A 55-year-old security guard has died while working an overnight shift at a construction site near a 2026 Winter Olympics venue in Cortina d’Ampezzo, raising serious questions about safety in brutal winter conditions.
Italian officials say the guard was on duty near Cortina’s ice arena when he died during a frigid night shift, roughly one month before the Games kick off. Temperatures reportedly dropped to a brutal minus 10.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Italy’s Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini has called for a full investigation into exactly what happened.
Local authorities and Olympic organizers say that, according to initial information from emergency services, the man appears to have suffered a heart attack while on site.
“The information we have is that it was a death by natural cause, it was a heart attack. And we are investigating,” said Andrea Varnier, CEO of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026, during a test event at the new hockey arena in Milan. “All the documentation that we have was in order.”
Officials have not yet released the worker’s name or photo.
“We are waiting for the investigation to understand what the specific cause was,” Varnier added, noting that emergency crews had classified the death as due to natural causes, though it occurred during the guard’s shift in extreme cold.
City leaders in Cortina said they were “deeply saddened and troubled by the death,” as the resort town prepares to host curling, sliding events, and women’s Alpine skiing during the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, scheduled for February 6–22, 2026.
The construction site where the man was working was not overseen by Simico, the government company in charge of Olympic infrastructure, the firm said in a statement offering condolences.
This edition of the Winter Games is already set to be one of the most geographically spread out, with elements of the opening ceremony taking place in multiple locations so more athletes can be directly involved. Reports also suggest the ceremony will include a tribute to legendary Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani, who died last year at age 91.
The shocking loss comes as the wider Olympic community is still reeling from a separate tragedy.
Naufal Takdir Al Bari, a 19-year-old Indonesian gymnast with dreams of competing at the 2028 Olympics, recently died after spending 12 days in intensive care. Indonesia’s gymnastics federation confirmed his death, saying he passed away following a severe training accident in Russia.
According to early police reports, Naufal suffered a serious neck injury after attempting a complex routine on the horizontal bar and falling into a foam pit.
He had been considered one of his country’s most promising young talents, with his sights firmly set on a future Olympic run before his life was cut tragically short.
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