MILAN (AP) — An Italian curling athlete who blamed nepotism for her non-selection for the Milan Cortina Olympics had her appeal rejected Sunday.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport said its judge rejected the argument of Angela Romei that there was a “conflict of interest” when the Italian curling federation last month picked Rebecca Mariani instead.
The 19-year-old Mariani is the daughter of the national federation’s technical director, Marco Mariani, who competed when Italy last hosted the Winter Games, in 2006 at Turin.
CAS said in a statement that Romei cited in her appeal being “a more experienced and qualified athlete.” Romei is a silver and bronze medalist on Italy teams at the European Championships.
However, the court said its judge “did not find it likely that the head coach of a national team would agree to include an athlete in the Olympic team that is inferior to another athlete, simply to help a member of the federation to include family into the Olympic roster.”
The judge who heard the appeal Saturday was described as “not unsympathetic” to Romei's concerns, but “did not find sufficient evidence” that Mariani's selection was unreasonable.
Rebecca Mariani is the expected reserve in the Italy women’s team skipped by Stefania Constantini, the gold medalist in mixed doubles at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.
The women’s competition in Cortina d’Ampezzo starts Thursday.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Italy's national coach Marco Mariani, left, speaks to his athletes, Stefania Constantini, and Amos Mosaner during the mixed doubles round robin phase of the curling competition against Canada at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)
TOKYO (AP) — The governing party of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi secured a more than two-thirds majority in a key parliamentary election on Sunday, Japanese media reported, citing preliminary results.
Takaichi, in a televised interview with public television network NHK, said that after the sweeping victory she is now ready to pursue her policies.
NHK, citing results of vote counts, said Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, alone secured 316 seats by early Monday, comfortably surpassing a 261-seat absolute majority in the 465-member lower house, the more powerful of Japan's two-chamber parliament. That marks a record since the party's foundation in 1955 and surpasses the previous record of 300 seats won in 1986 by late Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone.
A smiling Takaichi placed a big red ribbon above each winner’s name on a signboard at the LDP's headquarters, as accompanying party executives applauded.
Despite the lack of a majority in the other chamber, the upper house, the huge jump from the preelection share in the superior lower house would allow Takaichi to make progress on a right-wing agenda that aims to boost Japan’s economy and military capabilities as tensions grow with China and she tries to nurture ties with the United States.
Takaichi said that she would firmly push forward her policy goals while trying to gain support from the opposition.
“I will be flexible,” she said.
Takaichi is hugely popular, but the governing LDP, which has ruled Japan for most of the last seven decades, has struggled with funding and religious scandals in recent years. She called Sunday’s early election only after three months in office, hoping to turn that around while her popularity is high.
The ultraconservative Takaichi, who took office as Japan’s first female leader in October, pledged to “work, work, work,” and her style, which is seen as both playful and tough, has resonated with younger fans who say they weren't previously interested in politics.
The opposition, despite the formation of a new centrist alliance and a rising far-right, was too splintered to be a real challenger. The new opposition alliance of LDP’s former coalition partner, Buddhist-backed dovish Komeito, and the liberal-leaning Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is projected to sink to half of their combined preelection share of 167 seats.
Takaichi was betting with this election that her LDP party, together with its new partner, the Japan Innovation Party, would secure a majority.
Akihito Iwatake, a 53-year-old office worker, said he welcomed the big win by the LDP because he felt the party went too liberal in the past few years. “With Takaichi shifting things more toward the conservative side, I think that brought this positive result,” he said.
The prime minister wants to push forward a significant shift to the right in Japan’s security, immigration and other policies. The LDP's right-wing partner, JIP leader Hirofumi Yoshimura, has said his party will serve as an “accelerator” for this push.
Japan has recently seen far-right populists gain ground, such as the anti-globalist and surging nationalist party Sanseito. Exit polls projected a big gain for Sanseito.
Takaichi has pledged to revise security and defense policies by December to bolster Japan’s offensive military capabilities, lifting a ban on weapons exports and moving further away from the country’s postwar pacifist principles.
She has been pushing for tougher policies on foreigners, anti-espionage and other measures that resonate with a far-right audience, but ones that experts say could undermine civil rights.
Takaichi also wants to increase defense spending in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure for Japan to loosen its purse strings.
She now has time to work on these policies, without an election until 2028.
Though Takaichi said that she's seeking to win support for policies seen as divisive in Japan, she largely avoided discussing ways to fund soaring military spending, how to fix diplomatic tension with China and other issues.
In her campaign speeches, Takaichi enthusiastically talked about the need for proactive government spending to fund “crisis management investment and growth,” such as measures to strengthen economic security, technology and other industries. Takaichi also seeks to push tougher measures on immigration, including stricter requirements for foreign property owners and a cap on foreign residents.
Sunday's election “underscores a problematic trend in Japanese politics in which political survival takes priority over substantive policy outcomes,” said Masato Kamikubo, a Ritsumeikan University politics professor. “Whenever the government attempts necessary but unpopular reforms ... the next election looms.”
Sunday’s vote coincided with fresh snowfall across the country, including in Tokyo. Record snowfall in northern Japan over the past few weeks blocked roads and was blamed for dozens of deaths nationwide.
Associated Press writers Mayuko Ono and Hiromi Tanoue contributed to this report.
Yoshihiko Noda, left, and Kenta Saito, right, co-heads of the newly formed Japanese political party Centrist Reform Alliance, attend their press conference Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo, (Yohei Fukai/Kyodo News via AP)
Sanae Takaichi, center, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections, at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo, (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)
Sanae Takaichi, center, Japan's prime minister and president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), speaks during an interview at the LDP headquarters Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026 in Tokyo. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)
Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary-General Shunichi Suzuki and other lawmakers puts pins marking the names of candidates who won lower house elections at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo, Sunday Feb. 8, 2026. (Kim Kyung-Hoon/Pool Photo via AP)
Election officials open ballot boxes as they prepare to count the votes in the lower house election in Tokyo, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
Staff prepare to count the votes for the lower house election in Tokyo, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the lower house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the lower house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter fills in a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter casts a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
A voter casts a ballot in the upper house election at a polling station Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Louise Delmotte)
