Reaction to Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo being announced as hosts of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics on Monday. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte On Twitter "We are proud of this great achievement! Italy has won: an entire country that worked together united and compact with the ambition of achieving and offering the world a memorable sporting event." Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini "Italy, future and sport are the winners: thanks to those who believed in it right away, especially in the municipalities and regions, and pity for those who gave up. "There will be at least five billion in added value, 20 thousand jobs, as well as many new roads and sports facilities: with the Winter Olympics we will confirm our excellence and our skills to the world." Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio "We will be able to closely admire our champions and the burning torch. Sport is an extraordinary thing. And today is an important day, precisely because it has won the sport, its purity and the enthusiasm of an entire country, far from any logic of power, far from any interest. Italy will give its best and will win as it does every time it plays as a team." Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi On Twitter "It's an extremely important result for Italy, the fruit of excellent teamwork, to which the Foreign Ministry and its diplomatic network are proud to have contributed." Peter Forsberg, Sweden's Two-Time Olympic Ice Hockey Gold Medalist "We lose to a worthy region down there, with Cortina and Milano. I've been there and it's super beautiful and they won't be bad Olympic Games. But it feels tough still, for the sake of all who have worked so hard. And for the athletes who would have been on their home turf and maybe won an Olympic Games gold on their home turf, before their own fans." Asked if Sweden should apply again, he replied: "Yes I believe so. At some point. Sweden is a winter sports country and should be able to arrange it. One does think that sooner or later it ought to be our turn." Reporter Johan Esk In Swedish Daily Dagens Nyheter "Swedish sports is missing out on a big lift and I don't ever want to see a Swedish application again. It has to be an Olympic Games record that Sweden has managed to nail. "Eight applications (seven winter and one summer) and eight straight losses. It'll have to be enough now. Don't put more effort, time and money into campaigns like this. Sweden can't win Olympic Games votes anyway." Reporter Mats Wennerholm In Swedish Daily Aftonbladet "A Swedish Olympic Games application is turned down — again. And I now believe that Sweden will never get to arrange an Olympic Games. Olympic Games votes are Sweden's worst discipline. But the right country won. Italy's offer was better, distances between locations were shorter and the concept enticed more people." Reporter Anders Lindblad In Swedish Daily Svenska Dagbladet "The stinging defeat can't be interpreted in any other way than that there were too many question marks in the Swedish application. "The weak support at home, both from the public and from the (green-right political) majority in the city of Stockholm, overthrew Stockholm-Are." — Reuters
