Italia dei Giochi Kicks Off with Its first project

Bormio will host the World Transplant Winter Games 2024, the first event in the programme that will carry the Winter Games across Italy.

The twelfth edition of the World Transplant Winter Games is officially open, the World Transplant Winter Games, which will be held in Bormio from 3 to 8 March 2024 and which constitutes the first "Italia dei Giochi" event, the program of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 which allows the presence of the 2026 Italian Olympics and Paralympics to be celebrated throughout the national territory, bringing the spirit of the Games to every community.

Guests of the Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony was held yesterday evening in Bormio, attended among the various authorities by the President of the World Transplant Games Federation Liz Schick, the Undersecretary of the Lombardy Region with Delegation for Sport and Youth Lara Magoni, the Mayor of Bormio Silvia Cavazzi, the Director General of the National Transplant Center Massimo Cardillo, the President of FISI Central Alps Franco Zecchini and the President of ANED Giuseppe Vanacore.

“It fills us with pride and joy, and at the same time moves us, to see so many athletes with transplants who have decided to participate in this Italian edition, together with their families. It is a great opportunity that we want to exploit to spread the best international experiences, to globalise the value of science but above all to promote the importance of the gift and the free nature of the transplant" declares Giuseppe Vanacore, President of ANED.

Also present on stage were Antonio Rossi, the multiple Olympic and World Champion, City Operations Manager of Milano Cortina 2026 and the official mascot of the World Winter Games for Transplant Recipients, Donato, a little eagle symbol of the strength of people who face and overcome the challenges of chronic diseases and freedom after receiving a transplant who met the official mascots of Milano Cortina 2026 - Tina and Milo - two stoats, symbols of vitality, resilience and dynamism.

An event awarded by President Mattarella

The World Transplant Winter Games are organised by the Associazione Nazionale Emodializzati Dialisi e Trapianto APS (ANED) which has received the mandate to organise the 2024 winter edition, as the sole representative of the WTGF.

An event that received the Medal of the President of the Republic and which takes on even more value from the moment it arrives after twenty years of the edition organised in 2004 in Bormio by Franca Pellini, president and founder of ANED.

Over 200 athletes from all over the world

The competitions began this morning and will continue until Friday 8 March. Five days during which over 200 athletes from all over the world will compete - divided into age groups and based on gender - in 14 winter alpine and Nordic skiing disciplines.

The teams present at the event              

The week will end with the Nicholas Cup - the prestigious competition founded in memory of Nicholas Green, a 7-year-old boy who in 1994 during a holiday in Italy, was the victim of an attempted robbery. His family then decided to donate his organs. Children who have received transplants will participate by trying various snow sports.