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≡ A TOO-HOT INTERVIEW ≡
The Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, the organizing committee for the upcoming Olympic Winter Games issued a statement on Saturday that began:
“THE MILANO CORTINA 2026 ORGANISING COMMITTEE ANNOUNCES THAT
IT HAS DECIDED TO REMOVE ACTOR MASSIMO BOLDI FROM THE LIST OF TORCHBEARERS FOR THE OLYMPIC TORCH RELAY
“This decision follows an interview published today in a national newspaper, in which opinions were expressed that were deemed incompatible with Olympic values and with the principles guiding the work of the Organising Committee.
“Carrying the Olympic Flame is both a privilege and a responsibility, and requires that selected individuals embody and promote the values of respect, unity and inclusion, which are the foundations of the Olympic Movement and essential conditions for participation in the Torch Relay.”
What happened?
Boldi, 80, a long-time actor and comedian in Italy, spoke with the Rome daily Il Fatto Quotidiano in an interview published Saturday, which included:
“I have never moved a muscle. I am not an athlete. But the Olympic Committee called me and I accepted. And I didn’t take a euro. They promised me only six hundred meters, if it were more I don’t know how I would manage.
“I’m not a young man anymore… There are actually some disciplines in which I am a champion: the figa and aperitifs.’
Afterwards, he followed up with Il Fatto Quotidiano, which explained:
“The comedian – with his wit – described himself as a ‘great athlete’ of the ‘figa’ (literally, ‘hot’) – a joke, a comedian’s prank, which went down badly with the Foundation’s members. Boldi also stated that he’s not really an athlete, but that he loves Cortina very much.”
The newspaper reported further:
“The artist vented to a friend: ‘It’s all because of the line about the [sex]. I’m so sorry. I wanted to be a torchbearer. I was joking, obviously. They called me a thousand times for that interview. It caused a huge uproar.
“Now we absolutely have to fix it because I really wanted to be a torchbearer.”
That’s not going to happen, and as much as Boldi is embarrassed, it is a significant warning about the sensitivity around the nature of the Olympic Games and the insistence of the International Olympic Committee and the organizing committee on respect for the Olympic Movement.
The true impact of Boldi’s removal may not be so much for Milan Cortina, but for those organizing committees and host cities which come after.
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