More than just Games: What stakes as Italy hosts Winter Olympics?
Thu Feb 05 2026
It's snowing in the Alps. Normal weather for February, you say? But cue the sighs of relief of organisers of the 25th Winter Olympics in Milan and the Dolomites resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Organisers of the next Games just over the border in the French Alps will take heart. Mother Nature has been fickle in recent years.
As the US vice president and secretary of state attend the opening ceremonies, there's been plenty of media coverage of the flying in of federal immigration agents, the same who've been grabbing five-year-olds and shooting protesters in Minnesota. The ICE agents are there purely in an advisory role, but it throws the spotlight on the optics of what's ostensibly PM Giorgia Meloni's moment of glory. The only European leader invited to Donald Trump's inauguration a year ago must astutely calibrate between her far-right roots and Europe's interests as she hosts the planet. How will these Olympics play in times of testy transatlantic relations, especially ahead of next summer's World Cup in the United States?
More broadly, what legacy for the 2026 Winter Olympics? Which exploits and which characters will transcend the flag waving? And when the fortnight's over, how will the locals feel about having welcomed the world?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Delphine Liou.
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It's snowing in the Alps. Normal weather for February, you say? But cue the sighs of relief of organisers of the 25th Winter Olympics in Milan and the Dolomites resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Organisers of the next Games just over the border in the French Alps will take heart. Mother Nature has been fickle in recent years. As the US vice president and secretary of state attend the opening ceremonies, there's been plenty of media coverage of the flying in of federal immigration agents, the same who've been grabbing five-year-olds and shooting protesters in Minnesota. The ICE agents are there purely in an advisory role, but it throws the spotlight on the optics of what's ostensibly PM Giorgia Meloni's moment of glory. The only European leader invited to Donald Trump's inauguration a year ago must astutely calibrate between her far-right roots and Europe's interests as she hosts the planet. How will these Olympics play in times of testy transatlantic relations, especially ahead of next summer's World Cup in the United States? More broadly, what legacy for the 2026 Winter Olympics? Which exploits and which characters will transcend the flag waving? And when the fortnight's over, how will the locals feel about having welcomed the world? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Delphine Liou.