Words of Olympians

Meeting with Francesco Chiamulera

& with a greeting from Domenico De Maio
Education and Culture Director, Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026

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That time in Cortina 1956, when the audience threw oranges on the ice of the Stadium to protest against the low score given to a pair of German skaters, and Robert Paul years later confesses: “to perform at the Olympics we had to wait for them to clear the track of the oranges.” The Tokyo ‘64 swimming pool designed by Kenzo Tange that the young South Tyrolean diver Klaus Dibiasi, from Bolzano, stops to watch with the other athletes, noses up, for twenty minutes.

But also the commitment to civil rights by Donna De Varona, the hockey mask of Florence Schelling, happy to beat her male brothers, the acrobatics of Tenley Albright, the luge of Armin Zoeggeler, the wings of the eagle that the Native American Billy Mills sees while winning gold, remembering his father, Pita Taufatofua, flag bearer of Tonga from Rio to Pyeongchang, and Picabo Street who after a run looks at the camera and says: “love what you do. Success will be inevitable.”

These are just some of the many stories told in “Words of Olympians,” the unique series created by the Olympic Museum and Una Montagna di Libri for the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, which gathers the voices of Olympians from yesterday and today. With the creators of the series, we will tell you some of these stories, in search of the spirit of the Games, holding our breath for so much beauty, boldness, and passion.

Because, as Niccolò Campriani told us, “we have only one life, and if we live it in fear, there will be no second chance.”

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Anna Volz Got has been working at the Olympic Foundation for Culture and Heritage since 2010. She develops international projects related to the Olympic Games. She has held various roles within the Olympic Museum. She is responsible for cultural activities in the Olympic Games territories. Present at every edition of the Games since London 2012, she has conducted over 400 video interviews with athletes for the “Words of Olympians” collection.

Patricia Reymond has been working since 2001 for the Olympic Museum in Lausanne as the collections manager and registrar. With her team, she takes care of the artefact collection and oversees the loans to other institutions. She is part of the team responsible for collecting artifacts during the Olympic Games.