Wānaka-based Winter Games NZ CEO Martin (Marty) Toomey has been named to lead the New Zealand team at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games.

This is the second time Marty has been named Chef de Mission for the Winter Olympic Games having overseen the campaign and team environment at Beijing 2022.

“It’s great to be able to feel like you’re representing the country and trying to create an environment that allows athletes to really shine,” Marty told the Wānaka App.

“We know they are incredibly capable so it is about creating an environment that makes sure the pressures and the size of the Olympics doesn’t become a burden for them.”

Marty said his role will involve a lot of planning, putting the team structure together and recruiting the support team.

“This [announcement] is the start of the process,” he said.

“It’s really a lot of planning; looking around at all of the different event venues, putting in place the health team and all the support for the team.”

The Winter Youth Olympics are in South Korea in 2024 and Marty said he would be taking a close look at that as well as travelling to Milan and Cortina to see how the venues are coming together for the 2026 event.

“The more information you can share, they [the athletes] go in forewarned and because of that it allows them to do what they are incredibly good at,” he said.

“I love seeing them actually succeed.”

Marty said he hopes the 2026 Olympic team will be bigger than the team that attended Beijing with up and coming athletes getting to qualification level and joining a number of seasoned Olympians.

New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) CEO Nicki Nicol said Marty is equipped with impressive leadership qualities and has shown he knows how to lead teams at the highest level of sport.

The New Zealand Team Chef de Mission champions the needs of athletes inside complex and high-performance Games environments. The role ensures the New Zealand Team promotes athlete mana, wellbeing and performance at all times throughout the Games, NZOC said in a statement.

The Milano Cortina Olympic Games will take place February 6-22, 2026, across two cities, Milan and Cortina, in Italy.

PHOTO: Supplied