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Two stoats are supposed to represent the Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo
Photo: Marco Alpozzi / dpa
Their names are Tina and Milo and they differ, among other things, in their light and brown fur: two stoats are the mascots of the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo. At the traditional Sanremo music festival in the northern Italian coastal town of the same name, the two mascots were introduced on Wednesday evening by show master Amadeus and the head of organization of the Winter Games, Giovanni Malagò. According to the organizers, there are two siblings.
Tina, a reference to Cortina, represents the Olympic Games. Milo, a play on Milan's Italian name, Milano, represents the Paralympic Games. As already seen in the costume, Milo only has one leg. But with "ingenuity and a lot of willpower, he learned to use his tail and overcome any obstacle," it said on the official Winter Games website.
With their liveliness and speed, stoats, long an important part of the fur industry because of their fur, are the ideal animals to embody the spirit of the 2026 Winter Games, it said. The mascot team also includes six snowdrops who accompany the stoats at the Winter Games.
Tina and Milo are the result of an ideas competition in which students from primary and secondary schools from all over Italy took part. The various proposals were presented in Sanremo last year. Now the official unveiling at the song competition followed.
hen/dpa