Italy shatters Winter Olympics record with 30 medals at home Games

Italy Celebrates Historic 30-Medal Haul at Home Winter Olympics

Italy capped its best Winter Olympics ever at the Milan Cortina Games, finishing with 30 medals — 10 gold, six silver, and 14 bronze — and shattering the country’s previous record of 20, set more than three decades ago at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. The host nation finished third in the overall medal table behind Norway, which claimed 41 medals including an Olympic-record 18 golds, and the United States with 33.yahoo

“Your outstanding performance united Italians everywhere and played a fundamental role in the success of the Games,” Milan Cortina Foundation president Giovanni Malagò told Italian athletes during the closing ceremony on February 22 at the Verona Arena.turnto10

Record-Breakers on Home Ice

Speed skater Francesca Lollobrigida emerged as one of the faces of the Games, winning Italy’s first gold medal in the women’s 3000m on her 35th birthday with a new Olympic record of 3:54.28 before adding a second gold in the 5000m five days later. Lollobrigida became the first Italian woman to win Olympic speed skating gold and the oldest woman to claim the 3000m title, breaking the previous record held by Dutch legend Irene Schouten. She later said the Games were “the realization of my dreams” as her young son Tommaso cheered from the stands.nbcolympics

Alpine skier Federica Brignone delivered another fairy tale, returning from leg fractures and a torn ACL suffered just 10 months earlier to win double gold in the super-G and giant slalom, becoming the oldest woman to win an Olympic Alpine skiing gold at age 35. Short track icon Arianna Fontana, meanwhile, became Italy’s most decorated Olympian with 14 career medals after leading the team to silver in the women’s 3000m relay, surpassing fencer Edoardo Mangiarotti’s mark of 13 that had stood since 1960.wantedinmilan

Medals Across the Board

Italy’s haul came from a striking range of disciplines. The host nation swept doubles luge gold — Andrea Voetter and Marion Oberhofer won the inaugural women’s doubles, while Emanuel Rieder and Simon Kainzwaldner claimed the men’s event in front of roaring crowds at the Cortina Sliding Centre. The men’s speed skating team pursuit trio of Davide Ghiotto, Andrea Giovannini, and Michele Malfatti added another gold, and biathlete Lisa Vittozzi won the women’s 10km pursuit in Anterselva. Sofia Goggia contributed a bronze in the women’s downhill, while cross-country skiers and snowboarders padded the tally further.olympics

A Fitting Farewell

The 16 days of competition ended with a closing ceremony titled “Beauty in Action” inside the ancient Verona Arena, a UNESCO World Heritage Site hosting an Olympic ceremony for the first time. IOC president Kirsty Coventry praised the organizers for creating “a new kind of Winter Games” before inviting the world to the 2030 edition in the French Alps. Italian gold medalists from the 1994 Lillehammer Games carried the Olympic flame into the amphitheater in a Venetian glass vessel, linking the country’s previous Winter Olympic high point to its new one. Malagò summed up the mood: “Well done, Italy. You kept your promises”.bbc