Latest news with #Varnier
CBC
01-04-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Olympic CEO has 'absolutely no doubt' that sliding events will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo
With the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics less than a year away, organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said he has "absolutely no doubt" that sliding sports will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, after testing went well last week. There was concern that the venue for bobsled, luge and skeleton might not be ready in time for next February's Games. The International Olympic Committee even demanded a Plan B option that could have the events moved to Lake Placid, New York, if things fell apart. The International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation said last week's testing period at the track was "successful." Now, Varnier is confident about the pace rebuilding the century-old sliding centre is on. "We were always very optimistic, but until the pre-homologation (testing) of course, there were a lot of doubts around us," he said. "But we were confident, and we're very happy now." Officials from the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation, International Luge Federation and the International Olympic Committee will determine whether the track receives official preliminary certification. Last week's events were enough to leave Varnier in good spirits. Completion is scheduled for Nov. 5, then there would be homologation and handover to Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 to hold the Games. Before the Olympics, the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation and International Luge Federation are set to use the new track for international training and test events. Varnier said it is important that the sliding sports be held in Cortina to improve the experience for those involved. "Very happy because that would be ideal for the athletes to be all together, to stay together in Cortina," he said. "Will be ideal for the spectators who will have a more truly Olympic experience in Cortina, and also for for the media and all the operators that — it would have been very difficult to follow those sliding sports somewhere else in the world."
Associated Press
31-03-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Olympic CEO has ‘absolutely no doubt' that sliding events will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo
With the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics less than a year away, organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said he has 'absolutely no doubt' that sliding sports will be held in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, after testing went well last week. There was concern that the venue for bobsled, luge and skeleton might not be ready in time for next February's Games. The International Olympic Committee even demanded a Plan B option that could have the events moved to Lake Placid, New York, if things fell apart. The International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation said last week's testing period at the track was 'successful.' Now, Varnier is confident about the pace rebuilding the century-old sliding center is on. 'We were always very optimistic, but until the pre-homologation (testing) of course, there were a lot of doubts around us,' he said. 'But we were confident, and we're very happy now.' Officials from the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, International Luge Federation and the International Olympic Committee will determine whether the track receives official preliminary certification. Last week's events were enough to leave Varnier in good spirits. Completion is scheduled for Nov. 5, then there would be homologation and handover to Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 to hold the Games. Before the Olympics, the International Bobsled and Skeleton Federation and International Luge Federation are set to use the new track for international training and test events. Varnier said it is important that the sliding sports be held in Cortina to improve the experience for those involved. 'Very happy because that would be ideal for the athletes to be all together, to stay together in Cortina,' he said. 'Will be ideal for the spectators who will have a more truly Olympic experience in Cortina, and also for for the media and all the operators that -- it would have been very difficult to follow those sliding sports somewhere else in the world.' ___
CBC
21-03-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Construction of hockey arena for 2026 Olympics facing a 'tight schedule'
The schedule for completing the arena that will be used for many hockey games at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will be "very tight," organizers told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week at the organization's 144th Session in Greece. The Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, which is slated to be able to host 16,000 fans, will host many men's hockey games and the semifinal and final games in women's hockey. It will also be home to Para hockey during the Paralympics. But if things go to schedule, organizers won't be able to get into the facility to start building the temporary ice the players will use until October, four months before the Games are set to begin. The arena is being developed by a private company. After the Games, the ice will be removed and it will host other sports. "We've been following through the processes since the very beginning," Andrea Varnier, the CEO of Milano Cortina 2026, said after his presentation to IOC members on Thursday. Varnier blamed the pandemic for a "slow start" that left private owners wondering if the arena would be a good investment, without knowing what might happen in the world. "We were really worried at one point," Varnier said. "Finally work started and they're going very, very fast." The photos shown by the organizing committee during their presentation showed a skeleton of a structure. Ice to be tested less than 2 months before Games The schedule would see the temporary ice finished in December, less than two months before the Games. Then, organizers will hold test events to gauge its quality. Asked about the organizers' backup plan should the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena not be ready in time, Varnier said there isn't one. "We don't see a need for a backup plan because like we said, the work is going perfectly online with our timing," Varnier said. So we don't believe, together with the international federation, that we need a plan B." After the Olympics and Paralympics, the ice will be removed and the facility can be used for other sports, such as tennis, which are more popular in the local area. NHL players will return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014. The first tickets went on sale over two days in February. Of more than 600,000 tickets sold, hockey was one of the most popular draws, along with biathlon, figure skating and cross-country skiing. COC president Tricia Smith on new IOC president Kirsty Coventry 18 hours ago Duration 1:06 CBC Sports' Karissa Donkin caught up with the Canadian Olympic Committee president in Greece after the IOC voted on its 10th president. "It's obvious that it's a very huge opportunity for us, for Italy, for the games for the Olympic movement but specifically for Milano Cortina 2026," Giovanni Malagò, the president of the organizing committee, told reporters. Asked about the quality of the temporary ice the players will use, Varnier said there are great examples of tournaments using temporary ice. "We have the knowledge, the technology and the experience to make a fantastic temporary ice sheet for the NHL players to have a fantastic [tournament]," he said. "We're working with international federations. This has never been a worry. Of course much more challenging is the speed skating. That will be temporary as well." Sliding Centre set for testing The Milan Ice Park will host the speed skating stadium and Rho Ice Hockey Arena, which will play host to the men's and women's hockey games that won't be at the new Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Varnier told the IOC that permanent work on the Ice Park is complete. After the Games, the venue will be available as a multifunctional space for the community. Like at Santagiulia, the ice is temporary. "At the same time, we will be able to demonstrate that it is possible to organize a complex event such as a speed skating competition in a temporary and sustainable venue," Varnier said. Next week, 60 athletes are slated to test the sliding centre being built in Cortina, a venue that had been the target of sabotage last month. The backup plan, had the sliding centre not been completed, would see sliding events moved all the way to Lake Placid, N.Y.
CBC
18-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Transport strike affecting Olympic test event underscores risks facing Milan-Cortina Games
Social Sharing A transport strike during an official test event for the Milan-Cortina Olympics highlighted why organizers are negotiating with trade unions to avoid a similar scenario during next year's Winter Games. When workers for Azienda Trasporti Milanesi (ATM) walked off their jobs last Friday, Milan's metro, bus and tram system ground to a halt, leaving organizers of a short track speed skating event having to call in emergency buses to transport schoolchildren to the arena in Assago on Milan's outskirts that will also host the sport during the Olympics. "It was interesting to have a test like that and have to come up with an emergency plan," Milan-Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier told The Associated Press on Tuesday at a Foreign Press Association presentation. "But we're hoping that there's good will between everyone involved during the Games so that there are no strikes." Strikes by Italy's trade unions regularly cripple transport in the country, often affecting rail and air travel, too. And with six different venue clusters spread over an area of more than 22,000 square kilometres across a wide swath of northern Italy, public transport will be the glue that holds the Milan-Cortina Games together. "It's essential for making our Games work, so it's fundamental that the transport system really works," Varnier said. In recent months, thousands of teachers, health care workers, trash collectors and others have walked off their jobs across Italy on Fridays to protest a decline in spending power, persistently low salaries and government policies they say have weakened public services. Strikes and protests have also disrupted recent editions of Milan Fashion Week, snarling traffic and transfers between venues. Strikes are generally called on Fridays, and the opening ceremony at the San Siro in Milan is scheduled for a Friday -- Feb. 6, 2026. There are also two more Fridays of competition days before the games close on Feb. 22, 2026. "We are in discussions with the labor minister and negotiating with all of the unions and public entities so as to avoid strikes during the Olympics," Varnier said. WATCH | Sizing up Team Canada 1 year from Milan-Cortina Olympics: Milano-Cortina Olympics: Is Team Canada ready with 1 year to go? 12 days ago Duration 9:30 New IOC leader for next Olympics The 2026 Games will be the first Winter Games to fully embrace cost-cutting reforms installed by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and use mostly existing venues. It will also be the first Olympics for a new IOC president, with seven candidates running in an election to be held next month in Greece. The chosen candidate will take over from Bach in June. "We have a great relationship with president Bach and we are sure that we will have a great relationship with whoever is elected, because ours will mark the first games where the new president will appear before a big international audience," Varnier said. "It's going to be an intense period between the inauguration and our games." Another leadership change could involve Milan-Cortina president Giovanni Malag, who is also president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and an IOC member. Malag's third and final four-year term as CONI president ends in May and there is a debate among Italian politicians whether or not to grant him an exceptional extra year in the role until after the Milan-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics. Either way, Malag will remain the president of the Milan-Cortina organizing committee. But a new CONI president would be guaranteed a seat on the Milan-Cortina executive board. "The debate takes away a bit of the focus from the games and we would prefer that it's taken care of afterward," Varnier said. "Changing the executive board in the middle of things is never great. So, we would prefer continuity, because the current board is working well." WATCH | Countdown is on for 2026 Milan-Cortina Games: All the emotion and excitement of the Olympic Winter Games. Milano-Cortina 2026 is 1 year away! 12 days ago Duration 1:16 300K tickets sold in 6 days With a total of 1.5 million tickets available for the games, 300,000 were sold in the first six days of sales this month. An average of seven tickets were sold to every user on the platform for pre-registered applicants. Open ticket sales, which don't require pre-registration, will start in April. More than half of the tickets cost less than 100 euros ($105 US). The controversial sliding center in Cortina is taking shape, meaning that organizers believe they are near to casting aside the Plan B in Lake Placid, N.Y. The IOC has set a deadline for the end of March for pre-certification of the track, construction of which is being overseen and fast-tracked by the Italian government. "We still need to pass the pre-certification, but it should be a done deal over the next two months," Varnier said. Protests over number of trees being cut So, is the organizing committee preparing to celebrate IOC approval? "Yes," Varnier said. "Although right now we're making plans as if the track were already ready." Environmental groups have protested the number of trees cut down to rebuild the century-old Cortina track, which had been closed since 2008. Sports Minister Andrea Abodi noted that a new track's power plant will also provide energy for Cortina's ice arena, which will host curling during the Olympics. "The old abandoned cement track was the real problem in terms of sustainability," Malag said. "I'll dare to say that if it weren't for the Olympics, that hunk of cement would have remained there for 200 years."
Washington Post
18-02-2025
- Business
- Washington Post
Transport strike affecting Olympic test event underscores risks facing Milan-Cortina Games
ROME — A transport strike during an official test event for the Milan-Cortina Olympics highlighted why organizers are negotiating with trade unions to avoid a similar scenario during next year's Winter Games. When workers for Azienda Trasporti Milanesi (ATM) walked off their jobs last Friday, Milan's metro, bus and tram system ground to a halt, leaving organizers of a short-track speedskating event having to call in emergency buses to transport schoolchildren to the arena in Assago on Milan's outskirts that will also host the sport during the Olympics. 'It was interesting to have a test like that and have to come up with an emergency plan,' Milan-Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier told The Associated Press on Tuesday at a Foreign Press Association presentation. 'But we're hoping that there's good will between everyone involved during the games so that there are no strikes.' Strikes by Italy's trade unions regularly cripple transport in the country — often affecting rail and air travel, too. And with six different venue clusters spread over an area of more than 22,000 square kilometres (nearly 10,000 square miles) across a wide swath of northern Italy, public transport will be the glue that holds the Milan-Cortina Games together. 'It's essential for making our games work, so it's fundamental that the transport system really works,' Varnier said. In recent months, thousands of teachers, health care workers, trash collectors and others have walked off their jobs across Italy on Fridays to protest a decline in spending power, persistently low salaries and government policies they say have weakened public services. Strikes and protests have also disrupted recent editions of Milan Fashion Week, snarling traffic and transfers between venues. Strikes are generally called on Fridays, and the opening ceremony at the San Siro in Milan is scheduled for a Friday — Feb. 6, 2026. There are also two more Fridays of competition days before the games close on Feb. 22, 2026. 'We are in discussions with the labor minister and negotiating with all of the unions and public entities so as to avoid strikes during the Olympics,' Varnier said. The 2026 Games will be the first Winter Games to fully embrace cost-cutting reforms installed by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and use mostly existing venues. It will also be the first Olympics for a new IOC president, with seven candidates running in an election to be held next month in Greece. The chosen candidate will take over from Bach in June. 'We have a great relationship with president Bach and we are sure that we will have a great relationship with whoever is elected, because ours will mark the first games where the new president will appear before a big international audience,' Varnier said. 'It's going to be an intense period between the inauguration and our games.' Another leadership change could involve Milan-Cortina president Giovanni Malagò, who is also president of the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and an IOC member. Malagò's third and final four-year term as CONI president ends in May and there is a debate among Italian politicians whether or not to grant him an exceptional extra year in the role until after the Milan-Cortina Olympics and Paralympics. Either way, Malagò will remain the president of the Milan-Cortina organizing committee. But a new CONI president would be guaranteed a seat on the Milan-Cortina executive board. 'The debate takes away a bit of the focus from the games and we would prefer that it's taken care of afterward,' Varnier said. 'Changing the executive board in the middle of things is never great. So we would prefer continuity, because the current board is working well.' With a total of 1.5 million tickets available for the games, 300,000 were sold in the first six days of sales this month. An average of seven tickets were sold to every user on the platform for pre-registered applicants. Open ticket sales, which don't require pre-registration, will start in April. More than half of the tickets cost less than 100 euros ($105). The controversial sliding center in Cortina is taking shape, meaning that organizers believe they are near to casting aside the Plan B in Lake Placid, New York. The IOC has set a deadline for the end of March for pre-certification of the track, construction of which is being overseen and fast-tracked by the Italian government. 'We still need to pass the pre-certification but it should be a done deal over the next two months,' Varnier said. So is the organizing committee preparing to celebrate IOC approval? 'Yes,' Varnier said. 'Although right now we're making plans as if the track were already ready.' Environmental groups have protested the number of trees cut down to rebuild the century-old Cortina track , which had been closed since 2008. Sports Minister Andrea Abodi noted that a new track's power plant will also provide energy for Cortina's ice arena, which will host curling during the Olympics. 'The old abandoned cement track was the real problem in terms of sustainability,' Malagò said. 'I'll dare to say that if it weren't for the Olympics, that hunk of cement would have remained there for 200 years.' The Cortina track will also be used for the 2028 Winter Youth Olympics recently assigned to many of the same venues for 2026. ___ AP Olympics:
