Corruption allegations and scandals On 21 May 2024, the
Guardia di Finanza raided the offices of
Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 (Milano Cortina 2026 Foundation), Quibyt and
Deloitte for alleged irregularities over the selection of certain sponsors, such as
bid-rigging, irregular payments and uncertain validity over relationships between the Milano Cortina Foundation officials. The investigations mainly concern Deloitte and accusations of corruption and bid-rigging against three people. In July 2025, the Prosecutor's Office of Milan started an investigation into alleged corruption regarding the public works tender for the
Milan Olympic Village. 74 individuals were identified, with offences of corruption, forgery, or abuse of public offices. According to Italian media reports, the accused are alleged to have boasted of their friendship with Fabrizio Piscitelli, former leader of the
Irriducibili (a
Lazio football club
ultras group with
mafia links), who was murdered in a Rome park in 2019. The reputation of the Irriducibili as a violent
association football group helped them present themselves as influential figures within Rome's criminal underworld. The investigation, disclosed by the Venice prosecutor's office, details how two brothers from Rome, linked to the Irriducibili, were arrested after trying to illegally obtain contracts related to Olympic construction works. In November 2025, the Milan Court of the preliminary investigations judge (GIP) referred a question of constitutional legitimacy to the
Constitutional Court of Italy concerning Article 11 of Decree-Law No. 76 of 11 June 2024 (converted into Law No. 111 of 8 August 2024) — a provision widely described in Italian media as the "Save the Olympics" decree — which states that the activities of the Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026 are not governed by
public law rules and that the foundation is not a "body governed by public law". The Milan Court raised concerns about the constitutionality of a
Meloni government decree intended to shield the Milano Cortina Foundation from investigations into alleged bid rigging and corruption scandals.
Infrastructural and venue issues Sliding sports venue During the bidding process, the
Meloni government proposed to restore the
Eugenio Monti Olympic Track in Cortina (used during the
1956 Winter Olympics), to be relaunched as a federal centre also for sledding and skeleton, despite opposition from the
IOC. The project received criticism from environmental groups because of the planned felling of of larch forest. The minimum cost of restoring the closed track was initially estimated at €14 million, while the cost indicated in the official Milan-Cortina bid dossier was €100 million—similar to the cost of building the
Cesana Pariol track for the sliding events at the 2006 Winter Olympics. After initially forecasting an expenditure of €4050 million, the
Veneto region allocated funds of up to €85 million to build the new Olympic venues. An annual expenditure of €400,000 was also planned for the management of the facility, which would be open for four months of the year, to be settled through the establishment of an €8 million fund. Due to the rising cost of construction materials, the Veneto region president
Luca Zaia said in February 2023 that the cost of restoring the Eugenio Monti track could be upwards of €120 million. Calling for tenders to award the work, no company came forward with a bid by the 31 July 2023 deadline; even after that, no company interested in carrying out the work could be found, both for economic reasons and because of the difficulty of completing all works before the start of the Olympics. Owing to critical issues, costs and the prohibitive timescale for a total renovation of the Cortina track, the mayor of
Innsbruck, Austria, proposed the use of the
Igls Olympic Sliding Centre in Innsbruck. On 16 October 2023 the
Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI) announced that the track would not be rebuilt to host the 2026 Olympic Winter Games, and the sliding events could be held outside of Italy. The
Italian government wanted the sliding events to remain in Italy, so they studied the possibility of revamping the Cesana Pariol track, which has been dormant since 2011. After that, several construction companies submitted bids to study a potential reconstruction of the Eugenio Monti track. A bid was won to build a new sliding track (the
Cortina Sliding Centre) instead of rebuilding the Eugenio Monti track, which was demolished. Despite concerns that the new track might not be ready on time, it was confirmed in September 2024 that construction was on schedule and
homologation of the track was expected within six months. The venue's first tests were held in March 2025. In late 2025, international training periods were planned by the
International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) and the
International Luge Federation (FIL) to allow all internationally competing athletes to learn and train on the new track well ahead of the Olympic Games. Luge athletes began this training on 27 October 2025. The athletes returned to Cortina in the days leading up to the 2026 Games for a final training period prior to the start of the Olympic competition. IIHF president
Luc Tardif announced in January 2026 that the stands would not be completed on time, leading to reduced capacity, but assured that the rink and player facilities would be ready. At the end of January, organisers admitted that the venue was not going to be fully complete in time, despite the IOC's Games executive director, Christophe Dubi, saying it was "absolutely certain" it would be ready.
Antholz/Anterselva naming dispute Ahead of the Games, organisations in
South Tyrol led by the Südtiroler
Schützenbund, criticised that all signage around the
Antholz/Anterselva biathlon venue was in Italian (and English) only, even though signage in bilingual South Tyrol must, by law, be in German and Italian, and also that the venue was referred to in promotional materials only by its Italian name. As a consequence, some signage was exchanged, and during the Games, the venue was mostly identified as Antholz/Anterselva in video graphics and official Olympics texts.
Security concerns Trial for the death of a security guard During the night of 7–8January 2026, security guard Pietro Zantonini was found dead of exposure near the arena construction site in Cortina. The Belluno Public Prosecutor's Office has opened an investigation into the worker's working conditions by S.S.Security & Bodyguard.
No-fly zones and Russian cyberattacks In January 2026, U.S. and Italian security teams flagged the risk of "lone actor" drone attacks, similar to those seen in recent global conflicts.
No-fly zones are strictly enforced over all venues. Researchers (such as
Palo Alto Networks) have warned of state-sponsored "killware" and phishing campaigns targeting ticketing systems and athletes' personal data. In February 2026, days before the opening ceremonies, Italian officials were reported to have foiled
Russian cyberattacks aimed at disrupting the Games.
Presence of ICE security officers On 17 January 2026, the
second Trump administration confirmed that the U.S. Department of State's
Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) would deploy
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)'s Homeland Security Investigations division "to vet and mitigate risks from transnational criminal organisations". ICE was similarly involved in past major sports events "as part of international partnerships related to human trafficking and drug trafficking". On 24 January 2026, as reported by the Italian newspaper
Il Fatto Quotidiano, ICE agents were already permanently stationed at the
U.S. Embassy in Rome. The news sparked protests from both Italian citizens and opposition parties to the right-wing-to-far-right coalition government led by
Giorgia Meloni of
Brothers of Italy (FdI), accusing it of favouring the introduction of foreign military forces that use "brutal methods" against the population. stating: "We are not aware of this at the moment, but foreign delegations choose who to turn to in order to ensure their own security. I don't see what the problem is. Security coordination remains the responsibility of the national authorities." The
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) stated that "all security operations remain under Italian authority" and "ICE does not conduct immigration enforcement operations in foreign countries". On the opening day of the Olympics, protests were held against the presence of ICE agents in Milan and against the Trump administration. Some spectators booed
JD Vance during the opening ceremony. U.S. Olympic officials announced they would change the name of their assigned hospitality space from "Ice House" to the "Winter House" to avoid a reference to the agency.
Presence of Qatari security forces Although Qatar has never sent athletes to any Winter Olympics, numerous
Qatari police vehicles have been spotted in Milan. Officially, Qatari
Lekhwiya, the elite security forces, and the Qatari police sent more than 100 officers (including about 20 women) to Italy to participate in security for the Olympics, along with more than 20 special vehicles (from
Nissan Patrols to Stark Motor's mammoth Thunders) and 3
snowmobiles. Some Qatari security forces personnel also took part in a winter training course on snowy environments and skiing operations, conducted in collaboration with the Carabinieri in
Selva di Val Gardena. According to a source at the Italian interior ministry, the Qatari security force was involved "mainly in a training" capacity. On 28 January, it was reported that a Qatari plane carrying 104 security personnel and heavy equipment slightly hit and damaged a lighting tower in Milan's
Malpensa Airport while making a "wrong manoeuvre" during landing. Despite the incident, the welcome ceremony prepared for the passengers still took place.
The Guardian reported that "any controversy over the Qatari involvement has so far been mute". including former
Tractor Sazi midfielder
Mojtaba Tarshiz. Following the massacres, activists called on
FIFA and the IOC to ban the Iranian teams from the
2026 FIFA World Cup and the
2026 Winter Olympics.
Participation of Israeli athletes Student protestors in Milan accused Olympic organisers of having double standards, arguing that if Russian athletes are barred due to their country's war crimes, then Israel should also be barred from participating due to the
Gaza war. The
Israeli team was
booed during the opening ceremonies. The IOC said that the situations are not comparable. Russia was barred following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which is a violation of the
Olympic Truce and Ukraine's territorial integrity as a member of the National Olympic Committee. An IOC spokesperson stated that their organisation "deeply believes that differences between nations must be resolved through dialogue, not violence", and it is beyond their "remit to react to any conflict or war situation between countries", which it regards as "the pure realm of politics".
Participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes Latvian Television, which is a part of the
Public Broadcasting of Latvia, announced it would not cover the participation of athletes from Russia and Belarus (competing as
Individual Neutral Athletes, or AIN), including their individual events. Instead, live broadcasts will feature advertisements, interviews with Latvian athletes, or other content. Toms Circenis, the
TV3 Group's director of sports programming, confirmed that channels would insert commercial breaks during Russian and Belarusian athletes' performances, describing this as an editorial decision coordinated with the
Latvian Olympic Committee. This policy constitutes a boycott in response to the participation of neutral athletes from "aggressor countries".
Athletes' expression British-American freestyle skier
Gus Kenworthy shared an Instagram post hours before arriving at the Olympics, where the words "fuck
ICE" could be seen written in urine in the snow. Kenworthy was not censored or punished by the IOC for his post because it was posted outside the Olympic environment on his personal social media. The Haitian Olympic team was forced to remove a depiction of
Toussaint Louverture from their opening ceremony uniforms after the IOC determined that his presence on their clothing violated Olympic policies on political expression. Ukrainian skeleton racer
Vladyslav Heraskevych was banned from wearing a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes
killed during the Russo-Ukrainian War, with the IOC stating that the helmet violated the
Olympic Charter's guideline on demonstrations and "political, religious or racial propaganda". As a compromise, he was instead allowed to wear a
black armband. Heraskevych later changed his mind and proclaimed he would accept a disqualification rather than wear a black armband because a "medal is worthless in comparison to people's lives and, [he] believe[s], in comparison to the memory of these athletes". With no resolution by the day of the competition on 12 February, a jury of the
International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation ruled to disqualify him from the Games. Ukrainian short track speed skater
Oleh Handei was banned from using his helmet because it had a line of poetry from
Lina Kostenko. Handei maintained the Kostenko quote, "Where there is heroism, there is no final defeat", had nothing to do with politics. Freestyle skier
Kateryna Kotsar also had to remove the phrase "Be brave like Ukrainians" from her helmet.
Allegations of cheating and unsportsmanlike conduct Some athletes were reported to have injected
hyaluronic acid into the crotch area to improve performance in
ski jumping. Earlier, two Olympic gold medalists and three staffers on the Norway men's team "were charged with ethics violations after equipment manipulation following an investigation" stemming from an incident where they were reportedly "caught on video adding stitching into the crotch area of their suits to make them bigger and thus, more aerodynamic during competition". Both the men's and women's Canadian curling teams were accused of delivery violations, specifically touching the stone after it reached the hog line, and touching the granite surface of the stone rather than just the handle. The women's team had a stone removed during their round-robin loss to Switzerland for double-touching. == See also ==