Latest news with #Dubi
NBC Sports
21-07-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
IOC's Christophe Dubi discusses 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympic prep with 200 days to go
International Olympic Committee Executive Director Christophe Dubi spoke with about preparations for the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Games, which open in 200 days. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. OlympicTalk: What is the state of preparations for these Games from the IOC perspective, and do you have any concerns? Dubi: I've got excitement more than concerns. You loved Paris (2024). You will adore Milano-Cortina, I think we start from a very strong Paris Games, and the expectations are immense, by the way. Let's be very clear, the Games back in the traditional Alpine setting with the Alps and the Dolomites, there are a lot of expectations. I'm just back from Italy. What I really like at this stage is that from all political sides and at all authority levels, but also in the general public, you have a real sense of excitement. That sense that Italy is ready to party, and not only Milano and the regions, but more like what happened in France, where the Games will be the Games for the whole territory. You can feel that. It was pretty obvious with the volunteers campaign, which was too successful. You have too many people disappointed because they're not chosen. Ticketing, which is ongoing, we are halfway through — around 750,000 tickets. So that bodes really well. Now, having said that, six months out, it's a lot of work ahead. It's a lot of time that has passed and a lot of work behind us. But of course, still, all the temporary installations, from temporary ice to temporary stands, mountain build, all the above. So excitement, but also extreme sense of duty with the calendar, which is managed minute by minute. Nick Zaccardi, OlympicTalk: Are you satisfied with how things are progressing with the Cortina sliding track? Dubi: We love the track. Let's be clear here. What they've done in terms of construction time to get to the pre-homologation (test runs by athletes for the first time in March), it was something we had never seen, so we were doubtful. They managed — by a very smart construction and very thoughtful engineering processes — to get to the point where they could have ice on this track, and they tested and validated the fact that it's a safe track. Now we have final homologation, which is a very important step, because this is then opening the season for the testing of the track and availability of the track for all athletes. That is super, super important. Now, the works are not finished, right? So the ice, yes, but when it comes to the actual track itself, to make it an Olympic venue, there is still quite some work to be done. So it's pretty complicated. It requires a super precise coordination. But again, they have demonstrated, and there is no reason to doubt that they're going to be able to do that. OlympicTalk: What plans are there that you know of — and that you can share — for the Opening Ceremony to incorporate athletes who won't be able to be in Milan and are at the other venue clusters? Dubi: The work that they are doing to allow all athletes to — somewhat in different ways, shapes and forms — participate is a defining moment for the next Games to come. Not LA, but for the French Alps 2030 and Brisbane 2032, which is on three clusters, plus a few venues in the region. So the work they do here to have everybody involved is really outstanding. I cannot really reveal more, but it's really a plan that, for us, respects the principle that the Games, no matter how spread they can be, is for the athletes to feel that the Olympic experience is something really different. So that ceremony will be reflecting this principle. Is it easy to do? Absolutely not. It requires an incredible level of coordination for the show, but, hey, Paris was already quite a step. This is somewhat different, because it's not that large of a venue, but it's several venues, and yeah, really we are incredibly thankful to the work that they have done. OlympicTalk: What is the process to determine if Nordic combined will stay on the Olympic program beyond 2026, and if a women's event could be added? Dubi: What can be done for Nordic combined is two things in the future, more than it is today: more universal. You cannot have 27 medals in the last three editions of the Games going to four National Olympic Committees (editor's note: Norway, Germany, Japan and Austria combined to win all of the Nordic combined medals in 2014, 2018 and 2022). So FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) needs to work on that and needs to develop the women's side. You have to have a balanced program in the future. So I prefer to look at it from a glass half-full, which is, what are the conditions that would improve the quality of the sport in the future? More universality. Women. These are the two axes on which we have to work with the federation. OlympicTalk: I want to ask you about the authorized individual neutral athletes, if I may. How will the process for determining which AIN athletes get invited to compete at the Games be similar or different than it was for Paris 2024? Dubi: I'd say similar. It was successful in Paris in the sense that all the frameworks we had put around the conditions for participation worked. We didn't have any problems. So we're very proud of the lineup in Paris from those coming from those territories at war, but also our refugee team. It worked really well, so that's what we build from. Now, what the process exactly will be? To be discussed in the next executive board meetings. But we start from something we know, which is reassuring. OlympicTalk: A specific scheduling question. Ester Ledecka, the skier/snowboarder from Czechia, has said she's requested a schedule change to better accommodate her hope to compete in both Alpine skiing and Alpine snowboarding at the Games. What is the status of that? Dubi: The line is open. So she had conversations with a number of our colleagues in the sports department, and the dialog continues. The facts are the following: she will be able to compete in the two disciplines where she won gold medals: the super-G (Alpine skiing, on Feb. 12 in Cortina, which she won in 2018) and the parallel giant slalom (snowboard, on Feb. 8 in Livigno, which she won in 2018 and 2022). The problem is with the downhill (Alpine skiing, on Feb. 8 in Cortina, the same day as snowboarding's parallel giant slalom). (Editor's note: In the downhill, Ledecka placed 27th at the 2022 Olympics and won bronze at the World Championships this past February. On the World Cup, she had an average finish of seventh place in five downhill starts last season.) Extremely hard to change the schedule at that point in time for all the good reasons. This is something that is built all the time and is impossible to change at that stage. However, happy to continue the conversation and see whether there are some logistics arrangements that can be made. But in any case, and I think this is an important point, I understand that the more opportunities the better. But already we can ensure super-G and snowboard, and then issue remains the downhill. OlympicTalk: Is there anything else that we haven't addressed that's particularly exciting you for these Games 200 days out, or is particularly going to be a focus of yours over the next six months? Dubi: I think it's back to where we started. I think there is this sense of excitement because Paris has had a profound impact on all of us, and the next ones lined up are Milano Cortina. So you have this sense of excitement, and you can feel it, as I said, in the territory, but among the athletes as well. The fact that the Games were very appealing to youth, and we see this now in ticketing as well, where a large portion is for people under 35, is also a sign that probably Paris, more than anything else before, reconnected. Our product remains amazingly exciting, but also, I think the values we are based upon, which is the simplicity of sport, giving that breath at a time where the world is a difficult place for almost everyone. And it's so Italian, and that's great. You go to France. It was so French. It's going to be so Italian, with their extravagance, with their warmth, with their colors.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
What's the impact of Trump tariffs, travel restrictions on the Olympics? Here's what an IOC executive says
A top International Olympic Committee executive expressed confidence about overcoming any concerns about President Donald Trump's trade and travel policies ahead of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles. But Christophe Dubi, the Switzerland-based IOC's Olympic Games executive director, had little else to say about Trump's new tariffs, which were partially paused Wednesday amid financial fallout over fears of a global trade war, or his proposed travel restrictions. Although the policies could have a big impact on international sporting events in the United States, Dubi said they weren't discussed during Wednesday's closed IOC Executive Board meeting that included the organization's new president-elect, Kirsty Coventry of Zimbabwe. Neither Coventry nor outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach attended the virtual press briefing held after the meeting. Coventry, however, had previously made it clear she expects to be able to handle Trump, who is also calling on the IOC to bar transgender competitors. 'I have been dealing with, let's say, difficult men in high positions since I was 20 years old,' Coventry told reporters shortly after her election in March. 'First and foremost, what I have learned is that communication will be key. That is something that will happen early on.' Dubi said Wednesday it's too soon to talk specifics about the U.S. administration's policies. 'I think we cannot speculate at this stage,' he said during a virtual news conference, adding that Olympic organizing committees, along with 'the sport movement in general, are constantly facing evolving circumstances.' 'Being 10 years out or two, you might face anything. We have to be confident,' Dubi said, citing what he called 'the good work being done between LA28 and the administration in Washington. ... This is what we build upon.' What's important, he said, is understanding 'what the conditions are' so the Olympics can adapt. 'To do this, it takes strong partnerships between the organizing committee and the public authorities. We've done this in France, including some difficult situations,' Dubi said without offering specifics about what those were for the 2024 Summer Games in Paris. 'We found very good solutions with the government and the same will be done in the future,' he said, including in Italy for next year's Winter Games in Milan-Cortina and in the United States, where L.A. isn't the only upcoming host — Utah is the site of the 2034 Winter Games. Last month, the chairman of the L.A.'s Olympic organizing committee, Casey Wasserman, assured IOC members 'irrespective of politics today, America will be open and accepting to all 209 countries for the Olympics.' Wasserman's comments came despite reports Trump is looking at restricting travelers from as many as 43 countries as part of an earlier executive order that could prevent Olympic athletes and spectators from entering the United States. The sweeping tariffs on nearly every country around the globe didn't come until last week. Wednesday, the U.S. president announced a 90-day pause on the reciprocal portion of the tariffs for every country but China. The economic turmoil caused by the tariffs, along with the impact on access to the U.S. market for foreign companies, is expected to impact Olympic sponsorships, a key source of revenue for hosting a Games.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
The organization of Utah's 2034 Winter Games is getting underway
When a top International Olympic Committee executive arrives in Utah Thursday, organizers of the state's 2034 Winter Games will be ready to listen. 'Part of the visit is an update from us. But the vast majority of it is them sharing best practices for new OCOGs (organizing committees for the Olympic Games) getting started,' said Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that was behind the successful bid to bring another Olympics to the state. 'Of course, we've been through it before so we understand it pretty well. But there's always new learning and that's what we're looking forward to,' Bullock said, adding he wants to hear about what's been successful in planning more recent Games. 'Even though we did a great job in 2002, we're wide open to new ideas of how do things even better.' IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi is set to arrive in Utah Thursday afternoon and stay through Friday's announcement by Gov. Spencer Cox and other officials including from the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee of who will serve on Utah's Olympic organizing committee. The new organization will be responsible for staging what will add up to a $4 billion privately funded event. The IOC has already signed off on the makeup of Utah's organizing committee, Bullock said. The 69-year-old served as the chief operating officer of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City before helping the launch the bid, and he's expected to play a key role in the organizing committee. Dubi is coming from Los Angeles, where he's been meeting with organizers of the 2028 Summer Games. The California city is dealing with the impact of deadly wildfires that have killed at least 29 people. More than 10,000 structures have been destroyed in the blazes, but apparently none were critical to hosting the Olympics. Utah's Olympic organizers have nine years to put together another Games and Dubi has long advised them not to be in a hurry to get going on detailed plans. But he told the Deseret News last week that decisions need to be made about utilizing what amounts to two additional years of preparations over the traditional schedule. While it remains 'urgent to wait with respect to Games organization,' now is the time to set 'priorities in what is the land of opportunity,' Dubi said in a virtual interview from the IOC's Swiss headquarters. 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' The IOC executive also said he'll push Utah organizers to finalize plans for observing the next Olympics, the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Those Games are spread across much of northern Italy, so Dubi said it will take 'extremely well designed' plans to take in all the behind-the-scenes effort that goes into organizing what spectators see. Joining Dubi in Salt Lake City will be another IOC official, Pierre Ducrey, the Olympic Games operations director. Dubi and other IOC officials as well as members of the IOC Future Host Commission were in Utah last April to tour venues, and outgoing IOC President Thomas Bach made a stop in the state last September.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why a top IOC executive is coming to Utah
Next week, a top International Olympic Committee executive will be in Utah to kick off planning for the 2034 Winter Games. The organizers of Utah's next Olympics are in 'a very unusual situation,' IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told the Deseret News Tuesday in a virtual interview from the organization's Swiss headquarters. 'We have a 10 years' life span. We have very little to do on the fundamentals for the Games, that is, the venues,' since the facilities from the 2002 Winter Games are set to be used again. 'We have what you know is a perfect situation.' 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' — IOC Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi So what's there to talk about during his two-day visit that follows a stop in Los Angeles, the host of the 2028 Summer Games? Plenty, it turns out. Utah has yet to announce an organizing committee for the Olympic Games, even though the host contract signed by Gov. Spencer Cox after last year's July 24 IOC vote set a Christmas Eve deadline for putting what's known as an OCOG in place. That's coming 'pretty soon,' Dubi said. 'We're having now regular conversations in every shape and form.' But he also wants to know how Utah will use the time it's been given under the new, less formal bid process to organize another Winter Games. Previously, organizers had just seven years to get ready for one of the world's largest sporting events. There needs to be a decision 'on the priorities in what is the land of opportunity,' Dubi said. 'What are the first programs we're going to tackle and deliver, so that we start involving the communities and kids in particular?' Detailed planning, he said, can wait. 'It's urgent to wait with respect to Games organization,' Dubi said, the same advice he offered nearly a year ago during an inspection tour of Utah's Olympic venues, citing the advances to come in artificial intelligence and other technology. He said preparation also need to get underway to ensure Utah's Olympic organizers get the most out of the 2026 Winter Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, just a year away. That includes figuring out who needs to go, Dubi said. 'It sounds a long time, a year, except that we are operating over a very large territory. The plans have to be extremely well designed' for the Utah observers in Italy, he said. 'It has to be planned now.' Unlike Utah's compact Olympics, where every venue is within an hour of the athlete housing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, the Milan-Cortina Games are spread across a wide swath of Italy. That means the lessons there for Utah organizers won't be about logistics like transporting athletes from Point A to Point B, Dubi said. 'The geographical distribution is so different that this is absolutely not what they're going to be looking at,' he said. Instead, Dubi suggested Utahns focus instead on what Italians are bringing to the Olympics. 'It's the way the Italians will deliver in each and every venue,' he said, bringing the spirit of the Games to the streets just as Paris' 2024 Summer Games did. 'It's the experience you can deliver if your are generous enough to have not only the venues hosting the best sport.' Closing streets, providing gathering places for the public and 'offering the best possible hospitality outside of the best possible field of play. This is where Italians will be really, really good,' Dubi said. 'You have to be part of the best of what winter sports can offer.' In Utah, he said, 'it will have a different flavor, different color, different music, different everything. But what you're looking for as a participant is that warmth, and that feeling of being part of something very special.' Whether felt as an athlete, a volunteer or a spectator, that's 'a once in a lifetime experience.' Fraser Bullock, president and CEO of the Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games that was behind the bid, said he's looking forward to the visit by Dubi and his team, calling the IOC executive 'a great friend going back to our partnership together in 2002.' Bullock said they'll 'begin the early phase of outlining our integrated planning process. They have deep knowledge in many areas that will help us ensure we put on the best Games possible.' He stopped short of saying the organizing committee will be announced during Dubi's visit, set for Feb. 13 and 14. Bullock, who's 69, is expected to be named the leader of the OCOG while setting up a successor. A new bill introduced this session at the Utah Legislature would require the governor and legislative leaders to sign off on the head of the organizing committee. Utah taxpayers are the guarantor of the privately funded Games expected to cost a total of $4 billion. 'I really like the way that is being approached,' Dubi said, since 'an organizing committee is always a public-private partnership' that needs the 'consent of those backing and those that will support the Games.' The IOC would also expect to be 'consulted, and comfortable with the choice,' he said, describing Bullock as 'someone I always very much admire and consider as a friend. He's a very special individual, for sure.' Dubi said Utah's organizing committee will likely be similar to the one that oversaw the 2002 Winter Games. Unlike in the rest of the world, the organization responsible for staging a Games in the United States is entirely privately financed. The 2030 Winter Games in the French Alps, for example, already has funding committed from regional and national authorities, but the 'economic capacity' of the United States is much larger compared to the European market, he said. 'It's incredible, the support you have' for sport, Dubi said, including from wealthy donors. 'It's only in the U.S.' He said there's 'dynamism' that comes from a private organization that has the backing of public authorities. That includes U.S. President Donald Trump. Just days before being sworn in, Trump pledged his support for the Los Angeles Games during a meeting at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida with Casey Wasserman, LA28's president and chairman. 'These are America's Olympics,' Trump told Wasserman, according to a report in Axios based on an unnamed source. 'These are more important than ever to L.A. and I'm going to be supportive in every way possible and make them the greatest Games.' Dubi said that 'shows the commitment of Washington to what for sure will be extraordinary Games' in a city that has seen more than 10,000 homes destroyed and at least 29 lives lost in the recent wildfires. 'Our hearts and minds go to all those that have been affected. But at the same time, with this very American spirit, which is in such adversity, fight back and demonstrate that we can come back stronger,' Dubi said. 'This is something cultural deep-rooted in the U.S.' The Olympics being held twice in the United States within a six-year span reflects the IOC's level of trust and the quality of the relationship, he said. To him, the United States means opportunities. 'What do we invent in Los Angeles in what is the most buzzing of the entertainment and sports market,' Dubi asked, before returning to the site of the 'extraordinary' 2002 Winter Games, in 2034. 'What do we invent for these Games,' he said, calling Utah a place 'where the conditions are perfect.'
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Olympics-Sliding centre for Italy's 2026 Games on track, icing to start in February, says IOC
By Karolos Grohmann BERLIN (Reuters) - The sliding centre of the Milano-Cortina 2026 winter Olympics will be delivered on time, with the icing of the track to start next month, the International Olympic Committee said on Friday. With Feb. 6 marking one year to go until the Games, the sliding venue for the bobsleigh, luge and skeleton competitions remains on an extremely tight deadline. It has been on one ever since the construction started after Italy opted to build a new facility instead of using an existing one in a neighbouring country. The IOC had repeatedly voiced concerns over the planned new track, saying the use of an existing sliding centre outside Italy would keep costs down and cut preparation time. "We have a very clear action plan: icing of the venue by the end of February and pre-homologation by the end of March," Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi told Reuters in an interview. Pre-homologation in this case means the international bobsleigh and skeleton federation and the luge federation familiarising themselves with the track, testing the venue and making any necessary modifications before actual test events with competing athletes are held there prior to the Games. Dubi said the test events in the venue would be held as planned to deliver the project for the Feb. 6, 2026 start of the Olympics. Milano-Cortina Games organisers, however, raised eyebrows earlier this month, announcing that they had picked Lake Placid in the United States as their Plan B for next year should anything happen to the sliding centre project's timelines. Several of Italy's neighbouring countries have existing sliding centres. Dubi said the IOC had wanted a Plan B but the Italian organisers' choice of location was not one that needed the Olympic body's approval. "We did not need to sign off on the location. That's not our responsibility," Dubi said. "We signed off on a Plan B. We asked for a Plan B because we knew the schedule was incredibly compressed. Being where they are (with progress on the sliding centre) considering when they started is something to be pleased about," Dubi said. Organisers are also racing to complete the multi-purpose Arena Santa Giulia which will be used for ice hockey. Part of a wider development of the area, the arena has also been on a tight deadline since the start of its construction just over a year ago. It is planned to be delivered to organisers in the second half of 2025, just a few months before the Games start. "It started when it started. As a result it was a tight delivery timeline," Dubi said. "We will get there on time but it is a venue that will be delivered to the organising committee towards autumn. That's why I am speaking about a tight timeline."
