UC Berkeley Professor Selected As Olympic Torchbearer

BERKELEY, CA — A UC Berkeley professor will be one of thousands of people tasked with carrying the Olympic torch to the host site of the 2026 Winter Games.

Matteo M. Garbelotto-Benzon and his service dog, S’Abba, will carry the torch on Wednesday, Jan. 28, in Canazei, a town near where the professor was raised in Italy's Dolomite mountain range, according to UC Berkeley officials.

"This is one of the first times a service dog for a self-sufficient person with a mobility disability will carry the torch," the professor said in a fundraiser he uploaded Tuesday to help older service and guide dogs. "S'Abba and I are super excited about this honor and will be heading to Val di Fassa soon."

Garbelotto-Benzon is a forestry professor at UC Berkeley who had a major ski accident in 2018. Following rehabilitation for his injuries and S’Abba's help, Garbelotto-Benzon was able to walk again.

“I worried as an American that they would simply assign me to any place, so I was a bit nervous,” Garbelotto-Benzon told UC Berkeley officials. “When I found out I would be carrying the torch in the Dolomites I was so happy and thankful I started crying.”

Each Olympic season, thousands of torchbearers are chosen to carry the flame journey from Olympia to the host city, which is Milan this year. The journey is expected to take 63 days.

Garbelotto-Benzon's GoFundMe can be found here. It has raised $1,736 out of its $2,600 goal as of Thursday afternoon.