Buonfiglio the new Italian Olympic Committee boss ahead of Milan-Cortina Games

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ROME (AP) — Luciano Buonfiglio, a canoe athlete at the 1976 Montreal Games, was elected president of the Italian Olympic committee (CONI) on Thursday to keep the body moving in the same direction ahead of next winter’s Milan-Cortina Games.

The 74-year-old Buonfiglio, who has been president of the Italian Canoe and Kayak Federation since 2005, was the candidate supported by outgoing CONI president Giovanni Malagò.

Malagò, who is leaving the presidency after 12 years and three terms, remains president of the Milan-Cortina organizing committee.

Buonfiglio was elected in the first round after receiving 47 of the 81 votes.

Luca Pancalli, who led Italy’s Paralympic Committee for a quarter century, received the remaining 34 votes.

Franco Carraro, the 85-year-old former International Olympic Committee member who ran as a peacemaker, didn’t get any votes.

During his pre-vote speech, Carraro said he was “very concerned” that Buonfiglio and Pancalli led groups of voters who were strongly opposed to each other but told his supporters that they were free to vote for either of those two candidates.

Buonfiglio was also a CONI vice president from 2013-18.

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