NOTE: History is always changing – or rather our knowledge of historical events change when new evidence is discovered. The information below is accurate on the date of publication. Further research may reveal information which changes or replaces some of the details. Check later postings to keep up to date by selecting “Olympics” in the search box or the tag list.
The dust hasn’t quite settled after the Winter Olympics, but everything has picked up again this week with the Paralympics. I reduced my research into lgbt Paralympics a couple of yeas ago because there are so many members of Team LGBT at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games (which include Para-athletes) that it is difficult for me to keep up with what’s happening.
I’m still analysing the results of the Milan-Cortina Olympics in view of two more lgbt athletes that have been identified this week and will bring this to you in a few weeks. In the meantime, here’s a look at how the lgbt community has been involved in the run-up to the Olympics.
BIDDING FOR THE GAMES
The bidding to host the 2026 Winter Olympics began in 2017. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to modify the bidding process to allow for more flexibility over the geographic range of the events and to take a more targeted approach towards possible candidates that they felt most suitable and capable to mounting the games. This is not unusual with a lot of modern Olympic Games. Some sports often take place in locations outside the official host city (Paris 2024 had surfing in Tahiti; Melbourne 1956 had equestrian events in Sweden; London 2012 had football events all over the country; and there are many more examples).
Several host cities considered bidding, including Barcelona, Spain, the host of the 1992 Summer Olympics. They announced their intention of forming a potential bid in 2013. However, in 2015 the newly-elected openly lesbian Mayor of Barcelona, Ana Colau Ballano (b.1974), said that bidding was no longer a priority and the idea was dropped. After she left office, Barcelona put in new bids in 2024 to host either the 2030 or 2034 Winter Olympics. But because of differences between the governments of the two proposed host regions these bids was also dropped.
PRIDE HOUSE
Once the hosts Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo were announced as the hosts for the 2026 Olympics, the next thing the lgbt community had to consider was whether to set up a Pride House that would run throughout the Olympics and Paralympics. The answer was “yes”.
Pride Houses have been set up during many international sporting events since 2010. You can read about Pride Houses on the website of the parent organisation, Pride House International.
Italy and Milan have several significant lgbt ports organisations who have joined together with Pride House International. Among them is Pride Sport Milano, an organisation founded in 2019 by a variety of local lgbt teams covering different sports. There is also Milan Pride, who are hosting the Milan Pride House website. Pride Sport Milano has participated in many Pride marches in the city. Then there’s CIGA Arcigay Milano, the parent organisation that produces Milan Pride. This is the local regional committee of the national Arcigay organisation. Its primary function is on campaigning for rights and non-discrimination in all parts of society as well as sport.
There are also many other organisations who helped to bring the Milan Pride House to life, including the Canadian Embassy, sporting apparel company Lululemon, and we must not forget the municipal council of Milan itself.
The programme of events organised by Pride House Milan provided a wider variety than most of the previous Houses. There were the regular discussions, social events and exhibitions covering the lgbt community in the region and human rights issues, as well as sport and the chance to meet some lgbt Olympians, both summer and winter, competing or retired.
THE TORCH RELAY
The first time that the public becomes aware of an approaching Olympic Games is coverage of the torch relay. As has become the custom, the Milan-Cortina torch was lit at the site of the ancient Olympics in Greece. The site has many lgbt connections, which you can read about here.
After touring Greece the handover to the Italian Olympic Committee and Milan-Cortina organising committee took place in another venue with its own lgbt legacy, the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
The Italian section of the relay began on 4th December 2025 in Rome. The second torch bearer was Elisa di Francesca (b.1982), Olympic fencing champion at the London 2012 games. Exactly 5 years earlier Elisa made headlines in the Italian media when she admitted to having a year-long relationship with a female team-mate, even though Elisa was married. The relationship seems to have been purely romantic and platonic.
At the time of publication I have identified 6 lgbt torch bearers in the relay, all of them Italians. They are:
Irma Testa (b.1997), Olympic fencer, on 23rd October 2925 in Naples;
Alice Bellandi (b.1998), reigning Olympic judo champion, on 17th January 2026 in Brescia;
Lucilla Boari (b.1997), Olympic archer, on 19th January 2026 in Mantua;
Joseph Naklé, an organiser of Pride House Milan, on 5th February 2026 in Milan;
Roberto Bolle (b.1975), ballet dancer, performer at the 2025 Turin opening ceremony and the 2026 Milan Cortina closing ceremony, on 6th February 2026 in Milan;
Paola Egonu (b.1998), reigning Olympic volleyball champion, on 6th February 2026 in Milan during the opening ceremony.
And, no I haven’t ignored them (unfortunately, who can, they’re in the lgbt media more than Donald Trump), the actors Hudson Williams (b.2001) and Connor Storrie (b.2000) who star in a television series called “Heated Rivalry” (it seems to be popular with the minority of the people who like ice hockey and are rich enough to subscribe to the channel – apparently the general feeling is that they’re not very good actors, so I don’t know why people watch it). Hudson and Connor play a couple of gay ice hockey players. They carried the torch on 25th January 2026 in Feltre.
DA VINCI’S MILAN
Perhaps the most influential lgbt person with connections to Milan was Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and the city and the Milan-Cortina organising committee played on this. The most tangible connection to the games were the two Olympic cauldrons.
Leonardo’s time in Milan lasted from about 1482 to 1513, with a period in Florence in the middle. He worked for the 7th Duke of Milan, Prince Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508). It was the duke who commissioned Leonardo to paint his now famous fresco “The Last Supper”. Leonardo got his job at the ducal court because he wrote to Ludovico describing his paintings and engineering designs. The Duke was impressed by the latter as much as the former, because he commissioned Leonardo to design and build elaborate stage decorations and mechanisms for several pageants.
At this time in the Renaissance, pageants were frequent, and each Italian noble would try to outdo their neighbours with spectacular effects and staging. Leonardo also designed the decorations and celebrations for the joint wedding of Ludovico to Duchess Beatrice d’Este, and his niece, Princess Anne Sforza (1479-1497) to Beatrice’s brother, the heir to the Duchy of Ferrara (one of the “Game of Gay Thrones” heirs featured here). I wouldn’t be surprised, if the Olympics had been held in his life-time, that Leonardo da Vinci would have been the designer and producer of the opening and closing ceremonies.
The ducal palace, the Sforza Castle, now a museum, organised three major events featuring Leonardo de Vinci. There was an exhibition about Leonardo’s workshop and the other artists who worked there. There was multi-media installation on the history of Leonardo’s role at the ducal court. There was also special access to see the restoration work being done the wall and ceiling paintings in the Sala delle Asse, a room in Sforza Castle.
OLYMPIC FASHION
One of the most discussed elements of an Olympic opening ceremony is often the uniform or costume that athletes wear (or not, in the notable cases on Tonga and Fiji) during their parade into the stadium. There has always been at least one outfit that is the most popular, and at least one that people tend to think “why that?” I’ll talk more about fashion at the opening ceremony another time, but it is well-known that many outfits have been designed by lgbt fashion designers. In Milan there was a fashion first.
Milan is the fashion capital of the world, so it isn’t surprising that the organising committee came up with a fashion show. On 4th February 2026 a small catwalk was constructed in the official Olympic hospitality venue in Milan called Clubhouse 26 in the Dazi Milano building in the Piazza Sempione (others were established in Cortina and Livigno). The fashion show included designs by Italian students who used the winter Olympics and sports as their inspiration. But the most unique part was a catwalk of some Olympic athletes in their official outfits. There were athletes from Italy, obviously, Croatia, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and Germany, among others. I wonder if an official Olympic fashion show will appear at future games. Here’s a short video.
But I seem to have written more than I expected, so I’ll leave it there for now. Next week I’ll take a look at the lgbt involvement in the opening and closing ceremonies, and deal with the sporting aspects, results, and the full Winter Olympics Team LGBT list in a few weeks time.
