Milan Cortina, Balich: ‘120 minutes of pure spectacle for the opening ceremony’

Milan, 1 February (LaPresse) – ‘This time I’m at home. And as they say, “no one is a prophet in their own land”. But the show will be beautiful. This is not the historical moment for hyper-technological and ultra-muscular events: the special effects will be humanity, emotion, Italian spirit. And then peace: the Olympic truce is a principle taken up by Pierre de Coubertin’. Marco Balich, entrepreneur and designer of 16 Olympic ceremonies, now in his 16th Olympics and who will be the director of the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games ceremony on 6 February, said this in an interview with Corriere della Sera. ‘Madonna and the Emperor of Japan will be watching us that evening. And lots of ordinary people,’ he said. ‘There are 1,200 volunteers: people who have taken time off work to be there. The tobacconist, the personal trainer, the widow. Two years of work in around 90 countries. On 6 February, there will be two hours of pure entertainment,’ explains the creator of the Tree of Life at Milan Expo. The cost of the upcoming ceremony ‘will be less than other Olympic ceremonies.’