Several Italian Olympic medalists sharply condemned the organizers’ practice of inviting famous people in various fields to the torch relay of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games, while forgetting to offer the honor of torchbearers to excellent domestic winter athletes. Several Italian politicians also joined the criticism.
Cross-country skier Silvio Fauner, who won five Olympic medals, criticized the organizers’ choice in favor of TV personality Gabriela Sbatella and emphasized that he was speaking not only on his own behalf, but also on behalf of the 2006 Turin Winter Olympic Games champions Giorgio di Centa, Cristian Giorgi and Pietro Piller Cotrera.
“I consider it a huge insult,” Fauner, the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympic champion, told Gazzetta dello Sport. “We’re all angry. We’re not involved in anything [Milānas–Kortīnas] in the initiative of the Winter Olympic Games, neither as torchbearers, nor as messengers, or in any other way. They [rīkotāji] chose people from the entertainment world and singers who do not embody Olympic sports.”
On the other hand, the organizers of the Milan-Cortina games later stated that many athletes were involved in the Olympic flame relay, but Fauner is a member of the council of his hometown of Sapada, and due to his political functions, he cannot be involved as a torch bearer.
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Meanwhile, Italian Sports Minister Andrea Abodi called on the Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games and the Italian Olympic Committee to clarify the criteria for the selection of lancers.
“Basically, it goes without saying that sports legends who wrote history should be highly regarded. I was also a bit surprised,” admitted Abodi.
In advance, the principles of choosing the blades of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics were condemned by the excellence of Italian alpine skiing, Christian Gedina.
The 10,001 participants of the Olympic torch relay in Italy will cover 12,000 kilometers in two months to the finish on February 6 in Milan at the San Siro stadium for the opening of the games.
CONTEXT:
The Winter Olympic Games will be held in Italy for the third time and for the first time in Western Europe since 2006, when Turin was the host. The games will take place in a large area in Northern Italy from February 6 to 22 in six clusters – Milan, Anterselva, Cortina, Bormio, Livigno and Predaco-Tesero.
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