News / 2.04.2019

LIVIGNO YESTERDAY, TODAY AND TOMORROW: THE LITTLE TIBET CELEBRATES THE OLYMPIC DREAM

On the eve of the IOC visit, over forty champions and former athletes of the Italian national team gathered in Livigno to symbolically welcome the flag that formalizes its candidacy as a venue for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

Champions of yesterday and today together with Livigno people to cherish a common dream: that Livigno can become an Olympic city. Yesterday evening, in the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Livigno, many faces that made the history of the Italian sport shared the stories of their experiences with the national team, and paid tribute to the role that the Little Tibet has always played in the Italian and international sports scene.

The quality of the services, facilities and activities proposed to amateurs and professionals had already allowed Livigno to be proclaimed European Town of Sports 2019. Today, this important recognition is flanked by a project, Livigno as location of the Winter Games, which appears more and more close: on Wednesday 3rd April a IOC commission will be in town to inspect the locations of the Milan-Cortina 2026 candidacy project, which includes the small Tibet as the site for Snowboard and Freestyle competitions.

To join more than forty athletes and former athlete, is not only a life dedicated to sport but also sincere affection and gratitude for Livigno: for some is home, for many other a destination chosen for training at high altitude and to refine their techniques season after season, and allow them to climb on the highest podiums of the main national and international competitions.

"We hope that all this will bring lucky to us" With this sentence opened the meeting Luca Moretti, CEO of Tourism Board Livigno, with a strong background in the Alpine skiing national team from 2003 to 2009. Thanks to an initiative of the Livigno Tourism Board, the week from March 30th to April 6th is entirely dedicated to the Olympic dream and to the athletes of the Livigno Team: "The Olympic Week - continues Moretti - is an opportunity to celebrate these champions who are so close to the locality and that the they have given so much”.  The program of the week provides opportunities to meet with athletes and take part to masterclasses for approaching various winter sports, but also skiing at sunrise, parties and realaxing opportunities at the Aquagranda - Active You center where the champions train.

The short track champions Mara and Katia Zini, bronze medals in Turin Olympic 2006 in the 3.000 meter relay race, told their experience on the podium with a clear auspicious message for the location: "For an athlete the Olympics and the medal are a dream, and we were lucky enough to achieve in our country. We have participated in the Games three times, but the excitement of competing at home is different from all the others”.

The Livigno Olympic is also a dream for Michela Moioli, gold medalist of Snowboarding cross in 2018 in Pyeonchang who become part of the Livigno Team in 2019: “Livigno is a wonderful place to practice all the disciplines of Snowboarding, and in 2026 I hope to be there too".

In addition to Snowboarding, Livigno could also host Freestyle competitions in 2026. "A discipline - recalled Simone Mottini, Freestyle champion with different appearances in the national team in the 1990s - which started from here at national level. The Olympics in Italy and in Livigno would be a well-deserved recognition for this movement, still considered one of the minor sports, a perfect opportunity to give it greater visibility and to share this passion even with the smaller one. "

A message also emphasized by the freestyler Damiano Bormolini, Italian athlete in the 70s and 80s, who recalled the key role of the destination in the entry of the Freestyle between the Olympic disciplines and "the contribution that Livigno has given to Italian sport but also to level worldwide, because it is always represented on international boards as in the FISI. "

The awaited intervention of Biathlon champions Dorothea Wierer, the first Italian athlete to have won the World Cup and a World Gold in the same year, and her team mate Lisa Vittozzi, silver medalist in the World Cup and the World Cup in 2019. After an afternoon spent in the snow with the biathletes kids during the Olympic Week meetings, the two champions who have been training in Livigno for years have underlined the importance of teamwork and harmony: values shared by the locality they have been attending for years and that enjoyed their recent exploits.

Were also present the cross-country champions Federico Pellegrino, silver at Pyeongchang 2018 for the sprint category who has been training in Livigno for several seasons, and Marianna Longa, hailing from the Little Tibet where she was used to train. Both emphasized the sporting vocation of Livigno in sport at 360°: in addition to the winter sports, Livigno is chosen by thousands of athletes to train in running, swimming and biking. In addition to the construction of the Olympic swimming pool already announced a few months ago, the new almost completed athletics track will further enhance the offer of infrastructures and opportunities for individuals and teams wishing to complete their training at high altitude.

To honor the sport soul of Livigno also many athletes of the past where there, who have shown their historical uniforms for the occasion: among them Marianna Longa (Cross-Country Skiing), Katja Colturi (Short Track) and Maddalena Silvestri (Alpine Skiing), the first atlethe from Livigno taking part to the Italian Team, with different appearances in the national team in the 70s

At the end of the meeting, a suggestive torchlight parade performed by the Ski and Snowboard instructors of Centrale School welcomed the arrival of the flag that formalizes the Candidacy for the 2026 Olympics, dropped on the slopes near the town with a spectacular paragliding flight. The torches, passed from the ski instructors to the athletes, symbolically accompanied the flag up to the Municipality Square, where it was hoisted together with the flag of the European Town of Sport 2019 on the notes of the Italian national anthem.

The speeches of the Mayor of Livigno Damiano Bormolini and Antonio Rossi, Undersecretary with Delegation for Major Sports Events of the Lombardy Region, officially closed the ceremony. "Livigno is there and it believes in Olympics" is the same message with which the two Authorities wanted to synthesize a path of intense work, full of energy and hopes.
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