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Let those who want it pay the price

Published: 28 Jan. 2026, 00:03

Chang Hyesoo

The author is senior sports reporter at the JoongAng Ilbo.

The Milan–Cortina d’Ampezzo 2026 Winter Olympics will open on Feb. 6. Fewer than 10 days remain. While preparing a series of articles on the Games, I browsed the International Olympic Committee website and noticed a line that caught my eye. “This will be the first Winter Olympics in history to be officially co-hosted by two cities,” it said.

General view of the Olympic rings covered in snow ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics [REUTERS/YONHAP]

At first, the claim seemed overstated. Because of the nature of winter sports facilities, most Winter Olympics have effectively been split between an urban area with ice venues and a mountainous region for snow events. In 2010, Vancouver hosted ice sports while Whistler staged alpine events. In 2018, PyeongChang followed the same model, with ice competitions in Gangneung and snow events in PyeongChang. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo would appear to follow that familiar pattern, so why attach the label “first in history”?

People walk under Olympic illuminations representing winter sports, near Piazza Duomo ahead of the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Games, in Milan on January 26. [AFP/YONHAP]

A glance at Google Maps provided the answer. Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo are 408 kilometers (253 miles) apart, about a five-hour drive. They are not neighboring areas that share a single daily living zone. Both names are fully included in the official title of the Games, underscoring the unusual scale of separation between host cities.

Milan, home to venues for speed skating, short track, figure skating, curling and ice hockey, is one of the world’s leading fashion capitals. For sports fans, however, it is better known as the home city of Italian football giants AC Milan and Inter Milan. AC Milan’s home ground is San Siro, while Inter Milan plays at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium. The two names refer to the same venue, much like Doosan Bears and LG Twins in the KBO League sharing Jamsil Stadium. This contrasts with London, where seven clubs including Tottenham, Arsenal, West Ham, Chelsea, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Brentford each have their own stadium. One approach is not necessarily superior to the other. The opening ceremony of the Milan–Cortina Olympics will take place at San Siro, also known as the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium, without constructing a new dedicated venue.

The speed skating events at these Olympics will take place at the “Milan Speed Skating Oval,” a name that may sound underwhelming to those expecting something grander. There is a reason for its plainness. The venue is a temporary structure built inside Fiera Milano, a large exhibition and convention complex created for the 2015 Milan Expo. It will be dismantled after the Games. The organizing committee initially planned to renovate an outdoor speed skating rink in Baselga di Piné near Milan. The plan was abandoned due to high costs and uncertain post-Games use. Instead, halls 13 and 15 at Fiera Milano were connected to create a 400-meter track with seating for 6,500 spectators. This marks the first time in Winter Olympic history that a speed skating venue has been created by repurposing an existing facility.

On Sunday, I visited the Chuncheon Hoban Gymnasium to cover the professional volleyball All-Star Game. In one corner of the arena, an online petition was underway. A sign read, “Signatures in support of hosting an international skating rink in Chuncheon.” The long-suspended competition among local governments to host a replacement for the Taereung International Skating Rink had resumed. In 2009, Taereung, along with other royal tomb sites, was designated a Unesco World Heritage site, requiring the relocation of the Taereung athletes’ village, shooting range and skating rink. The athletes’ village was the first to move, relocating to Jincheon in North Chungcheong Province.

In 2023, the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee invited bids for a new skating rink site but suspended the process the following year. Seven local governments, including Yangju, Dongducheon, Gimpo, Chuncheon, Wonju, Cheorwon County and Incheon's Seo District entered the competition. Recently, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism signaled its intention to restart the process. With local elections scheduled for June, competition among municipalities is heating up once again.

Olympic Park in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, which hosted events during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The speed skating venue is currently closed due to the heavy costs of maintenance and upkeep. [KIM SANG-SEON]

Around 2011, shortly after PyeongChang won the bid to host the Winter Olympics, a proposal emerged suggesting that the existing Taereung International Skating Rink be used instead of building a new speed skating venue. Gangwon Province strongly objected. Ultimately, a new rink was constructed in Gangneung at a cost of 130 billion won ($90 million). After the Olympics, the facility became a burden rather than an asset. Far from finding sustainable post-Games use, it has generated annual operating losses of tens of billions of won.

Could the Gangneung Speed Skating Oval serve as the replacement for Taereung? This idea was once considered by Gangwon Province and Gangneung City. The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee and other bodies opposed it, citing concerns that most student athletes live in the Seoul metropolitan area and would see their right to education compromised by training in Gangneung. They also argued that Gangneung is far from the Jincheon athletes’ village, which has weight training facilities. Recently, an astonishing proposal emerged in Gangneung: to bid for the 2048 Winter Olympics.

If problems could be solved by firing arrows of blame at someone, then turning that person into a pincushion would suffice. But that is not how solutions are found. In the end, money holds the key. If someone wants something, they should be made to pay its full price. Only then can the shameless habit of reaching into other people’s pockets be brought to an end.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.