MILAN, Feb. 1 (Xinhua) -- The International Olympic Committee will deploy a suite of digital technologies to help global media cover the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, aiming to ease logistical challenges posed by widely dispersed venues.

Lucia Montanarella, associate director of Olympic Games Media Operations at the IOC, said the geographic spread of competition sites presents significant hurdles for media organizations, particularly smaller outlets with limited staff.

"My job is to make sure that the accredited media can do the job at the best," Montanarella told Xinhua in an exclusive interview. She said long distances should not become a barrier to telling Olympic stories, especially for media teams made up of only a handful of reporters.

About 2,900 athletes from around the world are expected to compete at the Winter Games for 116 gold medals across venues scattered among Italy's cities, valleys and mountain peaks.

Set across Lombardy and Veneto, as well as the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano, the Games will cover more than 22,000 square kilometers in northern Italy, making it the most geographically spread-out Winter Olympics ever held. The event will also be the first fully built on a multi-hub hosting model, with competitions divided into four clusters: the urban hub of Milan and the mountain venues of Cortina, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme.

The four clusters are separated by average distances of more than 250 kilometers, with one-way travel often taking several hours - a daunting prospect for roughly 3,000 accredited journalists expected to cover the Games.

To bridge those gaps, Montanarella said the IOC team has designed press conferences powered by digital platforms. Unlike previous Winter Games, where only medalist press conferences were available for remote viewing, all press conferences held at the Main Media Center and venue media centers will be livestreamed on the IOC's Media Zone platform.

"That's what is new. There's more press conferences made available for everybody from everywhere," she emphasized.

In addition, building on initiatives tested at Paris 2024, the IOC will provide all accredited media with access to the HBO Max streaming platform. Reporters traveling between venues will be able to watch live competitions or replays on their phones, Tablets or other mobile devices.

"So that everybody, even if you're sitting on a train, or you're sitting in a car, you can watch the sport event when you are moving," Montanarella said.

The IOC has also assigned about 50 Olympic Information Service (OIS) remote reporters to competition venues, introducing a new "interview by proxy" service. The initiative allows accredited journalists who are unable to attend events in person to submit interview requests and questions through on-site OIS reporters.

"If you need an interview with these athletes, but you don't have anyone there, you can contact the OIS reporter for that venue," Montanarella said. "The OIS reporter will ask your question and provide you content so that you can cover."

"This has never been done before," she added, noting that the service is designed not only for major international outlets but also for smaller media organizations with limited reporting teams. ■