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SPORTS Saturday 12 January 2019

Milan-Cortina bid can revolutionize Olympics

By ANDREW DAMPF left room for Turin to move
AP Sports Writer back into consideration
ROME (AP) — It starts with with its speedskating oval.
the name — featuring two “This is the dossier for now
cities as opposed to the and we’re convinced we
usual one — and involves can win with this dossier,”
venues dotted across a Malago said. “But recent
large swath of northern It- history shows us that new
aly stretching from Milan to opportunities arise once
the Dolomites. you’ve been assigned the
The Milan-Cortina bid for games.” Milan-Cortina
the 2026 Olympics has the plans for a budget of 1.5
potential to revolution- billion euros ($1.7 billion),
ize the Winter Games and 900,000 euros of which
leave a new blueprint for would be covered by IOC
the future. contributions. Italy is anx-
It’s the first candidacy to ious to bring a bid through
fully embrace reforms de- the entire process after two
manded by IOC President Rome candidacies were
Thomas Bach, seeking to withdrawn. Three years
cut costs and ease taxpay- ago, Italy was forced to
er concerns in the after- end Rome’s bid for the
math of Russia’s $51 billion 2024 Summer Olympics be-
spending to prepare for the President of the Italian National Olympic Committee, CONI, Giovanni Malago’ talks during an cause of staunch opposi-
2014 Sochi Olympics. interview with The Associated Press, in Rome, Friday, Jan. 11, 2019. tion from the city’s mayor.
“We’re the forerunner and Associated Press And in 2012, then-premier
we take pride in that fact,” and Nordic sports in Trenti- we would not have been The IOC is scheduled to se- Mario Monti scrapped the
Italian Olympic Committee no-Alto Adige. able to bid,” Malago said. lect the host cities in June. city’s candidacy for the
president Giovanni Malago Alpine skiing would be di- The only other remain- “It wouldn’t surprise me if 2020 Olympics because of
said in an interview with vided between Bormio ing candidate for 2026 is in the future there is a two- financial concerns.
The Associated Press on Fri- (men) and Cortina (wom- Stockholm, which propos- nation bid,” Malago said. Malago would not even
day, the same day that bid en), and only one venue es to hold sliding events Christophe Dubi, the Olym- consider the possibility of
books were sent to the IOC. would need to be built in Latvia. Following Milan- pic Games executive di- another rejection.
The Milan-Cortina candida- from scratch — an arena in Cortina’s lead, Stockholm rector, said the IOC “should “There will not be another
cy takes advantage of the Milan. announced on Friday that consider regional bids,” ‘No’ because the boat
more flexible rules provided The opening ceremony it, too, was adding a sec- adding, “we could brand has already left the port,”
by Bach’s reforms. would be at the 80,000- ond name to its bid. It’s the games differently by he said. “Other countries
The bid proposes to hold seat San Siro in Milan, with now called “Stockholm Are the name of a region.” don’t have our volatility in
figure skating, hockey and the closing at Verona’s 2026,” with Alpine skiing The Italian bid was origi- terms of saying yes or no.
short-track speedskating Arena, a large Roman am- events taking place in the nally slated to also include But they have a different
in Milan; sliding sports and phitheater. resort of Are, 541 kilometers Turin before the 2006 host problem — referendums.
curling in 1956 host Cortina; “Without Agenda 2020 (336 miles) northwest of the was left out amid a politi- And I’m not sure which one
and speedskating, biathlon (Bach’s reform package) Swedish capital. cal squabble. But Malago is worse.” q
Russian court says bobsledder can keep Olympic titles

Associated Press Russia. That means Zubkov Friday’s ruling will also make
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian is legally recognized as an it harder for Zubkov to be
bobsledder Alexander Zub- Olympic champion — but removed as president of
kov won a Moscow court only in Russia. the Russian Bobsled Feder-
ruling on Friday that could On Friday, the court reject- ation, and may entitle him
make it harder for the In- ed an IOC-backed appeal to a Russian state pension
ternational Olympic Com- from the Russian Olympic for retired star athletes.
mittee to recover his gold Committee, which earlier The IOC’s case against
medals. said letting Zubkov keep his Zubkov was based on tes-
The Russian flagbearer at medals could “give rise to timony from Moscow and
the 2014 Sochi Olympics doubt that Russia truly ob- Sochi anti-doping labora-
was stripped of his two gold serves the main principles tory director Grigory Rod-
medals from those games of the fight against dop- chenkov, who said he
in 2017 by the IOC for dop- ing.” arranged for athletes to
ing. He failed to overturn “I am a clean athlete. If dope before swapping
that disqualification at you don’t know my story their dirty samples for clean
the Court of Arbitration for you can open Wikipedia ones. There was also foren-
Sport last year. and see how much I’ve sic evidence that the alleg-
But Moscow’s highest civil done for sport and what edly fake sample stored in
court in November upheld In this Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014 file photo, driver of Russia RUS-1, I did in Sochi,” he said. “I Zubkov’s name contained
Zubkov’s claim that the CAS Alexander Zubkov, acknowledges the crowd after they won the brought gold medals here more salt than could be
gold medal during the men’s four-man bobsled competition
procedure was unfair and final at the 2014 Winter Olympics, in Krasnaya Polyana, Russia. and gave sport 30 years (of possible in urine from a
shouldn’t be recognized in Associated Press my life).” healthy human.q