Science and sport go hand in hand. And not only in the preparation of the athletes who, in the various specialties, will be the true protagonists of the Milan-Cortina Winter Games. Because in some way sport is a metaphor for scientific research, in a path that goes beyond great athletes and involves all of us.
Thus, just as in competition training, determination, attempts and failures are needed to achieve success, so too in research and innovation it is necessary to have tenacity and learn from mistakes to achieve the best result. And this translates into the well-being of people facing an illness. In this case the objective is obesity. The Olympic event therefore becomes a commitment that goes from the athlete’s body to the physique of each person, with targeted awareness raising on this chronic pathology.
From Milan to Cortina
There are two immersive installations in Milan. The first is The Impossible Gym – Winter Edition in Piazza dei Mercanti, a new installation of the awareness campaign promoted by Lilly, created with the patronage of SIO – Società Italiana dell’Obesità and the Amici Obesi association, open to the public until 22 February, inspired by winter sports and designed to highlight the obstacles and challenges that people living with obesity have to face and overcome every day.
The other is represented by the Fan Villages in Piazza del Cannone, interactive experiential igloos where visitors can retrace the most important discoveries that have marked the history of modern medicine. For the Fan Villages, it will be an engaging journey which, through interactive installations, will invite you to discover what the great achievements of medicine and sport have in common. Symbolically uniting Milan and Cortina is a common thread, a representation of Lilly, the medicine company, a distinctive sign of a vision that focuses on care, research and constant commitment to the future. From Piazza del Cannone in Milan to Piazza Angelo Dibona in Cortina, this ideal link crosses the symbolic places of Milan-Cortina 2026, tracing a story made of connections, progress and hope. Inside the igloos, conceived as experiential spaces, visitors will be able to retrace, thanks to installations, QR codes and interactive totems, the discoveries that have marked the history of modern medicine.
The value of knowledge
The fight against obesity in this sense represents a sort of paradigm. The disease is today recognized as multifactorial, chronic, progressive and complex, linked to genetic, metabolic, behavioral and environmental factors, and not simply a consequence of incorrect lifestyles. This led to the first law in the world on the diagnosis and treatment of obesity in Italy, approved by Parliament in October 2025.
“A more informed society is also healthier: to achieve this objective it is essential that the actors involved can guarantee clear, correct, accessible and useful information to people”
– comments Roberto Vettor, eminent member of the SIO, Scientific Director and Clinical Coordinator of the Center for Metabolic and Nutrition Diseases of Humanitas.
Inside a completely snow-covered display case, sports equipment related to winter sports – skis with frozen bindings, snowboards stuck in the ice, skates and unusable ski simulators – become a powerful visual metaphor of the body’s biological resistance. Each item tells about a physical, biological or psychological obstacle that people with obesity face every day. Some of the equipment, such as skis, poles and other sports gadgets, were provided by Salomon, Premium Partner and official licensee of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, which chose to support the cause and promote the social and health value of the initiative.
Tailored meetings and tests
The program that welcomes visitors to “The Impossible Gym – Winter Edition” is as rich as ever: masterclasses with clinicians and specialists, meetings and discussions with the patient association, information sessions with nutritionists available every day to answer questions from interested citizens, calculate the Body Mass Index (BMI) and provide information on the pathology.
Here is the comment from Iris Zani, President of Amici Obesi:
“We are proud to raise awareness about obesity in a context that is only apparently distant: as in high-level sport, in fact, training, knowledge, consistency and adequate tools are also needed on the path to well-being. The value of this initiative lies in promoting a different point of view compared to the clichés that weigh on obesity. The unusable tools are a metaphor for the body’s biological resistance which, despite the patient’s efforts, oppose weight loss and distance the result. In a context where the bodies are the protagonists ‘ideals’ of athletes, “The Impossible Gym” brings attention back to the real body, involving visitors even for just a few moments in the daily life of those who live with obesity every day”.
