Overview
- RAI’s sports journalists said they will stage a three-day strike after the Olympics and will remove their names from all remaining Games coverage.
- Union leaders called the broadcast the worst humiliation for RAI Sport and said Paolo Petrecca had damaged viewers, the network and its journalists.
- During the opening ceremony, Petrecca misidentified actress Matilda De Angelis as Mariah Carey, described IOC president Kirsty Coventry as Italy’s president’s daughter, and wrongly labeled San Siro as an Olympic Stadium.
- RAI director Giampaolo Rossi urged Petrecca to take responsibility and warned against airing internal disputes during the high-profile event.
- Italian media reported he may be barred from commentating the closing ceremony, as political critics renew claims that RAI leadership choices favor loyalty over competence and after veteran Auro Bulbarelli was replaced for revealing President Mattarella’s planned cameo.