A friendly meeting ended with the promise to meet in person soon. The summit between the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, and the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, took place this morning. It should have been held yesterday morning on the sidelines of the Collari d’Oro Ceremony, but was postponed to today after Bach's trip was unexpectedly cancelled due to technical problems with the plane that should have taken him to Rome. CONI President and IOC member, Giovanni Malagò, also joined the meeting from the Foro Italico sports complex.

Bach began by congratulating Draghi on the achievements of Italian athletes in 2021, “the best ever in history”, and on the success of the G20. Several core themes were discussed at the meeting: from the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics to the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, or “the Winter Games of a new era”, as Bach hopes.
Prime Minister Draghi reiterated that the government is “fully committed to making the Milano Cortina 2026 Games a success” and, praising the leadership of President Malagò, said he was open to further action, should it be necessary.
At the end of the meeting, the participants exchanged their best wishes for the coming festivities and expressed their hopes to meet again soon.