On January 28, Matteo M. Garbelotto-Benzon, a researcher at the University of California, will carry the Olympic torch through Canazei in Italy’s Dolomites. He will be accompanied by his service dog, S’Abba. Garbelotto is among approximately 10,000 people selected to participate in the 63-day relay covering 7,500 miles from Olympia, Greece, to Milan, Italy, ahead of the 2026 Winter Games.
Garbelotto noted that this may be the first time a service dog has walked alongside a person with a mobility disability during an Olympic torch relay. “I am so proud that S’Abba may be the first service dog to help a person with a mobility disability walk with the torch for the Olympics,” Garbelotto said. “It says so much about the importance of these companions in the world of sports. In Italy, only guide dogs for the sight-impaired are fully acknowledged, so I am really proud she was selected.”
The upcoming event holds personal significance for Garbelotto. Raised near Canazei and inspired by stories of past Olympics from his father, he described skiing as central to life in the Alps: “When you grow up in a village of 300 souls, with a glacier less than an hour away, skiing is in your blood,” he said. “Skiing for people who live in the Alps is not just for the elite, it’s for everybody.”
Garbelotto has built his career as a forestry expert in California and is recognized for co-discovering Sudden Oak Death—a disease that has severely affected coastal forests—alongside David Rizzo of UC Davis.
His participation in this year’s relay follows recovery from significant injuries sustained during a ski accident in March 2018 and a subsequent pulmonary embolism later that year. During rehabilitation in Sardinia, Garbelotto met S’Abba after she was abandoned by a neighbor. After training her as a service dog focused on mobility and balance tasks, S’Abba enabled him to return to fieldwork.
“I thought she could maybe help me walk better without always having to use a cane,” Garbelotto said.
Garbelotto expressed gratitude at being able to carry out this milestone back home: “My whole life has been about growing up [in] the forest and the mountains, and I’m so grateful that I have been successful in doing what I love and able to transfer my passion to California,” he said.
He recalled special memories tied to his childhood: “I know this is corny,” Garbelotto said, “but in that place [where he is carrying the torch], on a high pass, my dad shared with me when I was 4 a secret place where edelweiss grow. Every year, until I was an adult, we would go look at them.” He added: “I still remember the secret directions, but I can’t tell you.”
Garbelotto and S’Abba are scheduled to carry the flame through Campitello di Fassa on January 28 at 11:50 am local time. Updates can be found on MilanoCortina2026 Instagram or on their official website.
To support older guide dogs and service dogs that often end up in shelters, Garbelotto has created a GoFundMe campaign.
More information about Garbelotto’s research as director of UC Berkeley Forest Pathology and Mycology Laboratory can be found at www.matteolab.org
