No helicopter. IOC president Kirsty Coventry to rely on ground transport for Milan Cortina Games

ROME (AP) — For her first Olympics as IOC president, Kirsty Coventry could probably order up a helicopter if she so desired to get from one far-flung venue to another at the upcoming Milan Cortina Winter Games.

After all, with sports clusters dotted across northern Italy covering an area of more than 22,000 square kilometres (nearly 10,000 square miles), the 2026 Games will be the most widespread Winter Olympics ever.

Yet Coventry — the first woman and first African (she’s from Zimbabwe) elected to one of the most powerful jobs in world sports — will stick to more conventional travel methods.

“We will be going by car or bus or however the transport is used,” Coventry told The Associated Press on Friday after attending a cauldron ceremony at the presidential palace. in the Italian capital.

The Feb. 6-22 Games venue plan includes: skating sports in Milan; freestyle and snowboarding in Livigno; men’s Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering in Bormio; Nordic sports in Val di Fiemme; biathlon in Anterselva; and women’s Alpine skiing, curling and sliding in Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Coventry hopes to see them all.

“We are going to do our best and I think right now where we are in the program in the agenda, yes, that’s the plan,” she said.

While parts of the controversial sliding venue in Cortina and the main hockey arena are still not ready, Coventry voiced no concern about the local organizing committee’s preparations for the Games with two months to go before the opening ceremony.

“We’re working really well and very closely with the organizing committee and with the whole team here,” she said. “So we’re very happy with the progression and everything that we see and we’re getting excited for the next few weeks.”

Also Friday, the draw for the World Cup soccer tournament was being held in Washington amid a backdrop to President Donald Trump expanding restrictions on travel to the United States and hardening his rhetoric against immigrants.

Two years after the 2026 World Cup, the U.S. will host the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and Coventry has not yet met with Trump.

“We always learn from sporting events that come before us and so far there’s been a lot of good positive goodwill that’s moving forward in the right direction,” Coventry told The AP of the IOC and FIFA’s dealings with the Trump administration.

The Milan Cortina Olympics will also be held amid ongoing bans of most Russian athletes due to the war in Ukraine, and with the war in Gaza still fresh in mind.

“We recognize the power that sport plays in breaking down barriers and building bridges and strengthening communities,” Coventry said earlier during her speech at the lighting of the torch-relay cauldron.

“The flame symbolizes the true spirit of the Olympic Games. One that can only flourish when every eligible athlete, team and official can take part without any discrimination,” Coventry added. “The Olympic Games exists to bring people together, to break down the walls that divide us and to inspire the dreams and hopes of the next generation.”

Andrew Dampf is at https://x.com/AndrewDampf

AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry smiles during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cauldron lighting ceremony, in front of the Quirinale Presidential Palace, in Rome, Friday Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

From left, Organizing Committee President Giovanni Malagò, International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry,and CONI President Luciano Buonfiglio attend the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cauldron lighting, in front of the Quirinale Presidential Palace, in Rome, Friday Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry s flanked by Italian President Sergio Mattarella during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cauldron lighting, in front of the Quirinale Presidential Palace, in Rome, Friday Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Italian President Sergio Mattarella is flanked by nternational Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cauldron lighting, in front of the Quirinale Presidential Palace, in Rome, Friday Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

International Olympic Committee President Kirsty Coventry delivers her speech during the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics cauldron lighting, in front of the Quirinale Presidential Palace, in Rome, Friday Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — René Redzepi, the founder and celebrity chef at the iconic Danish restaurant Noma that won three Michelin stars and other international accolades for its innovative “New Nordic” cuisine, has stepped down following allegations of abuse and assault at the Copenhagen landmark.

Redzepi has been dogged for years by reports of mistreatment of his staff as well as his yearslong use of unpaid interns to staff the pricy restaurant, which was ranked first on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants List five times. But the criticism recently came to a head on social media, and an article in The New York Times detailed former employees' accounts of abuse just days ahead of the opening of a Noma pop-up in Los Angeles.

Sponsors have since pulled their funding for the Southern California residency, which opened on Wednesday to a small gathering of protesters and where a meal will cost $1,500. Redzepi announced his resignation on Instagram with a tearful video soon after.

“I have worked to be a better leader and Noma has taken big steps to transform the culture over many years,” he wrote in the post's caption on Thursday. “I recognize these changes do not repair the past. An apology is not enough; I take responsibility for my own actions.”

Jason Ignacio White, a former head of Noma’s fermentation lab, collected anonymous testimonies of alleged abuse at the restaurant and posted them to his Instagram page. The accounts, which range from verbal abuse to physical assault at the hands of Redzepi and his deputies, have gone viral.

“I got punched in the face during service there,” one unidentified person wrote to White.

Another said: “Noma destroyed my passion for the industry. I struggled with intense anxiety, bad enough to give me panic attacks in the middle of the night. The trauma, abuse and idea that nothing would ever change all led me to walk away from the career.”

Redzepi has publicly addressed his aggression over the last decade. In response to Saturday's New York Times article, which included interviews with 35 former employees who worked at Noma between 2009 and 2017, the chef apologized on Instagram and said he has worked to change his behavior.

He was knighted in 2016 to Denmark's Order of Dannebrog by then-Queen Margrethe II.

Noma, Redzepi and the Danish royal family's press department did not immediately return requests for comment on Thursday.

Kristoffer Dahy Ernst, editor-in-chief of Danish food magazine Gastro, said Redzepi had to step down for the restaurant to have a chance of survival.

“René Redzepi is the face of Noma, he is Noma,” Dahy Ernst told The Associated Press. “If you want to solve the huge problem that Noma has right now, you have to remove the source of the problem.”

Dahy Ernst said it is unclear whether Noma can continue without its visionary founder, who brought international acclaim to a Scandinavian country that can trace a change in its gastro-tourism before and after the restaurant's 2003 opening. With its dedication to hospitality, flawless execution and culture of foraging from the nearby land and sea, Noma made Copenhagen a top dining destination for foodies worldwide.

“We were very old-fashioned. We had open-faced sandwiches with rye bread, but we weren’t really that proud of our gastronomy,” Dahy Ernst said.

For Annie Nguyen, an American tourist visiting Copenhagen on Thursday, Noma had long been on her list of places to check out. But the recent headlines have prompted a change of heart.

“I personally would not want to continue dining there with that kind of culture,” she said. “I feel it does kind of leave a bad taste.”

Dazio reported from Berlin.

A staff member polishes the glass doors outside a Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, Tuesday, May 1, 2012. (Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Noma's chef René Redzepi smells a citrus fruit in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

Noma's chef René Redzepi prepares a vegetarian burger in a restaurant, in Copenhagen, Nov. 24, 2024. (Soeren Bidstrup/Ritzau Scanpix via AP)