The Winter Olympics
The Alps have hosted the Winter Olympics on a number of occasions, most recently in Turin in 2006. With Milano-Cortina, the 2026 Winter Games will once again be held in the Italian Alps, despite vociferous criticism. In 2030, the French Alps will be the venue for the Olympic competitions. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is striving for ‘sustainable games’, but this claim has failed every time so far.
A review of the experience gained as a result shows that, in democracies such as Alpine countries, the Winter Olympics face an uphill challenge. People are no longer willing to accept their escalating magnitude, impact on the environment, incalculable costs, or the diktat of the all-powerful IOC. With the Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC wants to strive for more transparency and sustainability, but the plans for the 2026 Winter Games in Cortina and Milan paint a different picture. This collection of field reports, arguments and technical information illustrates why there is no longer any room in the Alps for the Winter Olympics in their current form.
Articles on the topic
IOC favours bobsleigh solution abroad
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has formally notified the International Commission for the Protection of the Alps (CIPRA) that there is no need to build a new bobsleigh track for the Winter Olympics.
Point of view: the excessive character of the Olympics
High construction costs, unused sports facilities, environmentally damaging large-scale projects: loud criticism continues to surround the staging of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina/I. We must ask whether such sporting events still have a place in the Alps, says Vanda Bonardo, President of CIPRA Italy.
Winter Games on a slippery slope
History repeats itself: after the fiasco surrounding the construction ruins in Turin in 2006, the plans for Italy's supposedly “green” Winter Games in Milan and Cortina in 2026 are now too coming under criticism.
Further information
Feb 17, 2026