Italian skiing legend Sofia Goggia lit the Olympic cauldron in Cortina and played an integral role in bringing the Winter Games back to Italy.
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Italian Alpine skier Sofia Goggia didn't expect to get so emotional at the Olympic opening ceremony Friday night. But standing underneath the cauldron, flame in hand, at Corso Italia in Cortina was "molto intimo," she said. Very intimate. "A personal moment."
One of the greatest skiers her country has ever seen, Goggia, 33, played an integral role in bringing the Winter Games back to Le Dolomiti. She and snowboarder Michela Moioli delivered an impassioned speech punctuated by simultaneous dabs to the International Olympic Committee in 2019 that helped Italy edge out Sweden's bid.
She can't remember what she said to the IOC seven years ago. Not while standing on a mountain next to the course at Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre. Saturday, after her second downhill training run of the week, she joked, "I have to go on YouTube and check it out."
Given her gilded résumé and successful plea to the IOC for another Winter Games in her home country, it made perfect sense for Goggia to light the first ever second Olympic cauldron. Italy asked whether she'd do it in December. She said yes, of course, then quickly filed it away in "the archive" to focus on Games preparation.
Lighting the cauldron was a "huge honor," made even more special by the fact that 1972 giant slalom gold medalist Gustavo Thöni handed her the flame to do it.
"I didn't think it would have touched me so much inside myself," she said.
As beautiful as the moment was, Goggia was determined to not let it distract from her ultimate goal: Winning gold in the women's downhill on Sunday, Feb. 8.
She did breathing exercises in an isolated room before the Olympic flame came to make falling asleep after the ceremony easier. As soon as the cauldron was lit, she passed the torch off and – miming running arms as she explained this next part – "doot doot doot"-ed her way to the hotel. Goggia was in such a hurry to get to bed she forgot to return the headphones piping in stage directions from Olympic organizers all night.
The opening ceremony ended at 11:29 p.m local time. She was asleep by midnight.
"I'm leaving this moment, but it's in a bubble," Goggia said. "And I'm surrounded by all the work I have to do."
Goggia won gold in the downhill at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics. She won silver four years later in Beijing weeks after a crash in Cortina 23 days earlier fractured her fibula and partially tore her ACL. She hopes to add to her collection Sunday on home snow.
"I'm here," she said, "on a mission."
Reach USA TODAY Network sports reporter Payton Titus at [email protected], and follow her on X @petitus25.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sofia Goggia on lighting Olympic cauldron, downhill skiing medal hopes
Category: General Sports
