L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS a n d t w o f o r F e d e r i c a Brignone in the Super-G and the giant slalom. Gold also went to Arianna Fontana, E l i s a C o n f o r t o l a , T h o m a s Nadalini and Pietro Sighel together with Chiara Betti and Luca Spechenhauser in the mixed short-track relay; to the women's and men's doubles luge teams, Andrea V ö t t e r a n d M a r i o n O b e r - hofer, and Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner; to Lisa Vittozzi in the biathlon pursuit; and, twenty years after the Turin victory, to the men's speed skating team of D a v i d e G h i o t t o , M i c h e l e Malfatti and Andrea Giovan- nini. There were five silvers: G i o v a n n i F r a n z o n i i n t h e men's downhill; Tommaso Giacomel, Lukas Hofer, Lisa Vittozzi and Dorothea Wierer in the mixed biathlon relay; Arianna Fontana again in the 5 0 0 - m e t r e s h o r t t r a c k ; Michela Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva in the snowboard cross team event; and Chiara Betti, Elisa Confortola, Ari- anna Fontana and Arianna Sighel in the women's 3,000- metre short-track relay. Finally, twelve bronzes: Dominik Paris in the men's downhill, Sofia Goggia in the w o m e n ' s d o w n h i l l , L u c i a Dalmasso in the women's s n o w b o a r d p a r a l l e l g i a n t slalom, and Riccardo Lorello in the men's 5,000-metre speed skating. Also Dominik Fischnaller in men's singles luge; Sara Conti, Marco Fab- bri, Daniel Grassl, Charlène Guignard, Lara Naki Gut- m a n n , N i c c o l ò M a c i i a n d Matteo Rizzo in the figure skating team event; Stefania C o n s t a n t i n i a n d A m o s Mosaner in mixed doubles curling; again Dominik Fis- c h n a l l e r , V e r e n a H o f e r , Simon Kainzwaldner, Marion Oberhofer, Emanuel Rieder a n d A n d r e a V ö t t e r i n t h e l u g e t e a m e v e n t ; M i c h e l a M o i o l i i n w o m e n ' s s n o w - board cross; Elia Barp, Mar- tino Carollo, Davide Graz and Federico Pellegrino in the men's 4×7.5 km cross- country relay; Flora Tabanel- li in freestyle skiing big air; and Elia Barp and Federico P e l l e g r i n o i n t h e m e n ' s cross-country team sprint. The president of the Ital- ian National Olympic Com- m i t t e e , L u c i a n o B u o n - f i g l i o , j o i n e d b y F l a v i o Roda of the Italian Winter S p o r t s F e d e r a t i o n a n d Andrea Gios of the Italian Ice Sports Federation, did n o t h i d e h i s e n t h u s i a s m : "We are showing the world not only that we are strong organizers and able to show- case our beautiful locations and their distinctive foods, but also, through our results, an image of Italy as a whole, with all its values. We are p r o v i n g t h a t t h e ' I t a l i a n method' works. What is it? Working together, with ath- letes, coaches and staff at the center." If television has one merit, it is that it captures faces. Like that of Francesca Lol- lobrigida, gliding lightly with the flag flying over her shoulders just after the first of her two gold medals, on t h e d a y t h e c o m p e t i t i o n s opened: a perfect beginning. She embraces her son, the one for whom she had left t r a i n i n g a n d c o m p e t i t i o n after the silver and bronze she won four years earlier in Beijing. At the time she was 31, and many considered it t h e s w a n s o n g o f a f i n e career. Instead, after moth- e r h o o d , s h e l a c e d u p h e r skates again, turning the lim- its of age into the strength of experience. At 35, she defeat- e d r i v a l s t a l l e r a n d f a r younger than she is, securing a double victory that enters the record books. Television lingered as she kissed the medals she held between her green-painted nails. For one dream fulfilled, another was broken. Ameri- can skier Lindsey Vonn hoped to achieve something never done before: to win an Olympic medal at 41, seven years after her first retire- ment and eight years after h e r l a s t b r o n z e i n PyeongChang. Last Decem- ber, she won a World Cup d o w n h i l l i n S t . M o r i t z , becoming the oldest winner in the history of alpine ski- ing. But only days before the Olympics, during the Crans- M o n t a n a d o w n h i l l , s h e injured her knee, tearing her anterior cruciate ligament. She nevertheless chose to start in the Olympic downhill in Cortina, but after only a few seconds she fell; the ski failed to release from the boot and her left leg bent u n n a t u r a l l y : a c o m p o u n d fracture of the tibia ended the dream. The helicopter flight to the hospital in Tre- viso and the four operations that followed did not take away her smile, nor her kind- ness in thanking the Italian doctors who did everything possible to save her leg. For her, what mattered was hav- ing tried until the very end, in true Olympic spirit. The magic of the Olympics lies precisely here: in the collective ritual of the event; in the applause that comforts those who just miss the podium; in the beauty of achievement that encourages young people to take up sport and test themselves. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Francesca Lollobrigida at the end of her Gold-worth performance (Photo: Mezzelani/GMT/CONI) Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini and Michele Malfatti, winners of the Gold Medal in speed skating (Photo: Mezzelani/GMT/CONI)

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