Romfilatelia and the Romanian Post stand alongside Romanian athletes participating in the 25th edition of the Winter Olympic Games, Milano Cortina 2026, by introducing into circulation, on Wednesday, February 4th this year, a postage stamp issue dedicated to this international sporting event and entitled Team Romania at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games.
The postage stamp issue, consisting of four stamp, a perforated souvenir sheet and a First Day Cover, illustrates five Olympic disciplines. Bobsleigh is featured on the perforated souvenir sheet with the face value of Lei 30, luge is depicted on the stamp with the face value of Lei 5,50, figure skating is illustrated on the stamp with the face value of Lei 6, ski jumping is presented on the stamp with the face value of Lei 7 and biathlon is depicted on the stamp with the face value of Lei 9.
The 25th edition of the Winter Olympic Games will take place from 6 to 22 February 2026 in Italy. More than 3,500 athletes from 93 countries are expected to compete for 195 medals across 16 Olympic sports disciplines. Romania will be represented by 29 athletes (28 competitors and one reserve) in eight sports disciplines: biathlon, bobsleigh, figure skating, luge, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, and snowboarding. The athletes will be accommodated in six Olympic Villages: Anterselva (biathlon), Bormio (men’s alpine skiing), Cortina d’Ampezzo (bobsleigh, luge, women’s alpine skiing), Livigno (snowboarding), Milan (figure skating), Predazzo (ski jumping) and Tesero (cross-country skiing).
The Opening Ceremony will take place in Milan, while the Closing Ceremony will be held in Verona. Participants in the Games will be accompanied by Tina, the Olympic Games mascot, Milo, the Paralympic Games mascot, as well as six snowdrops named ‘The Flo’ who will join the two mascots on their Olympic journey.
For the first time in the history of the Olympic Games, as the competitions will take place in regions located at great distances from each other, four opening ceremonies will be organized: one main ceremony in Milan, which will be broadcast live by television stations around the world, and three secondary ceremonies in Cortina, Livigno, and Pedrazzo.
Under these circumstances, Romania appointed Julia Sauter (figure skating) as its flag bearer in Milan.
In Livigno, the Team Romania delegation will be led into the arena by Kata Mandel (snowboarding) and Alexandru Ștefănescu (alpine skiing). In Predazzo, the Romanian parade will be opened by Daniela Toth (ski jumping) and Paul Pepene (cross-country skiing).
In Cortina, which hosts the largest part of the Romanian delegation, Mihai Tentea (bobsleigh) will serve as flag bearer, while in luge, Raluca Strămăturaru is the most experienced representative, having qualified for her fifth edition of the Olympic Games.
At Milano Cortina, in the bobsleigh competitions, Romania will be represented only in the men’s events by four regular athletes and one reserve, the star of the team being Mihai Cristian Tentea, for whom Milano Cortina 2026 is the third consecutive edition of the Winter Olympics in which he is participating (after PyongChang 2018 and Beijing 2022).
In biathlon, among the five Romanian athletes who will compete at Milano Cortina 2026 in eight of the eleven competition events, two have previously experienced the Olympic stage: George Colțea at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games and George Răzvan Buta at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Games.
Former biathlete Eva Tofalvi is the first Romanian athlete with the most Olympic appearances in all winter Olympic disciplines, with six editions: Nagano 1998, Salt Lake City 2002, Turin 2006, Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, and Pyeongchang 2018. At Milan-Cortina 2026.
Gheorghe Vilmoș holds the best result ever achieved by a Romanian biathlete at the Olympic Games: 5th place at the Innsbruck 1964 Winter Olympics.
In figure skating, Romania returns to Olympic competition after a 12-year absence at Milano Cortina 2026. Julia Franciska Sauter is the first Romanian athlete to secure qualification for the Games and will compete in the women’s singles figure skating event on the ice rink in Milan.
In the luge competitions, Romania will be represented at Milan Cortina 2026 by three women and four men. Among them, Raluca Strămăturaru and Valentin Crețu will mark their fifth Olympic appearance, following Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, and Beijing 2022, thereby surpassing the participation record held by Ioan Apostol – four consecutive Winter Olympic appearances (Lake Placid 1980, Sarajevo 1984, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994).
In alpine skiing, Romania was represented at the Olympic Games for the first time at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, and since then has been absent only from the 1952, 1960, and 1964 editions.
At Milano Cortina, Romania will be represented in the slalom and giant slalom events, in both the women’s and men’s competitions, by Sofia Moldovan and Alexandru Ștefan Ștefănescu respectively, with Ștefănescu making his second Olympic appearance after Beijing 2022.
In the cross-country skiing competitions at Milano Cortina 2026, where Romania will be represented by one woman and two men, Paul Pepene will become the first Romanian athlete to record five Olympic appearances in cross-country skiing, following Vancouver 2010, Sochi 2014, PyeongChang 2018, and Beijing 2022 – setting a new national record for participation in the sport.
In ski jumping, at Milano Cortina 2026, Romania’s four representatives (two women and two men) will compete on the normal hill in the individual women’s and men’s events, as well as in the mixed team competition.
The most experienced member of the team is Daniela Toth, the first Romanian athlete in history to compete in women’s Olympic ski jumping (PyeongChang 2018). At Milano Cortina 2026, she will also become the first Romanian woman to take part in three consecutive editions of the Olympic Games in ski jumping (PyeongChang 2018, Beijing 2022, and Milano Cortina 2026).
Romanian snowboarding will make its debut at the 2026 Olympic Games in Milan Cortina. Kata Mandel and Henrietta Bartalis will become the first Romanian representatives in history to compete in snowboarding events at the Olympic Games.
‘HIGHER, ROMANIA’ is the motto that will inspire the members of TEAM ROMANIA to push beyond their limits at Milano Cortina 2026.
Romfilatelia thanks the team of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee for their documentary support, the representatives of the Illustrators Club and the artist Alina Marinescu for creating the illustrated designs for this postage stamp issue.
