“Italian sport has never gone so well”, Giovanni Malagò tells us

We are approaching the big appointment with Milan-Cortina, the 2026 Winter Olympics “and we do so with the awareness that, amidst lots of light and some shade, Italian sport has never gone so well”, he underlines Giovanni Malagò during his speech at the Foglio event at San Siro (here the whole day at San Siro). In February, the number one of Coni celebrated a decade of presidency. “The first reason to be proud? If we hadn’t won so much, we would have ended up in the dock. All Italian specialty. The results protect us from criticism, but it takes time to build long-term sports projects. Yet we went beyond all expectations: in Tokyo, at the Winter Games and beyond. In 2021, considering all disciplines, we finished in second place behind only the United States. In 2022 third behind China. First in Europe for two years in a row: it is clear that there is enthusiasm”.

Even around the organizational machine. “It is a fact”, declares Malagò, “after a difficult start, the roadmap for Milan-Cortina is much better: we still have a lot to do, many critical issues to solve, it’s still a race against time. But much less prohibitive than a year ago at this time”. Also thanks to some unexpected allies. “The Champions League Euroderby, for example: if they had told us in the autumn that we would have taken an Italian team to the Champions League final and perhaps as many to those of Europe and the Conference League, who would have believed it? That’s why I say let’s touch the sky with a finger. The two teams from Milan that are facing each other in the semifinals are the best spot we’ve had so far for the Milan-Cortina candidacy”.

In addition to the top goals, under Malagò Coni worked hard to ensure the necessary autonomy for sport. “We cannot ignore politics, but those of us who join a party cannot cancel their sporting past. Our relationship with Sport and Health? CONI is a public body. Which unlike the others, a unique case in Italy and rare in the world, determines itself through elections: the top management is decided by the base, 13 million members”. This is why, explains the president, that “CONI cannot go against the public: we represent the entities of sport but also the state. The problem comes when someone from the state administration invades our field: it is necessary to determine tasks and responsibilities within the sport sector. According to our statute, we cannot ensure that physical activity is practiced in schools, we cannot intervene on the growth of plant engineering, we cannot deal with health or social issues – that is, with those 46 million non-members. But someone has to do it. That’s why we raised our voices.”

There are issues that go beyond the possibilities of the institutions. “Please”, Malagò urges journalists, “do not generalize on the tragedy of Julia Ituma”, the volleyball player of the U20 national team who died in Istanbul last April. “I wanted to speak personally with the coach: he gave me his word of honor that there hadn’t been any warning signs. There are millions of athletes in the world. And unfortunately even these cases, which statistically make more noise when it comes to young sportsmen. Hard to say where we could have done more. What is certain is that it was not possible to interpret the state of mind of the girl”.