Wrestle with PESTLE: Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics

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The Olympic Games are a celebration of sporting excellence, but each edition also reflects the wider political, economic and social forces shaping the world in which it takes place.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics were no exception. Beyond medal counts and record-breaking performances, the Olympic Games were marked by political tension, rapid technological change, evolving attitudes towards athlete welfare, complex legal considerations and mounting environmental pressure. Examining Milan Cortina 2026 through a PESTLE lens reveals how the modern Olympics operates far beyond the slopes and arenas!

Unsure what PESTLE is? Read this LCN Says explaining the technique. 

Political

Politics often sits at the centre of conversation about the Olympics, with the concept of ‘sportswashing’ frequently used to describe how countries or organisations leverage major sporting events to improve their reputation and divert attention from unethical conduct. In recent years, several Olympic hosts have faced backlash over allegations of sportswashing, placing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) under growing political scrutiny.

While Milan Cortina 2026 wasn’t widely framed as a ‘sportswashing exercise’ by the host nation, politics nevertheless remained a major talking point throughout the Games. Weeks before, people took to the streets in Italy to protest the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers. This came against the backdrop of widespread international criticism of an immigration crackdown initiated by US President Donald Trump, with ICE linked to the fatal shooting of two Americans in the US. That tension carried into the Games themselves. During the opening ceremony, US Vice President JD Vance was booed when he appeared on screen – a moment that spread rapidly online.

The Olympics also reignited debate around political expression and the limits imposed on athletes. For example, the IOC barred Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych from completing for wearing a “Helmet of Remembrance” during his practice sessions, which featured images of Ukrainian athletes who were killed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Commenting on the decision to wear the helmet, Heraskevych said: “Of course, I’m sad that I couldn’t compete. I was in the best shape of my life. But I couldn’t betray these athletes. If I did, I would regret it for my whole life. And I believe the whole world understands that it was an unfair disqualification. I think I did the right thing. I don’t have any regrets.”

Since the games, Heraskevych was awarded the order of freedom by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and was gifted $200,000 by Ukrainian football club Shakhtar Donetsk President Rinat Akhmetov – equivalent to the bonus paid to Ukrainian Olympic gold medallists – which he plans to donate to a charitable foundation to help Ukrainians.

His case also raised broader questions about how consistently the IOC applies its rules on political symbolism. Russian athletes weren’t allowed to compete under Russia, instead participating as Individual Neutral Athletes. As a result, the Russian national anthem wasn’t played for gold medallists, and the flag wasn’t shown during the opening ceremony. Speaking to the Guardian, Heraskevych expressed frustration that a Russian competitor was allowed to wear a Russian flag from the Sochi Games around their neck, alongside other flags from several past Olympics, while many Russian fans didn’t have flags confiscated.

Political tension wasn’t confined to athlete conduct or IOC decisions. Trump’s comments about annexing Canada was also a major talking point. Trump previously suggested making Canada the US’ 51st state and celebrated the US win over Canada in the men’s ice hockey finals by sharing an image of a bald eagle assaulting a goose, the national symbols of the two countries. Collectively, these incidents demonstrate that global politics remains impossible to separate from the Olympic stage.

Economic

According to finance service company Banca Ifis, the overall economic impact of the Games is set to reach €5.3 billion. Banca Ifis revealed that €3 billion was spent on new infrastructure and legacy investments. Over the course of the Olympics, Milan and Cortina saw an influx of tourists. Organisers anticipated that there were 2.5 million spectators who stayed for an average of three nights and often engaged in local experiences. Therefore, hotels, transport operators and service providers saw a surge in demand, as did other typical winter tourist spots in Italy like Venice and Verona. Banca Ifis predicted that tourists and operational staff spent €1.1 billion during the Olympics. It also projected a further €1.2 billion in spending from continued tourism flows in the 12 to 18 months following the Games.

Despite the clear influx of winter sports fans, the tourism impact isn’t as significant as during the summer Olympics. For example, lead economist at Oxford Economics Chloe Parkins, explained that the Paris 2024 Olympics sold about five times more tickets than the expected volume for Milan Cortina. Oxford Economics also highlighted that splitting the Games across two locations helped to ease pressure on hotels and transport.

It’s clear that the Games generates lots of revenue for local areas. But what about the costs of putting on an event? Finance company S&P Global Ratings predicted that the Games cost between €5.7 billion and €5.9 billion, equivalent to around 0.3% of Italy’s 2025 GDP. S&P Analyst Mariamena Ruggiero said: "Milan Cortina cost less than those in Sochi and Beijing but more than any other Winter Games held in the past 20 years.” However, Ruggiero explained that these Olympics have been less costly than initially expected, creating much less of a burden than the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, which strained the city’s finances as it took on too much of the venue and infrastructure spending.

In Milan Cortina, about 63% of spending was public, largely funded by the government and directed toward infrastructure investment. Ruggiero predicted that solid visitor numbers should “largely compensate for the operating costs”.

Social

Beyond politics and economics, the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics also reflected broader social shifts shaping elite sport, in particular changing attitudes towards athlete welfare.

In 2020, Simone Biles made headlines when she withdrew from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to protect her mental health – a decision that was widely praised but also attracted criticism from some commentators. The mixed reaction exposed the stigma that still surrounds mental health in elite sport. This year, a number of athletes spoke about the importance of strong mental health for success. For example, US snowboarder Chloe Kim credited her therapist as crucial to her success. Meanwhile, German bobsledder Johannes Lochner explained: “Preparing for the Milan Olympics requires more than physical strength […] It demands mental precision, emotional stability, and absolute focus. At the Olympic level, the difference between silver and gold is often not physical ability, but mindset.”

Following increased openness from athletes in recent years about the pressures of elite competition, the IOC continued to place greater emphasis on wellbeing support. For example, all athletes are covered by a Cyber Abuse Protection System, which monitors social media in real time. There’s also a Mentally Fit Helpline and welfare officers based throughout the Olympic Village.

Technological                   

Technology was involved in this year’s Winter Olympics like never before. Broadcast technology looked very different as first-person drones were used to capture live footage. Meanwhile, AI was integrated into the fan experience as Olympic GPT offered real-time results and answered fan questions.

One of the most striking developments was the growing use of AI in judging and measurement systems. AI-assisted judging was used during the figure skating to identify rotation counts and an automated measurement system calculated the jump height and take-off angles in big air, halfpipe and ski jumping events. Speaking on using AI in figure skating judgement, International Skating Union director general Colin Smith told Reuters that it’ll allow judges to focus “on the artistry, on the human element, and the computer vision is looking more at the technical, the cut-and-dry aspects". 

Meanwhile, associate professor at university HEC Liège Willem Standaert acknowledged that AI could help make judging fairer and reduce the potential for bribery or bias within judging panels, but warned of several limitations. He argued that AI systems can be overly exact, penalising technical faults that are invisible to the naked eye, and noted that many systems are trained predominantly on male bodies, which may unintentionally disadvantage certain body types. Standaert also emphasised the continued importance of artistic expression in sports such as figure skating and gymnastics. He concluded that, while AI promises greater consistency, maintaining fairness requires “ongoing human oversight to adapt rules and systems as disciplines evolve”.

Legal

The Olympics brings a dense web of legal considerations, from precuring building materials for infrastructure to broadcasting agreements. Negotiating sponsorship deals requires a great deal of legal work in the lead up to the Games. Six months before this year’s Olympics, the ICO announced 40 national sponsors across four tiers, which is an expansion on sponsors at previous Olympics, especially in the ‘Official Sponsor’ tier. The revised sponsorship strategy targeted €575 million in revenue, highlighting the growing commercial complexity of hosting the Games.

Legal issues also emerged at an individual athlete level. Spanish figure skater Tomas-Llorenc Guarino Sabaté attracted widespread attention on social media after performing a Minions-themed routine, but the performance raised important copyright considerations. Initially, Sabaté was refused permission to use his chosen music, as the routine required a licence for the public performance and international broadcast of copyrighted material.

Even though Sabaté followed established procedure by submitting his music via the Skating Union’s system, this doesn’t eliminate the rights holder’s discretion. Universal Studios initially refused, highlighting that there’s no automatic right to use copyrighted music in sport. While Universal eventually gave permission as a “special occasion”, the case illustrated how intellectual property law can directly affect participation at the highest level of competition.

Environmental

Milano Cortina 2026 positioned sustainability as a key priority, taking steps to limit its environmental impact by using existing venues, investing in renewable energy and encouraging spectators to travel via shuttle buses and trains. These measures formed part of the IOC’s wider commitment to halve its carbon footprint by 2030.

However, the environmental impact of the Games was still widely discussed. Snowmaking, which is very common across the Olympics and ski resorts, remained a key concern due to the amount of energy it uses. In 2022, Beijing Winter Olympics relied almost 100% on artificial snow. A 2023 study found that in Canada producing 1.4 billion cubic feet of snow during an average winter requires 478,000 megawatt-hours of electricity per year, resulting in 130,095 metric tons of associated carbon emissions, which is equivalent to the annual energy consumption of nearly 17,000 Canadian households. The ICO reported that it aimed to keep snowmaking to a minimum, with the aim of improving efficiency in energy and water use.

Despite the ICO’s pledges, several critics stated that it could’ve done more. The World Wide Fund for Nature Italy withdrew from discussions with organisers after concluding it was being treated as window dressing rather than a genuine partner. Meanwhile, activists and researchers pointed to extensive environmental damage caused by Olympic infrastructure, including deforestation, construction on unstable land and the destruction of thousands of trees to upgrade ski slopes. While some local businesses welcomed the economic benefits, critics argued that similar infrastructure from previous Italian Winter Olympics fell into disuse, and that spreading the Games across a wide area amplified the environmental footprint.

Criticism extended beyond infrastructure to commercial relationships. A report, titled Olympics Torched, argued that reducing emissions is essential for the future of the Olympics. It called for the ICO to end sponsorship deals with high-polluting sponsors like Oil and gas company Eni, car-maker Stellantis and airline ITA Airways.

Taken together, these debates show the growing tension between the Olympics’ sustainability ambitions and the environmental realities of staging winter sport on a global scale.

The verdict

Overall, Milan Cortina 2026 highlighted the complexity of hosting the Olympic Games. While the event delivered economic benefits and sporting innovation, it was also shaped by political tension, legal risk, technological change and environmental pressure, demonstrating that the Olympics now operates under scrutiny far beyond sporting performance alone.