Tom HallThe International Olympic Committee has chosen Italy to host the 2026 Olympics after a day-long conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.
International Olympic Committee members voted for the long-favoured Milan-Cortina bid over Stockholm.
Chants of “Italia! Italia!” echoed out when the result was announced.
Italy last hosted in Turin in 2006, and the Alpine ski resort Cortina previously hosted the Winter Games in 1956.
Sweden’s late campaign effort included the mayor of Stockholm singing a lyric from Abba song ‘Dancing Queen’.
The IOC will contribute at least $925m toward Italy’s games operating costs of up to $1.7bn. Building athlete villages in Milan and Stockholm shaped as the main capital investment and most uncertain ventures in the projects.
Last week, the IOC flagged Stockholm’s village as a risk, and asked for more details of guarantees underwriting the project.
“A letter of intent is as important to us as any contract,” Volvo chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg said in the formal presentation, which was taken as a retort to this request.