MILAN (ITALPRESS) – An ideal red thread binds sports to science: As in sports competition, training, determination, attempts and failures are needed to achieve success, so also in research and innovation it is necessary to have tenacity and learn from mistakes to get to the best result, care. Lilly, Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games and Winter Paralympics of Milan Cortina 2026, lights up the commitment to health in the city of Milan, with the aim of recounting its ultracentenary commitment in research but, above all, to shift the focus from performance to personal progress, from the ideal body of athlete to the real body, directly raising awareness of the population, for the first time ever in the context of a chronic impact of an Olympic show, on health ‘ This year Lilly celebrates 150 years of history: an anniversary that reminds us how, since our birth, our goal has always been to improve people’s lives through science. A commitment that goes beyond the drug and that translates into continuous investments in research, innovation and creation of value, but also in the promotion of a culture of health founded on awareness and on an open and responsible dialogue with the institutions and society – says Federico Villa, Associate Vice President Corporate Affairs & Patient Access of Lilly Italy HUB – Support for the Olympic Games and the installations presented today tell this path of continuity and collaboration with the national and regional institutions, the patients recognition For Lilly, improving people’s lives also means helping to change the way health is told, understood and faced. Lilly inaugurated this morning in the heart of Milan, with an engaging tour of itinerant, two immersive installations: The Impossible Gym – Winter Edition in Piazza dei Mercanti, new iteration of the awareness campaign promoted by Lilly, realized with the patronage of SIO – Società Italiana dell’Obeità e dell’Associazione Amici Obesi, open to the public until 22 February, inspired by winter sports and designed to bring out the obstacles and challenges that every day the people who live with the discoveries must face The most important successes – in sport as in science – are born in fact from a journey made of challenges, successes and failures, and can become vision and future thanks to tenacity and daily commitment. A message that celebrates the human potential and the tireless work of those who, every day, contributes to improving people’s lives without ever giving up. A space designed to live firsthand the value of research, resilience and daily commitment to never surrender. Among the cornerstones of Lilly’s commitment to improving collective health is the contrast to obesity, today recognized as a progressive and complex chronic multifacial disease, linked to genetic, metabolic, behavioral and environmental factors, and not simply a consequence of incorrect lifestyles: formalized recognition, in our country, from the first Law to the world on the diagnosis and care of obesity, approved by Parliament in October 2025. ‘A more informed society is also healthier: to achieve this goal it is essential that the actors involved can ensure informationclear, correct, accessible and useful to people – says Roberto Vettor, eminent member of the SIO, Scientific Director and Clinical Coordinator of the Center for Metabolic Diseases and Humanitas Nutrition – With this spirit, as SIO we have given the patronage to the initiative “The Impossible Gym”, after hosting it last October at our National Congress. We hope that “The Impossible Gym – Winter Edition” inserted in a dynamic and visible context like the Winter Olympic Games, can help spread among citizens the message that obesity is not a matter of individual will or responsibility, but a chronic disease that requires a scientific, multidisciplinary and continuous approach, able to concretely improve the quality of life of pazientì. Inside a fully snow-covered teca, winter sports gear – skis with frozen attacks, ice-blocked snowboards, skates and ski simulators – become a powerful visual metaphor of the body’s biological resistance. Each element tells a physical, biological or psychological obstacle that people with obesity face every day. Some of the tools, such as skiing, wands and other sports gadgets, were provided by Salomon, Premium Partner and official licensee of the Olympic Games and Winter Paralympics Milan Cortina 2026, who chose to support the cause and promote the social and health value of the initiative. The program that welcomes visitors to “The Impossible Gym – Winter Edition” is quite rich: masterclasses with clinicians and specialists, meetings and comparisons with patient association, information sessions with nutritionists available every day to answer the questions of interested citizens, calculate the Massa Corporea Index (BMI) and provide information on pathology. ‘It is a privilege for me to represent the association of patients at the Olympics in Milan Cortina 2026 and participate in the original route of Lilly from Milan to Cortina that binds science to sport – says Iris Zani, President Amici Obesi – we are proud to bring awareness about obesity in a context only seemingly distant: as in high-level sport, in fact, even in the path to well-being, you need training, knowledge, consistency and appropriate tools. The value of this initiative is in favour of a different point of view than the common places that weigh on obesity. Unusable tools are a metaphor for the biological resistance of the body that, despite the patient’s efforts, oppose weight loss and remove the result. In a frame where the ‘ideal’ bodies of athletes are protagonists, “The Impossible Gym” brings attention to the real body, involving visitors even for a few moments in the everyday life of those who live daily with obesity.” From tomorrow and until 22 February will also be on air Never Over, the spot made by Lilly for Milan Cortina 2026. The commercial will be broadcast on 23 television channels – including Rai, Mediaset and Sky – bringing a clear and universal message to Italian homes: as in sport, science and research are also made of progress and setbacks, victories and moments of fatigue, but surrendering is never an option. Because every fall is an opportunity to get up, every stop is part of the journey to a bigger finish. The campaign will also live outside the screen, with an OOH presence in the main Winter Olympic Sites – from Milan to Cortina, from Bormio to Livigno, to the Val di Fiemme and Anterselva – to accompany athletes, researchers and spectators in a unique, great history of resilience, passion and progress. Milan is once again a dynamic, creative and welcoming city, this time at the centre of sport on the day when the Winter Olympic Games of Milan are inauguratedCortina 2026, but also communication messenger and awareness on the major issues of global health, such as obesity. ‘ The Olympics of Milan Cortina 2026 are an extraordinary occasion for Lombardy: not only a great sporting event, but a moment of sharing values such as inclusion, respect, well-being and social cohesion. Linking these values to concrete initiatives of public health, such as those presented today, which bring the public closer to complex issues in a clear and concrete way, is an important signal and consistent with the legacy we want to leave to this territory, concludes Marco Alparone, Vice President of the Regional Council of Lombardy.-photo f12/Italpress-(ITALPRESS).
