Luciano Buonfiglio marveled at Rebecca Passler’s doping case

“I hope there was a mistake, I know the athlete and what happened seems strange”. With these words, during his speech at the press conference for the presentation of HBO Max for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, Coni president Luciano Buonfiglio commented on the suspension of biathlete Rebecca Passler from’sporting activity, and the consequent removal of her name from the list of summoned for Milan Cortina 2026, for having been found positive at a check carried out last January 26.

“We are not backing down on this doping case – said the number one, at the executive level, of Italian sports, speaking about the situation of the class of 2001 athlete’-. I am curious to see how it will turn out because we know the athlete, the family and the Carabinieri Corps, of which he is a member. A few days ago we inaugurated the new Anti-Doping Laboratory in Rome, one of the best in the world, we are on the cutting edge in this respect. I am confident that this positivity may be a mistake”.

Buonfiglio, speaking of doping, recounted an’experience related to the Olympic Games to further frame the context: “In Tokyo 2020 an athlete who had been suspended, whose name I won&#8217t mention, told me that he hoped that the counter-analysis was also positive, because the race he was supposed to take part in was starting right then. An athlete who trains and arrives at a very high level has to be careful and meticulous, take care of the details, because he can also be penalized by a little bit of superficiality. However, it is better to talk after understanding what happened”.

Changing the subject and talking instead about the Azzurri&#8217s ambitions, the Coni president said he is certain that the Italian Ice Sports Federation and La Federazione Italiana Spoet Invernali are working hard to ensure that Italy gets as much satisfaction as possible. “The technical, medical and logistical staff have not spared themselves – he said -, I have a great deal of confidence in the two federal presidents, Andrea Gios and Flavio Roda, who have been on the ball all along”.

“We are playing these Winter Olympics at home: it means that the Italian athletes will have a lot more pressure, they have to pull out the ability to insulate themselves from all this. Then there are other variables such as the weather, but the Olympic preparation has been outstanding, I could verify it by talking every morning with the Federations” concluded Buonfiglio.

The Olympic preparation has been exceptional.