2 hours ago
1
A short stroll from where the grandees of the International Olympic Committee are staying in Milan sits the Museum of Illusions – a place devoted to magic and misdirection. Mirrors distort. Perspectives shift. And nothing is quite what it seems. It is an apposite metaphor for these Winter Olympics, which officially open in Italy on Friday.
Over the following 16 days, the world will be enraptured by the dazzle and spin of these Games: downhill skiers bombing down mountains at 95mph, snowboarders twirling like gyroscopes, the balletic grace of the world’s best skaters. But in Milano Cortina a fresh cold war is also brewing amid global political chaos.
Earlier this week, the IOC president, Kirsty Coventry, called for sport “to be a neutral ground”, separate from politics and the actions of governments. It was a worthy sentiment. But she might as well have been singing kumbaya in a warzone.
While Coventry was speaking, US Olympic officials changed the name of an athlete hospitality space in Milan from “Ice House” to “Winter House,” following protests over the fatal shootings by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
It was a move welcomed by the American figure skater Amber Glenn, who told reporters: “It’s unfortunate that the term ‘ice’ isn’t something we can embrace because of what is happening, and the implications of what some people are doing.”
Less than 24 hours later, Italy’s foreign minister revealed that the country had thwarted a series of cyberattacks “of Russian origin” targeting websites linked to the Winter Olympics.
That revelation was even more noteworthy for another reason. Because over the past few days there has been strong momentum in Milan for Russian teams, who are banned because of the war on Ukraine, to be allowed back into the sporting fold.
And while there are just 13 Russian competitors at these Games – under the banner of Authorised Neutral Athletes – there is hope in Moscow that the country’s new stars, such as the 18-year-old Russian skating champion Adelia Petrosian, can make their mark.
As Irina Rodnina, a state Duma deputy and three-time Olympic champion, put it: “It’s already encouraging that Russian athletes will be competing at these Olympics. Literally the entire country will be rooting for them and cheering for them.”
However it has also raised eyebrows here that Petrosian is being coached in Milan by the controversial Georgian, Eteri Tutberidze, who was condemned by the IOC four years ago for her “tremendous coldness” after she was seen screaming at the then 15-year-old skater Kamila Valieva.
Valieva, who was under pressure having tested positive for a banned drug, fell twice in her routine, leaving the then IOC president Thomas Bach to describe Tutberidze’s behaviour as “chilling”. Expect there to be more questions about why the Georgian is here in the days ahead.
Meanwhile on the Ukrainian side, there is ongoing outrage that the Russians are here at all. And they are expressed most eloquently by the skeleton star Vladyslav Heraskevych, who made global headlines in Beijing when he held up a sign saying “No War In Ukraine”.
“There is war fatigue, which makes people start to forget that Russia is a terrorist state,” he told the Guardian. “We see them more often in sports arenas. We see them more in the cinema. Everywhere in the world. But Ukrainians are getting bombed every day. We are sitting in houses without water, without heating, and it’s minus 20 degrees outside.”
Heraskevych is back competing again in Italy. However, he says he has been warned by the IOC not to protest. “I don’t want to really jump into the details but I was contacted after our junior team protested at the Europa Cup,” he says. “It was the first competition where neutral athletes in our sport were allowed to compete. And so our team, together with Latvia and Sweden, made a protest.
“After that, the Ukrainian side was contacted by the IOC, and we were warned. They also mentioned protesting at the Olympics. There were some warnings. And a pretty serious one.”
There are plenty more potential flashpoints that lie ahead. On Thursday, for instance, pro-Palestinian activists are planning a demonstration when the Olympic flame arrives in Milan to protest against Israel’s participation in the Games. While later in the week, environmental groups also intend to march.
On Wednesday evening the IOC also had to fend off questions about the head of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics, Casey Wasserman, who is in the Epstein files, as well as the election of the first Iranian women, Soraya Aghaei, to the IOC just weeks after protests in the country were violently put down.
On Valentine’s Day, Denmark will face the United States at ice hockey – a match that has significantly more riding on it after the US president Donald Trump started making ominous threats against Greenland.
A recent poll found that only 17% of Danes see the US as an ally – while 60% of them see them as an adversary. That is not an outlier, and on Wednesday, the IOC president was asked if she expected the USA team to be booed at the Opening Ceremony.
“I hope that the Opening Ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful towards each other,” she said. “I hope for everyone watching I hope it will be a really good showcase of possibilities and inspiration – and a nice reminder of how we could act towards each other, and how we can do that respectfully. I think that is what the Olympic Games represent.”
Friday’s ceremony at San Siro will feature stars such as Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli and Snoop Dogg. While, according to Marco Balich, the creative lead, it will feature harmony as its core message. It was a theme that Coventry picked up when asked if she had a message for those planning to protest in the coming days.
“The Games are a place where people can be reminded of the best of humanity,” she insisted. “And I hope that more and more people will feel that magic as we head towards the Opening Ceremony.”
Although given everything that is bubbling away here in Milan, that may prove to be a forlorn hope.
