. An official test event is slated for October, a step that has taken on more importance since the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training crash hours before the start of the opening ceremony for the 2010 Vancouver Games. Lake Placid was chosen because it came with no cost The IOC would have preferred to use an active track in nearby Austria or Switzerland instead of rebuilding the Cortina venue, which had been closed since 2008. But it let the local organizing committee select the Plan B option. 'We chose Lake Placid because it was the only place where they offered us the track without requiring us to make any investments,' Milan-Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier told AP. 'But we're counting on holding the sliding sports here in Cortina.' Added organizing committee president Giovanni Malagò about the Lake Placid backup plan: 'It's just a formality. There's no substance to it.' Environmental groups have protested over climate damage due to the Cortina track's reconstruction. 'There were 800 trees cut down,' Saldini said. 'But they were not all 100 years old, like some people said. And we're going to plant 10,000 trees when we're done.' Moving from glitzy Cortina to Lake Placid would be quite a change General ticket sales for the games are about to start following a pre-registration process that drew in more than 350,000 requests — 70% of them from abroad from more than 210 countries. Sliding is one of the Games' most inexpensive attractions with luge events going for as low as 40 euros ($42) and bobsled for a maximum of 100 euros ($104). But what happens for ticket holders if the sliding track in Cortina isn't ready and events are moved to Lake Placid? 'It will be a whole different experience,' said Paul Caine, the president of hospitality package provider On Location, about the prospect of moving from glitzy Cortina to upstate New York. Caine noted that while 'nobody wanted to go to Tahiti' for surfing events in French Polynesia during last year's Paris Games, hospitality packages were sold for the sailing competitions in Marseille, which is located in southern France — 3 ½ hours by train from Paris. On Location has received requests for hospitality packages from 62 countries so far, with ice hockey, biathlon and figure skating the most popular sports. Private boxes for the opening ceremony at the iconic San Siro soccer stadium have already sold out. Bormio, Anterselva and Val di Fiemme have a long history of hosting winter sports These are the first Games to fully embrace cost-cutting reforms installed by IOC President Thomas Bach and use mostly existing venues — which has meant scattering the Games all over northern Italy. Alpine skiing will be divided between Cortina (for the women's events) and Bormio (for the men) — which are separated by a 5 ½-hour drive. Livigno will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding, biathlon will be in Anterselva, Nordic events will be in Val di Fiemme and ice sports in Milan. 'It's very complicated due to the big distances and also because of all the different representatives in each region,' Varnier said. 'We have great relationships with everyone but everybody has their own way and style of doing things, so we need to adapt to them. That's the spirit of these Games: We adapt to the different territories and not vice versa.' One reason that the organizing committee is adapting to each and every venue is that most of these places have a long history of hosting World Cup races and world championships. For example, Bormio hosted the Alpine skiing worlds in 1985 and 2005; Cortina hosted the skiing worlds in 2021 and has been the site of more than 100 World Cup ski races; Anterselva has hosted six biathlon worlds dating back to 1975; Val di Fiemme has hosted three Nordic worlds. Still, none of that does any good for an athlete like Ester Ledecka, the Czech wonder who claimed golds in both Alpine skiing and snowboarding at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. In 2026, two of Ledecka's races will be held on the same day in resorts hours apart — meaning she'll likely have to choose one over the other. ___ AP Olympics:
Associated Press
05-02-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics are 1 year away. One venue remains uncertain
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — In Sochi, workers were still hammering away in the media village and shower water ran yellow when journalists from around the world arrived for the 2014 Winter Games. The chaotic preparations for the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro were labeled the 'worst' ever by a vice president of the International Olympic Committee. The next Olympics, though, might set an unofficial record for running late on preparations. That's because the century-old sliding center being completely rebuilt for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Games is pushing the deadline so tight that the IOC has gone so far as to demand a Plan B option that would require moving bobsled, luge and skeleton events all the way to Lake Placid, New York, if the track in Italy isn't finished in time. Thursday marks exactly one year to go before the Feb. 6, 2026 opening ceremony at the San Siro stadium and the track in Cortina is still a half-completed construction site. The IOC has set a deadline for the end of next month for pre-certification of the Cortina track and nobody is saying for sure if it will pass the test. But Fabio Saldini, the Italian government commissioner in charge of the 118 million euro ($123 million) project, told The Associated Press during a recent visit that almost 70% of the track was completed — even if it was tough to tell inside the muddy and chaotic construction site. With 180 people working from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. every day to build the sliding center, the first ice is slated to be laid down on the track at the start of March. 'We have huge support from the construction firms, the government and (Infrastructure and Transport Minister Matteo) Salvini,' Saldini said. 'With everyone's support, we will be able to finish in time.' Construction began less than a year ago and no sliding track has been built in such a short timeframe. An official test event is slated for October, a step that has taken on more importance since the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili in a training crash hours before the start of the opening ceremony for the 2010 Vancouver Games. Lake Placid was chosen because it came with no cost The IOC would have preferred to use an active track in nearby Austria or Switzerland instead of rebuilding the Cortina venue, which had been closed since 2008. But it let the local organizing committee select the Plan B option. 'We chose Lake Placid because it was the only place where they offered us the track without requiring us to make any investments,' Milan-Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier told AP. 'But we're counting on holding the sliding sports here in Cortina.' Added organizing committee president Giovanni Malagò about the Lake Placid backup plan: 'It's just a formality. There's no substance to it.' Environmental groups have protested over climate damage due to the Cortina track's reconstruction. 'There were 800 trees cut down,' Saldini said. 'But they were not all 100 years old, like some people said. And we're going to plant 10,000 trees when we're done.' Moving from glitzy Cortina to Lake Placid would be quite a change General ticket sales for the games are about to start following a pre-registration process that drew in more than 350,000 requests — 70% of them from abroad from more than 210 countries. Sliding is one of the Games' most inexpensive attractions with luge events going for as low as 40 euros ($42) and bobsled for a maximum of 100 euros ($104). But what happens for ticket holders if the sliding track in Cortina isn't ready and events are moved to Lake Placid? 'It will be a whole different experience,' said Paul Caine, the president of hospitality package provider On Location, about the prospect of moving from glitzy Cortina to upstate New York. Caine noted that while 'nobody wanted to go to Tahiti' for surfing events in French Polynesia during last year's Paris Games, hospitality packages were sold for the sailing competitions in Marseille, which is located in southern France — 3 ½ hours by train from Paris. On Location has received requests for hospitality packages from 62 countries so far, with ice hockey, biathlon and figure skating the most popular sports. Private boxes for the opening ceremony at the iconic San Siro soccer stadium have already sold out. Bormio, Anterselva and Val di Fiemme have a long history of hosting winter sports These are the first Games to fully embrace cost-cutting reforms installed by IOC President Thomas Bach and use mostly existing venues — which has meant scattering the Games all over northern Italy. Alpine skiing will be divided between Cortina (for the women's events) and Bormio (for the men) — which are separated by a 5 ½-hour drive. Livigno will host freestyle skiing and snowboarding, biathlon will be in Anterselva, Nordic events will be in Val di Fiemme and ice sports in Milan. 'It's very complicated due to the big distances and also because of all the different representatives in each region,' Varnier said. 'We have great relationships with everyone but everybody has their own way and style of doing things, so we need to adapt to them. That's the spirit of these Games: We adapt to the different territories and not vice versa.' One reason that the organizing committee is adapting to each and every venue is that most of these places have a long history of hosting World Cup races and world championships. For example, Bormio hosted the Alpine skiing worlds in 1985 and 2005; Cortina hosted the skiing worlds in 2021 and has been the site of more than 100 World Cup ski races; Anterselva has hosted six biathlon worlds dating back to 1975; Val di Fiemme has hosted three Nordic worlds. Still, none of that does any good for an athlete like Ester Ledecka, the Czech wonder who claimed golds in both Alpine skiing and snowboarding at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. In 2026, two of Ledecka's races will be held on the same day in resorts hours apart — meaning she'll likely have to choose one over the other. ___
