Giuseppe Sala (mayor of Milan) is one of the people that currently keeps the Beijing flag (the other person that kept the Beijing flag is mayor of Cortina d'Ampezzo, Gianpietro Ghedina) for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo
The Olympic Games are an international multi-sport event featuring both summer and winter sports, held every two years with Summer and Winter Olympic Games alternating. During Olympic Games closing ceremonies, the sitting president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) received the flag from the current mayor of the current host city to the current mayor of the next host city. The current Olympic Charter requires this person to be the mayor of the next host city,[1] although this has not always been the case. This article lists the people who have had the ceremonial duty to pass the Olympic flag from one to another for them to keep until the closing ceremony of each games.
The IOC factsheet on the closing ceremony states: "The mayors of the current host city and next host city join the IOC President. The mayor of the host city hands the flag to the IOC President, who hands it on to the mayor of the next host city."[2] The Olympic Charter sets out the exact drill that the flag are to be handed by the mayor of the current host city to the another of the next host city. Three flags were used at the Summer Olympics, the first called the Antwerp flag that was used from 1920 to 1984 when it showed signs of wear. The second is called the Seoul flag that was used from 1988 to 2012. In 2016, the Seoul flag was replaced by the Rio flag, which symbolizes the first edition of the Games that was held in South America. It was later renamed as the Tokyo flag in 2021 to symbolize the first Olympics to be postponed. In the Winter Games, the flag used is the PyeongChang flag, which was first used in 2018 to symbolize the first edition of the Winter Games held in mainland Asia. It was renamed as the Beijing flag in 2022 to symbolize the Winter Olympics hosted by a city that previously hosted the Summer Olympics. It replaced the Oslo flag that was used from 1952 to 2014. In some editions, a replica of it was used for conservation reasons. In the Summer Youth Olympic Games, the Singapore flag has been used since 2010, while in the Winter Youth Olympic Games, the Innsbruck flag is used. Also for conservation reasons, replicas are used.