2024-11-19
CHAMONIX / CORTINA – "Spoiled Olympics" is a cross-border investigation into the run-up to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Cortina and the 2030 Winter Olympics in the French Alps, exploring the environmental, social, and economic implications of hosting these events for the regions involved.
The project examines the consequences of funding winter sports infrastructure without proper environmental assessments.
Journalists analyze the legacy of past Winter Olympics in the Alps, focusing on infrastructure and development, and critically evaluate the sustainability of a development model centered around sports events, as promoted by current public policies in the context of the climate crisis.
By comparing projects and policies in selected clusters of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics and the French 2030 Olympics, the investigation questions the dominant narrative of the Olympics—and the broader winter sports industry—as drivers of development for small mountain towns.
The Olympic Games serve as a lens to explore the broader issues of winter sports speculation, land consumption driven by mass tourism, the exploitation of resources to produce artificial snow, and even innovative practices aimed at rethinking humanity’s relationship with the mountains.
Supported
€20,600 allocated on 04/06/2024ID
ENV1/2024/442Grant
Tags
PUBLICATIONS
- 100 ans de JO dans les Alpes, et un héritage controversé, Reporterre, 19/11/2024
-
Alpes 2030 : des Jeux olympiques d’hiver vraiment écolos, c’est possible ?, Vert, 27/11/2024
COUNTRIES
- France
- Italy
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