Daily IOC briefing at Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games on sold out mascots

Описание: (16 Feb 2026)
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Milan, Italy - 16 February 2026
1. Wide of Luca Casassa, Milan Cortina 2026 games Operations Communications Director, and Mark Adams, International Olympic Committee spokesperson, taking their seat for the daily Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Gamed briefing
2. Close of Milan Cortina 2026 logo
3. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Luca Casassa, Milan Cortina 2026 games Operations Communications Director:
“On the specific matter about the store employee, we have been informed about it. It happened four days ago. The employee is not an employee of the Milan Cortina organizing committee, but he is an employee of a subcontractor. We obviously intervened and reminded them about respect for the rules that are in place, both for who is a direct employee of the organizing committee as well as for those who work as suppliers, as it is in this case. We pointed to the respect for the rules, and the rules are not about the content but about the behavior, and that means avoiding expressing personal thoughts or avoiding comments that are outside the professional context and the working environment.”
4. Wide of press conference
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Adams, International Olympic Committee spokesperson: ++STARTS ON WIDE++
“As far as I can I would assure people from every faith and every country that they are very welcome here, and we welcome them supporting their team and watching the sport, and we hope they feel secure, we think they should and hope they should, but we obviously, you know, we hear their concerns. But specifically on security matters I can't really comment I'm afraid.”
6. Wide of press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (Italian) Luca Casassa, Milan Cortina 2026 games Operations Communications Director:
“There has been a real success in our stores with great interest and passion for certain products, the news about the mascots (being sold out) has also been published, and yes they really were sold out fast, beyond our greatest exceptions. This is very positive for us, the figures in details we’ll share with you at the end of the Games.”
8. Wide of press conference
STORYLINE:
Olympic officials on Monday said they had reminded a worker and the company they worked for about the "respect for the rules" after a video emerged on social media allegedly showing an employee at one of the Olympic merchandise stores saying “Free Palestine” to customers wearing an Israeli flag.

“The employee is not an employee of the Milan Cortina organizing committee, but he is an employee of a subcontractor," said Luca Casassa, Milan Cortina 2026 Games Operations Communications Director, during a daily press briefing in Milan.

"We obviously intervened and reminded them about respect for the rules...The rules are not about the content but about the behavior, and that means avoiding expressing personal thoughts or avoiding comments that are outside the professional context and the working environment,” Casassa added.

For his part, International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said: “I would assure people from every faith and every country that they are very welcome here, and we welcome them supporting their team and watching their sports.”

Meanwhile, for fans of the 2026 Winter Olympic mascots, the eponymous Milo and Tina, it’s been nearly impossible to find merchandise of them as many of the official stores in the host cities appear to have sold out of items related to the pair.

“Yes they really were sold out fast, beyond our greatest exceptions,” Luca Casassa said.




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