When the Olympic podium becomes an engine for change

Hence the desire to continue talking about it, even taking a cue from recent wills, recently brought to the public's attention, in order to draw some reflections of general interest.

However, today, in the midst of the 25th Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, it is significant to remember two great athletes who left an important moral legacy to posterity, not by means of a testament in the technical sense, as one would instinctively think, but by the message they conveyed at the end of their competitive careers, demonstrating how one can be influential beyond the spotlight.

Johann Olav Koss, now 57 years old, represents the moral extension of the athlete to society. The Norwegian speed skater, an absolute star at the 1994 Lillehammer Games, where he won three gold medals, redefined the concept of 'athlete responsibility', turning the Olympic podium into a platform for social change on a global scale.

His moral legacy began the day after his last victory. Koss announced the Share the Dream initiative, donating the entire amount of his prize money to humanitarian aid in Eritrea, a country then ravaged by war and poverty.

This choice was not a simple extemporaneous act of charity, but the beginning of a systematic model of intervention. Koss realised that the elite athlete possesses a unique symbolic capital that can be converted into tangible resources for human development.

In 2000, Koss founded Right To Play, an international humanitarian organisation that uses sport and play to improve health, develop life skills and promote peace among children in disadvantaged regions of the world.

Koss' legacy lies in the professionalisation of athletic altruism. He showed that an Olympic champion is not only the one who wins for his nation, but the one who uses his excellence to defend the right to sport of future generations. His figure has become the benchmark for what is now called Sports for Development and Peace.

Stein Eriksen, also a Norwegian and gold medallist in the giant slalom at the 1952 Oslo Games, who passed away in 2015, directed his moral legacy in the direction of education and cultural innovation. After his competitive successes, Eriksen moved to the United States, where he became a global ambassador for sport. His moral legacy lies in his belief that the athlete has a responsibility to educate others, making sport accessible and inspiring. His charisma has helped people understand that skiing is not just a race against time, but an existential experience that demands respect for the alpine environment.

His legacy suggests that sporting morality is expressed not only through the beauty of the technical gesture but also through the desire to share one's passion with future generations.

To our athletes, engaged in these days' competitions, the wish that their extraordinary successes today will be followed by equally extraordinary 'testaments' in the future, passing on to their 'heirs' messages for the future.

Notary