Gangwon 2024: unveils mascot at one-year-to-go mark

• WINTER YOG

With just one year to go to the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) Gangwon 2024, the local Organising Committee (YOGOC) has today unveiled its official mascot “Moongcho”, song and choreography. All three of these were developed by young people in Korea. The YOGOC also appointed b-girl and YOG medallist Yeri Kim as an honorary ambassador.

Mascot, song and choreography unveiled

Mascot Moongcho represents a snowball, born out of a snowball fight between Soohorang and Bandabi, the mascots of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Full of sportsmanship like its predecessors, Moongcho builds on the legacy of PyeongChang 2018. The mascot wears goggles and a scarf and is waiting for the Gangwon Winter Youth Olympic Games with a pounding heart, just like the athletes.

Moongcho’s name is derived from the Korean word “Moongchida”, which means to bring together various thoughts and powers. Created by Korean college student Soo-Yeon Park.Moongcho is a leader with lots of passion and courage who always reaches out his hand to help.

IOC President Thomas Bach commented: “The unveiling of the mascot is always an important milestone, and with just one year to go today, we can be confident that the youth of the world will have an outstanding experience during their time in Gangwon. The Organising Committee has leveraged the legacy of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, appointed inspiring ambassadors and created a young and enthusiastic team who will make the athletes feel at home. We can look forward to truly great Winter Youth Olympic Games, with great sports performances in the Olympic spirit of solidarity and peace.” 

The Gangwon 2024 YOGOC also unveiled the official song for the Games, entitled “We Go High”. The song expresses the growth of the young people, as the athletes joyfully take part in the YOG, and symbolises the peaceful future that they are creating. The winner of the song competition, music student Keun Hak Kim (25), included in the lyrics a message for the young athletes to believe in themselves and chase their dreams at the YOG. The song is performed by Keun Hak Kim, young artist Choi Seo-Yeon and the ChunCheon City Youth Choir.

The accompanying choreography was performed for the first time at the one-year to go event in PyeongChang by a group of 60 young people, composed of local students, a dance team and athletes who are part of the Dream Programme managed by the PyeongChang 2018 Legacy Foundation.

Coordination Commission Chair and IOC Member Hong Zhang explained: “The engagement and mobilisation of local youth is a top priority. Young people hold the power to shape and transform our society in ways that are both significant and meaningful. By providing opportunities for them to engage in sport and Olympic values education, we can empower them to become role models in their communities. Gangwon 2024 is not just about competition, it's about creating opportunities for local youth to reach their full potential and contribute to building a better future for all.”

In line with its vision – “Youth celebrating peaceful coexistence and unity through sport to create a better future together” – the Gangwon 2024 YOGOC is aiming to actively engage young people, empowering them to share opinions and grow together through participation. The mascot and song come from nationwide public contests run last year by the YOGOC for young people aged between 14 and 24. 

Yeri Kim appointed as honorary ambassador

The Gangwon 2024 organisers also officially presented b-girl Yeri Kim, who clinched a bronze medal at the YOG Buenos Aires 2018, as an honorary ambassador. Yeri Kim said: "I expect the Youth Olympic Games Gangwon 2024 to have exceptional athletes. In addition to the athletic competition, the YOG also focus on unity and bringing diverse groups of young people together. This was my experience in Buenos Aires, where I met athletes from all over the world and we bonded over our shared passion for sport. I hope the Gangwon 2024 Games will also be a place for unity and friendship among young athletes."

YOGOC Secretary General Kim Chulmin continued: "The spirit of Olympism is based on fair competition, and the YOG are an opportunity for young athletes to get to know each other through various exchanges. The YOG will allow athletes who participate to not only compete, but also develop and grow. Through many different cultural exchanges, festival and other activities, young people will have the opportunity to meet each other and unite as they learn about the Olympic spirit."

Also present at the one-year-to-go event, Gangwon 2024 honorary ambassador and Olympic figure skating champion Yuna Kim expressed her support to the athletes who will be at the start of their YOG adventure on this day next year. Both ambassadors will work to promote Gangwon 2024 and engage the domestic and international young public to get behind the Youth Olympic Games. 

Gangwon 2024 dedicated website launched

The International Olympic Committee has also launched today the Gangwon 2024 website on its digital platform, Olympics.com, which provides a comprehensive source for all Games-related information. Fans can learn more about Gangwon 2024, the venues, the athletes, the sports and the brand, and get up to speed on the latest YOG news. During the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games, fans will also be able to keep up to date on the competitions and the athletes’ results.

About Gangwon 2024

The 4^th Winter YOG taking place in Gangwon, Republic of Korea, will be held between 19 January and 1 February 2024. The first Winter YOG to be held in Asia will provide a platform for young athletes to showcase their skills and compete against their peers on the international stage. Gangwon 2024 will benefit from PyeongChang’s 2018 Olympic Winter Games’ legacy by using several of the same facilities for the YOG. Approximately 1,900 athletes from around 81 National Olympic Committees are expected to take part.

Azzurrini named for 2023 EYOF Friuli Venezia Giulia. Opening ceremony in Trieste on Saturday

• CONI

The azzurrini – Italy’s youth athletes – have been selected to represent the Italia Team at the 16th winter edition of the European Youth Olympic Festival, an event dedicated to athletes aged 14-18 to be held in Friuli Venezia Giulia from 21-28 January. 

The CONI National Board today named the Italian squad line-up that will take part in the event, to be once again hosted in the country 30 years after the first edition held in Valle d'Aosta in February 1993.

Italy, as host nation, will compete in all 12 disciplines with a total of 109 azzurrini (made up of 56 boys and 53 girls)  who will compete against over 1,200 athletes representing 47 nations. The standard-bearers at the opening ceremony scheduled for Saturday, 21 January in Trieste's Piazza Unità d'Italia will be Luca Libener and Giorgia Todesco. The former, a Nordic combined athlete, had already been selected for the previous edition, held in Finland, but had been unable to compete due to injury. Giorgia, meanwhile, forms part of the hockey team and, born in 2009, is the youngest member of the Italian entourage. The Head of Delegation is Elisa Santoni, alongside deputy heads Pauline Mellet, Andrea Morgante and Federico Zaratti.

For the first time an edition of the European Youth Festival will feature Freestyle – with its specialities Slopestyle, Big Air and Skicross – as well as Ski Mountaineering, a discipline linked to Italy partly because of it making its five-ring debut at the 2026 Milano Cortina Olympic Games. The entire Friuli region and the nearby towns of Spittal (Austria) and Planica (Slovenia) will be involved, making up a total of 11 competition venues. Udine will host the closing ceremony on Saturday 28 January.

The CONI-organised hospitality house Casa Italia will also be present at the European Youth Olympic Festival. The revived concept, for the first time aimed at youth participants, with involvement from the 2023 EYOF athletes, will open its doors to all the participating delegations, the Organising Committee and the European Olympic Committees.

The venue of this innovative edition, aimed heavily at a young audience, will be Tarvisio, with the Casa Italia media factory combining with new forms of media and content creation. Its aim is to create a strong core of content generated by young people to give them opportunities to form communities. Workshops and interaction with the EYOF young ambassadors will allow the youngsters to live and breathe one of the first top-level sports events of their careers, inspiring them to pursue their goals, guided by the Olympic Movement’s fundamental principles.

The competitions involving the azzurrini, as well as the two ceremonies, will be broadcast live on ItaliaTeamTV, CONI’s OTT platform. 

The 2023 EYOF Friuli Venezia Giulia picks up the baton from the Finnish edition at Vuokatti, held from December 2021-March 2022, where Italy finished with a record tally of 20 medals: 5 golds, 8 silvers and 7 bronzes.

This is the full list of those selected:

Curling (4)
Alberto Cavallero, Andrea Gilli.
Rebecca Mariani, Giorgia Maurino.

Hockey (40)
Nicolò Bono, Miro Calvani, Elia Carissimi, Iacopo Carlin, Tobias Chizzali, Tommaso Constantini, Alex Curti, Gianmarco Fraschetta, Noah Frick, Andrea Gesumaria, Simon Helfer, Jakob Kirchler, Maximilian Oberhuber, Matthias Pardatscher, Stefano Piechenstein, Villi Pisetta, Samuel Sanoll, Matteo Sulmona, Rosario Tolomelli, Alex Venturi.
Maddalena Bedont, Federica Boaglio, Olivia Cambruzzi, Anna Corte Sualon, Olivia De Bertoli, Aurora De Fanti, Matilde Fantin, Emma Fortarel, Martina Gay, Annalisa Giuliani, Miriam Hackhofer, Manuela Heidenberger, Emily Innocenti, Ginevra Eloise Leger, Carlotta Mellarè, Eleonora Pisetta, Nelly Schmid, Giorgia Todesco, Aurora Varesco, Nicole Varesco.

Figure skating (1)
Anna Pezzetta

Short track (4)
Alex Maestri, Daniele Zampedri.
Sara Martinelli, Chiara Rodondi.

Biathlon (8)
Michele Carollo, Davide Cola, Adam Ferdick, Nicola Giordano.
Carlotta Gautero, Eva Hutter, Nayeli Mariotti Cavagnet, Fabiola Miraglio Mellano.

Nordic combined (6)
Luca Libener, Felix Mair, Manuel Senoner, Bryan Venturini.
Giada Delugan, Greta Pinzani.

Freestyle (8)
Thomas Auer, Valentin Auer, Luca Castellaz, Paolo Piccoli.
Alessia Ambrosi, Sofia Disertori, Desi Rizzoli, Carolina Maria Vitale Cesa.

Ski jumping (4)
Davide Moreschini, Martino Zambenedetti.
Noelia Vuerich, Martina Zanitzer.

Ski mountaineering (8)
Erik Canovi, Umberto Ferrazza, Marcello Scarinzi, Martino Utzeri.
Melissa Bertolina, Caterina Elisabetta Cioccarelli, Vanessa Marca, Martina Scola.

Alpine skiing (8)
Glauco Antonioli, Pietro Broglio, Jacopo Claudani, Jakob Franzelin.
Sofia Amigoni, Tatum Bieler, Giorgia Collomb, Ludovica Righi.

Cross-country skiing (8)
Niccolò Giovanni Bianchi, Tommaso Cuc, Gabriele Matli, Federico Pozzi.
Martina Bonacorsi, Marit Folie, Anna Maria Ghiddi, Marie Schwitzer.

Snowboard (10)
Octavian Buda, Tommaso Costa, Marcello Grassis, Rocco Moresi, Mike Santuari, Elias Zimmerhofer.
Allyson Natalia Donò, Aurora Drolma Dusi, Anna Victoria Mammone, Sophie Rabanser.

Report presented on Italian sports results 2013-2022. Malagò: the numbers make us proud

• REPORT

Ten years of steady, gradual growth in sports results, in spite of increased international competition, declining national demographics and a reduction in public funding. This is what emerges from “The positioning of Italian sport at Olympic level”, a 67-page report into the evolution of results from 2013 to 2022, presented this morning at CONI’s Salone d’Onore by President Giovanni Malagò and Secretary General Carlo Mornati to the press and the National Sports Federations.

“For a long time Carlo Mornati, with the Olympic preparation team, felt it was his duty to inform you about what has happened over the last ten years: these are numbers of which we are very proud” stressed Malagò. “This is an important 'MRI scan': we want to show everything that has been done and that needs to be done in the coming years, regardless of roles. Looking ahead to 2050, if large-scale, precisely targeted public policies do not materialise, even an optimist such as myself would argue that it will be impossible to continue these achievements over the coming decades” added the CONI President.

 
“This is not a snapshot of the last ten years, but a trend for the federations, because it is useless coming up with models if you do not know the numbers” explained Carlo Mornati. “We do not wish to be self-congratulatory, but this is cold, hard data that perfectly sums up the work done by the federations. In recent years there has often been talk of better systems, especially at a European level, but the numbers show how difficult it is to find a model that works better than ours” added the CONI Secretary General.

The data from the report was illustrated by Mornati. In spite of some critical issues, Italian Olympic sport continues to be at the forefront of the international rankings in terms of quality and quantity of results. At the Tokyo Olympics, the level of international participation increased (+23% compared to Barcelona 1992) as did the level of competitiveness (the total number of gold medal-winning nations increased by 76% and the number of medal-winning nations by 45%).

Added to this picture is the demographic decline (Italy has lost some four million people in the 20-34 age bracket from 1996 to 2022) and cutbacks in public funding to Olympic sport, reduced from €3.1 billion in the 1993-1996 Olympic cycle to €1.8 billion in the 2017-2020 cycle.

In spite of this, the negative trend in results that began in the early 2000s has seen a reversal in the last decade, where there has been a steady growth in competitiveness culminating in the exceptional results of the 2021-2022 cycle. The level increased significantly both in overall terms (number of medals and podium places) and as a percentage of the total number of scheduled events.

Specifically, Italy concluded the Tokyo Olympics with 40 medals in 19 disciplines, the highest number of podiums ever achieved at a Summer Games. Excellent results were also achieved at Beijing 2022 with 17 medals, the second highest number of medals ever at the Winter Games. The increase in the overall number of podiums compared to the Beijing 2008-Vancouver 2010 was as high as 78%.

Also worth noting was the increase in female participation, the excellent results achieved in mixed events and the multidisciplinary inclination of our country, with medals won in no fewer than 28 different sports: only the United States, Russia and Japan did better in this particular ranking.

In a context that sees an increasingly strategic approach to resource allocation from a growing number of Olympic committees, which concentrate investments and efforts on those disciplines where the likelihood of medal success is highest, the Italian Olympic Movement is thus showing itself to be multifaceted, winning medals in a wide ranging number of summer and winter Olympic sports and disciplines.

The performances and trends at Olympic level have been confirmed at World and European Championships levels as well as at overall and youth levels. 2022, in particular, was a record-breaking year: no fewer than 219 medals were won in Olympic disciplines at the European Championships, a figure that puts Italy clearly in first place with Great Britain in second place with 139 podiums. Italy is also leads the way at a European level when considering only the competitions in the Olympic programmes for Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026, with 119 podiums, ahead of Great Britain with 90.

As far as the results obtained in the Olympic disciplines at the 2022 World Championships are concerned, Italy ranks third behind the United States (225) and China (141), with 102 medals. Third place is also confirmed when factoring in World Championships for young people, both junior and youth, this time behind the United States (90) and Germany (85).

Looking to the future, the estimated total number of medals for Paris 2024 and Milano Cortina 2026 will be 61 (42 for the French Games, 19 for the Italian Olympics), a figure that would place Italy in sixth place overall, with a 78% increase compared to the Vancouver 2010-London 2012 double edition. Finally, in the virtual medals table of Paris 2024, Italy is currently in fifth place with 42 medals (16 gold, 14 silver and 12 bronze), with a further possible increase compared to the record-breaking Tokyo edition.

(photo Luca Pagliaricci)

Farewell to King Constantine. Honorary IOC member, sailing gold medal winner in Rome 1960 in the waters of Naples

• SPORTS WORLD IN MOURNING

King Constantine of Greece, history’s last Hellenic king, passed away this evening in Athens at the age of 82. As well as being an honorary member of the IOC, he had a special bond with Italy, given that he had taken part and triumphed in the 1960 Olympics in Rome. He did so in sailing, which was contested in the waters of the Gulf of Naples, in the Dragoon class.

King Constantine was also something of a symbolic figure at the only summer Olympics held in Italy. He became the first athlete to enter the Stadio Olimpico at the opening ceremony of the 1960 Rome Games. Having been appointed the Greek flag-bearer, he was the first to enter the field at the opening parade, as it is customary for the Greek national team to lead the other teams out at the Olympics.

On that day, 25 August 1960, his sister Sofia was alongside him as a fellow competitor in sailing in Naples. The future Queen of Spain (she would later marry King Juan Carlos) was with him until the end at his bedside in Athens. King Constantine was born in Psichiko on 2 June 1940. Constantine had become an IOC member in 1963, when only 23 years old, later becoming an honorary member in 1974.

The final appearance of Constantine of Greece in Italy took place on 10 September 2010, in Rome, in the gardens of the Quirinale, received by the then President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Rome 1960, when all living Olympic and Paralympic champions gathered at the Colle together with a large presence of IOC members, including King Constantine and the future president Thomas Bach. Farewell Constantine, Italy will not forget you! (photo CONI)

Farewell to Vialli. Malagò: “I remember him with the Olympic flag at Turin 2006”

• MOURNING

This morning Gianluca Vialli left us: a champion, an outstanding talent, a symbol of Italian football. He passed away in London, aged just 58, after battling, as he had done on the pitch, against a dire, incurable disease. 

One of the greatest centre-forwards in Italian history, he was one of the very few players to have won all three major UEFA club competitions, a feat unique among strikers. He also won numerous other trophies, both national and international.

His records include the title of top scorer at the 1986 Under-21 European Championship; the 1988-1989 Coppa Italia – in which he set the all-time record for goals in a single edition with 13; the 1989-1990 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 1990-1991 Serie A title, the year he won the Scudetto with Sampdoria.

Between 1985 and 1992 he made 59 appearances and scored 16 goals for the national team, participating in two World Cups (Mexico 1986 and Italy 1990) and one European Championship (West Germany 1988); he also played in 21 games and scored 11 goals for the Under-21 team, with which he played in two European Championships (1984 and 1986). In 2015 he was inducted into the Italian football’s Hall of Fame.

CONI President Giovanni Malagò, upon hearing the news of Vialli’s passing, issued the following statement: “Italian sport and football in particular have lost a champion today, but above all a man who was one of a kind. There are no words to describe the immense sadness that we all feel at this moment. That embrace of his at Wembley with Mancini at last year’s European Championships remains an indelible image of the values of sport inspired by the Olympic spirit. But for that very reason there is another image I would like to remind you of. That of 26 February 2006, when Vialli, along with other illustrious champions, carried the Olympic flag during the closing ceremony of the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, the only footballer to have had such an honour. On behalf of Italian sport, and speaking for myself, I stand alongside the family, remembering the endless thrills that Vialli brought us. Ciao Gianluca!”.

From Arianna Fontana to world champion volleyball team: Italy says goodbye to a record-breaking 2022

• ITALIA TEAM

Italy toasts the end of a triumphant 2022 for Italian sport. The Beijing Winter Olympics rewarded the country with 17 medals (second best result ever after Lillehammer 1994) and a top-10 finish achieved in terms of the number of podium places. After the record-breaking tally in Tokyo of 40 medals, Italia Team registered another noteworthy Olympics result. The gold medals clinched in China by Arianna Fontana (short track) and the Constantini-Mosaner pairing (curling), in addition to the achievement of Sofia Goggia (winning silver in downhill 23 days after a bad knee injury) paved the way for a triumph-filled year.

From the world titles of Pecco Bagnaia and Ducati in MotoGP to that of Diana Bacosi in skeet (shooting), from Filippo Ganna's records (cycling) to the triumphs of the Italian national team in swimming, rowing, fencing and men’s volleyball, as well as Marcell Jacobs (athletics), Sofia Raffaeli (rhythmic gymnastics), Ruggero Tita and Caterina Banti (sailing) and so many others. It was an extraordinary year for Italian sport, which is all set to plunge into 2023.

Franco Frattini passes away. President Malagò reminisces: “I have lost a true friend”

• MOURNING

On Christmas night Franco Frattini, President of Italy’s Council of State and, until 29 January this year, President of the Collegio di Garanzia dello Sport at CONI, a role he had held since the conception of this new body in 2014 with the reform of Sport Justice, left us prematurely, at just 65 years of age. Frattini was also an influential member of CAS, the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.

Although he held numerous political posts in his lengthy career (including Italian Foreign Minister and European Commissioner), Frattini’s name was also linked to the world of sport. He was awarded the International Olympic Committee’s Collare d’Oro following his positive experience as President of the Works Agency for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. His bond with the world of winter sports had always been a strong one: indeed, he was President of the National Commission of Ski Schools and Instructors (COSCUMA), part of the Federazione Italiana Sport Invernali (FISI), and indeed only a few months ago President Flavio Roda awarded him the title of honorary instructor.
 
CONI President Giovanni Malagò paid tribute to him as follows: “I’ve lost a true friend. Franco Frattini was a point of reference for me in these years as CONI president. His advice and suggestions were always invaluable for my activity. Italian sport laments the passing of a man from the institutions who always defended the autonomy of sport, carrying out his role with competence and loyalty. I offer my sincerest condolences to the family on behalf of myself and the entire Italian sports world”.

The President of the Collegio di Garanzia, Gabriella Palmieri Sandulli, who took over from Frattini at the head of Italian sport’s highest organ of justice in January 2022, also wished to pay tribute to her illustrious predecessor. "President Frattini was an exceptional servant of the state with an extremely high sense of duty towards the institutions combined with equally exceptional human qualities. His passion for sport in its noblest sense was also demonstrated by his great tenacity, enthusiasm and untiring commitment, which gave prestige and institutional lustre to the Collegio di Garanzia dello Sport. I am truly honoured to hold the office of President after such an impressive predecessor. His example will always guide me and is the model that inspires me. I offer my own personal condolences and in the name of all the Members of the Collegio di Garanzia to his family, to whom we extend our heartfelt sympathy in our great sorrow for such a grave loss".

Death of Frattini, Thomas Bach’s condolences: “He was fundamental for IOC recognition at the UN”

• LETTER TO MALAGÒ

“Dear President and friend, it was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Franco Frattini. With his passing, the entire Olympic Movement has lost a great friend and supporter. In all his diverse roles and responsibilities, he was always close to the Italian National Olympic Committee and Italy’s IOC members. His wise advice and help in many situations was always greatly appreciated”. So opens the letter sent by the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, to the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, Giovanni Malagò, in remembering Franco Frattini, President of the Council of State and until 29 January this year President of the Collegio di Garanzia dello Sport, who passed away on Christmas night.

“Franco Frattini was instrumental in the recognition of the International Olympic Committee at the United Nations General Assembly as an official observer”, continues Bach in the letter. “He made everything possible by presenting the project to the UN member states with his energy and great political skills. Particularly for this great achievement, the Olympic Movement will always be very grateful to him and will bestow upon him the highest honour. My deepest condolences”.

For first time ever, men eligible to compete in artistic swimming at the Olympic Games

• PARIS 2024

The International Olympic Committee has given its approval for World Aquatics to allow men to participate in the Artistic Swimming competitions at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Artistic Swimming was formerly known as synchronised swimming until 2017).

Men will now be eligible to compete in the team event. There are eight competitors in each team. The new rules will permit a maximum of two men to compete in each team at the Olympic Games. Ten teams are expected to compete. 

Artistic Swimming has been in the Olympic Games since 1984, and this will be the first time that men have been eligible to be included in a team at the Games. Men have been allowed to compete at the FINA World Aquatics Championships since 2015.

This is a day of celebration for those who have campaigned for the inclusion of men in the sport at the Olympic Games and who have pioneered men’s participation. 

Bill May (USA) has been one of the leading voices in lobbying for this change. The first-ever male World Champion, in the inaugural mixed duet technical event at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in 2015, he is now a coach. 

"The inclusion of men in Olympic Artistic Swimming was once considered the impossible dream. This proves that we should all dream big. The male athletes have endured. Now, through their perseverance and the help and support of so many, all athletes may stand alongside each other equally, reaching for Olympic glory".

Giorgio Minisini (Italy) is one of the leading men currently competing in the sport. He was World Champion at the FINA World Aquatics Championships in the mixed duet technical routine in 2017 and 2022. 

"This announcement marks a milestone in Artistic Swimming history. Our sport's evolution towards inclusivity is going on fast forward, and this decision from IOC and World Aquatics will help us become an example for the whole Olympic movement.  As one of the most popular sports in the Games, we are ready to share the Olympic motto around the world louder than ever: 'Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together'”. 

“Aquatics sports are universal and men have proven themselves to be excellent artistic swimmers. I look forward to seeing this new dimension of Artistic Swimming being shared with the world in Paris. The inclusion of men in Artistic Swimming is a great credit to all those who have worked for many years to make this happen” said World Aquatics President Captain Husain Al-Musallam.  

Celebration at Pinzolo, Trentino wins the first Trofeo CONI Winter. Piedmont to host the 2023 edition

• CONI

Trentino has won the first edition of the Trofeo CONI Winter 2022. The Committee, directed by Paola Mora, takes advantage of the “field factor” to inscribe its name into the roll of honour of the winter edition of Italy’s most important multi-sport Under 14 event, hosted in Trentino itself.

The youngsters of the home committee got the better of Piedmont, beating them only by the number of podium disciplines (11 against 9) after having collected 30 points apiece. Lombardy claimed third spot with 28 points (full ranking here). Announcing the final table at the closing ceremony held in Pinzolo’s Piazza Carera, was Cecilia d'Angelo, CONI’s Head of Territory and Promotion.

“It was a great first edition of the Trofeo CONI Winter” acknowledged CONI Vice-President Claudia Giordani. “Thanks to you girls and boys who were the protagonists of this splendid experience. This is one of CONI’s most important projects because it gives value to the presence of the Committee throughout Italy. It is a truly winning formula. My wish is that you will be able to treasure this experience and also be able to view our Olympics with a greater sense of respect and desire for the five Olympic rings and the tricolour. Thanks to Trentino and all its authorities, to Cecilia D'Angelo and Paola Mora, and thanks to all the Committee presidents”.

“Have a good trip home. I wish to thank all the sports associations, the presidents of the FISG and FISI, the autonomous province of Trento and all the volunteers. Happy Trofeo CONI and Happy Christmas holidays” said Paola Mora during the closing ceremony to the youngsters who were about to return home.

The Trophy saw 800 athletes competing, representing 17 regional delegations, who competed against each other in the various disciplines held in eight locations across Trentino.

“On Friday we had a great opening ceremony” outlined the Province of Trento’s sports councillor Roberto Failoni. “We were all tense at an event that we were participating in for the first time. And with great pride we can say 'mission accomplished'. Thanks to everyone. Thank you boys and girls. We hope you had a great time. Thank you also to CONI who believed in us and gave us this opportunity. I truly think we did not disappoint”.

“Mission accomplished indeed” said the Mayor of Pinzolo, Michele Cereghini. “Three days full of thrills and satisfaction. I would like to thank Paola Mora, and CONI and Vice-President Claudia Giordani. Sport is a combination of many things, I’d like to thank all the committees, the boys and girls and their families. At this event, sport came out the winner”.

At the end of the Ceremony there was the handover to Piedmont, with the CONI flag and the torch passing from the hands of the president of CONI Trento, Paola Mora, to that of CONI Piedmont president, Stefano Mossino. The 2023 challenge is underway.