Andrea Varnier heads the 2026 Milan Cortina Games after working on previous Olympics, including the last Games in Italy in 2006.
Andrea Varnier, the Milan Cortina 2026 Chief Executive Officer, spoke with NBCSports.com about preparations for the Games, which open in 200 days.
This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
OlympicTalk: The Olympic and Paralympic medal designs have been revealed. In recent Games, we've seen some complex medal designs, including the Torino 2006 medals, which had the hollow center to represent the Italian piazza. The 2026 medals were described as minimalist on the Milan Cortina website. Why is it that you have gone with this type of design for the medals and not as complex as others?
Varnier: That's part of our overall design strategy. It's also in line with our torch design. We studied a lot what was done in the past. Of course, we have the Torino heritage. So, how can you go more extreme than a medal with a hole in the middle? So at one point we said that we're looking to make a different type of statement: a statement about essentiality, about sustainability. And there's references about Italian avant-garde of the 1900s that were actually born in Milan.
There's two faces, two parts of the medals, telling a lot of stories, like mountain and city, athletes and everybody that's around the athletes. With the rings in the middle and the Agitos in the middle for the Paralympics, we think it's a very strong statement.
OlympicTalk: What are the biggest challenges or areas of focus that you have in getting ready for the Games between now and February?
Varnier: We're entering a very interesting phase. After a lot of planning, we're actually starting to build things — overlay and temporary stuff. This is a very good feeling that you start entering the venues — that was mostly on paper until a few days ago. Of course, when you start the operations, many challenges come about.
There are a couple of sport infrastructures that are still under construction. Mainly the main hockey arena and the sliding center. The sliding track is fully ready now. They're working on the surrounding areas. So we're monitoring this closely, because before the Games, we still have to perform some test events in these two venues.
OlympicTalk: On the sliding center: over the last year, as this has been in the news and progressing, did you ever have any significant worries that it would be ready? And how satisfied are you now that everything is looking good?
Varnier: We were confident that if the government agency that was in charge of works made their plans and said, "we can do it," we always try to be optimistic. But nonetheless, we had an alternative plan. But then, following the pre-homologation (test runs by athletes for the first time) in March, we were very happy. Not having the sliding center in Cortina would have been a great damage for the Games, for everybody.
Starting from the athletes. The experience of the sliding athletes will have been different. But also for the other athletes in Cortina. They will have missed the opportunity to stay with their colleagues from the sliding sports. It would have been very difficult for the media. It will have been very strange for the spectators. So we were surely very happy when it was finally sure that we were able to do the competition in Cortina.
OlympicTalk: What can you say about the plans you have for the Opening Ceremony to incorporate athletes who are at the clusters outside of Milan?
Varnier: This is one of the challenges that we have since the beginning, because of the nature of our Games, so widespread. It's virtually impossible for the athletes to be in Milan if they are in the in the mountain clusters. Not only if you compete the next day, but in general, the distances are relevant.
So we tried to study the possibility to involve them in different areas and incorporate them in the ceremony. So not just like has been done in the past, to have a video from a village and some people waving, but really being part of the ceremony. So we are developing a potential plan to have some cluster activators. It will be Livigno, Predazzo, and, obviously, Cortina.
So in the end, we try to have the athletes staying in these clusters do an actual parade in a venue, potentially with people watching, and then it will be the magic of broadcasters to make sure it will look like a single parade. So the athletes will be all participating. In this model, there will also be some segments that will be performed in the different venues, so that makes it like a community regardless of the distances.
OlympicTalk: Is the plan still to have two cauldrons, one in Milan, one in Cortina?
Varnier: Absolutely. This is for sure. They will be lit at the same time, and then will be going off for the same moment during the Closing Ceremony.
OlympicTalk:Why was it decided to have the Olympic Closing Ceremony and Paralympic Opening Ceremony at the Verona Arena, outside of the main competition venue clusters?
(Editor's note: The venue plan, including Verona, was decided before Varnier joined the Milan Cortina 2026 team.)
Varnier: I think the idea behind that is, first of all, to find something very special. Having an Olympic ceremony and a Paralympic ceremony in an ancient, first century Roman amphitheater, I think, is something extraordinary. Only in Italy you could do something like that.
Then Verona, yes, it's out of the competition clusters, but in fact, it is in the middle of the Olympic (venue) system. So we still think it is for some of the athletes and for some of the Olympic family a good point when the competitions are finished, to come down and meet.
There's also another important statement that is to do mostly with the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. The Verona Arena has been used for shows for 100 years. And it's not accessible, according to the law. So the government made a 20 million euro investment to make the arena fully accessible. I think this is a very important achievement and a very strong message and legacy of our Games. Because if you can make it accessible in a first century Roman amphitheater, it means that you can do it everywhere.
OlympicTalk: The Olympic torch relay will be starting in a few months visiting all of Italy's provinces. What do you foresee will be some of the most memorable images coming from that torch relay?
Varnier: One important feature of our route is Italy is the country with the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites. We have over 60, and we are going through all of them. This is an important statement that we want to give to the world. Of course, some are quite remote, so it will not be the actual full relay to go there, but we will touch upon all of them.
Then we have some other important highlights. For example, we will arrive in Cortina on the 26th of January, so 11 days before the Opening Ceremony. That's exactly the 70th anniversary of the Opening Ceremony of the 1956 Games in Cortina.
OlympicTalk: Is there anything that we haven't addressed that's important as we look forward to the next 200 days into the start of the Games?
Varnier: We're having an incredible volunteer campaign. We are using 18,000 volunteers. We were aiming to have between 40,000 and 50,000 applications. We reached more than 120,000 applications. It means that there's a lot of people passionate for the Games. We have of lot of young people that want to be a volunteer, and that's extraordinary.
We saw the incredible number of tickets in the first wave in the spring. Now we're going through a second and final wave starting in the fall. It's very interesting to see that the greatest majority of the tickets have been sold to people 40 years and below. That's a good sign for the Olympic Movement to have so many younger parts of the population that are still enthusiastic about the Games.
Category: General Sports
