Winter Olympics: From protests and cyber attacks to Mariah Carey and AC Milan, the Games face a variety of challenges
The Milan-Cortina Olympics face multiple challenges, and Mariah Carey gets one over AC Milan; Sky Sports News' Geraint Hughes considers the issues confronting the Winter Olympic Games and the impact they could have on the competition
Friday 6 February 2026 08:22, UK
No Olympic Games, no major sporting event for that matter comes to fruition seamlessly.
There are always problems and issues to deal with, some expected and others not.
As the 2026 Winter Games begin these are some of the challenges facing organisers:
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Security and ICE agents
There is always a huge security operation around Olympic Games, it's not called the 'Greatest Show on Earth' without reason. That comes with huge numbers of athletes, coaches and delegates from various countries from around the world, plus thousands of people wanting to watch some sport.
All that with the eyes of the world watching. Olympic Games, World Cups, Euros all face significant terrorism threats and that's not different for Milan-Cortina 2026. No one ever talks openly about the number of police, security and intelligence service personnel who will be assigned, but it is a huge operation.
In Milan the visible presence of police and security has been ramped up. They want the police to be seen to reassure the thousands and thousands of people in Milan not just for the Olympics, but tourists and of course the local population.
Regarding the Milanese one thing that has not gone down well is the presence of US Federal ICE agents for these Games. It is normal for the US to provide a security detail for Olympic Games, they are well versed in international security operations and highly respected. They add to the overall security and safety of large scale 'mega sports events'.
However, given the negative headlines surrounding ICE agents in the USA recently, the revelation that some personnel are working in Milan has angered many Milanese. There have been protests which are noisy and visible, but just chatting with some locals pretty much everyone felt the optics were not good and felt an unease about their presence.
Cyber attacks
The Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed that the government has prevented a number of attacks targeting "foreign ministry" sites as well as Games websites and hotels. He said the actions were of Russian origin.
At the opening IOC press conference for the Games, IOC president Kirsty Coventry was directly asked a question whether or not she was aware of any cyber attacks on the Games. Very quickly a spokesperson sitting next to her intervened saying it was not "normal IOC position to comment on such things".
Russia
Never far away from discussions around Olympics, Russia, along with Belarus, are banned from these Games as they were for Paris 2024 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. As the Russian Olympic Committee had included four Ukrainian regions as part of the Russian Federation it breaks the rules of the Olympic Charter and that was the reasoning used for their ban.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino's comments suggesting he would be open to a return of Russia have not gone down well with too many outside of Russia. The Ukrainian government was understandably furious and the UK government is not exactly pleased with Infantino's comments.
Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who is in Milan for the Olympic opening ceremony, saying that as far as she is concerned Russia was banned because of the war in Ukraine and nothing has changed since, so she sees no reason why Russia should be readmitted to international sport.
Coventry, arguably an even more globally influential sporting administrator than Infantino, appeared at the weekend to also be softening the IOC's stance on Russia, saying sport should be neutral ground and athletes should not be affected. She reigned back on that at an IOC press conference in Milan on Wednesday, saying as far as she is concerned Russia was banned in 2023 and there had been no discussions about that changing.
While Russian and Belarussian athletes are excluded from the summer Olympics and winter Olympics, athletes can compete as neutrals if they pass an IOC assessment. Thirteen Russian competitors and seven from Belarus were granted eligibility for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Host readiness
It is also not unusual for an Olympic host city to not be 100 per cent ready when their Games begin. It has happened before and at Milan-Cortina there are several venues that are not fully completed, although as far as sporting competition and integrity they have been cleared for use.
The sliding centre in Cortina which will host the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge has been hugely controversial in Italy. Last year there were some rumours the IOC was considering moving the sliding events to another venue and that would have meant removing them from Italian soil as there is no other sliding venue in Italy. However, miraculously the Cortina Sliding Centre has been completed and tested, although many athletes have not had as much time on the ice sliding track as they would like.
Team GB bobsleigh pilot Brad Hall told Sky Sports that while the ice track was all completed, it was noticeable that some of the areas around the centre were not and possibly would not be in time for the Olympics.
A similar story surrounds one of two venues where the ice hockey will be held. Everything for the sport to go ahead is just about in place, but some of the detailing around the venue is far from complete and will not be in time for the start of the Games. Incredibly the actual rink at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena is smaller than standard NHL ice rinks. In fact it is not up to the minimum size required in the NHL!
However, it has been passed by the International Ice Hockey Federation. The concern for competition at the Olympics is that, with many of the world's best NHL players released to play in the Games, there could be more collisions and accidents.
CAS
Such might be the demand for disputes to be settled just before and during an Olympic Games, CAS has set up an office in Milan to deal with whatever legally might come its way over the course of the next few weeks.
USA skeleton slider Katie Uhlaender appealed to CAS. Her complaint was that the Canadian team withdrew some of their sliders from a competition at Lake Placid that carried points to qualify for the Olympics, but it was weighted so that the more competitors in the race the more points were on offer for the winner.
Uhlaender did win that race at Lake Placid, but said she fell short of the points required for her to be selected by the US team. An appeal was filed with CAS and it endeavours to rule as quickly as possible, but in this case said legally it had no jurisdiction to make a ruling.
Team GB also lodged an appeal with CAS, this time against the governing body of the sport who have said that the Team GB skeleton helmets they were planning to use at Milan-Cortina were not compliant. Team GB disagree.
If CAS does not agree with Team GB it might not prove to be a big loss. They have competed all season with compliant helmets and guess who is the men's world champion and hot favourite for gold at the Olympics? Matt Weston … of Team GB.
Mariah Carey usurps AC Milan
This weekend AC Milan were scheduled to be playing Como in Serie A at home. Their home ground is of course San Siro Stadium. However when the 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games were awarded, organisers wanted to host the opening ceremony at the San Siro. And they got it. But that meant AC Milan vs Como had to be moved or postponed.
Controversially permission was given for the AC Milan-Como match to be played outside of Italy, not over the border in Switzerland, France or Germany, but in Perth, Australia.
Some players let their frustration at such a long journey just to play one match boil over. Many fans were far from happy that they could not go and watch their team as normal.
Eventually the Perth, Australia game was cancelled, and the match postponed to be rearranged at a later date. The Olympic opening ceremony goes ahead with Mariah Carey usurping AC Milan… 1-0 to Mariah.
