‘Everything about it is inherently political’: Sports historian unpacks the ties between The Olympics and geopolitics

Some people believe the Olympics reveal the pulse of the international political landscape. Sports historian Stacy Lorenz unpacks the ties.

The opening ceremony for The Winter Olympics takes place on Friday and the message it aims to send out is to unite the world in competition and sportsmanship, but some people believe it reveals the pulse of the international political landscape.

One sports historian believes there’s no denying the ties between politics and sports at The Olympics.

“If you’re the president of the International Olympic Committee, you are constantly denying that. That’s been a pattern that we’ve seen for decades actually,” said Stacy Lorenz, a vice dean at the University of Alberta’s Augustana campus.

“Everything about The Olympics is inherently political and I’m sure we’ll see that play out,” added Lorenz. “We already saw that with some of the statements coming out in response to the ICE protests.”

The ongoing news about the arrests by ICE agents in Minneapolis, Minn., sparked public backlash online from across the globe. Now, news of ICE agents being present at The Winter Olympics has raised some concerns.

Lorenz compares the heated rivalry between Canada and the U.S. during the Four Nation Face-off hockey tournament to what we could expect in The Winter Olympics.

“I’m pretty confident that President Trump will say something that will inflame the situation again, particularly if Canada and the U.S. are playing against each other. We saw all of the connections to the talk of tariffs and the trade war.”

The Four Nations Cup was the first time National Hockey League players had been competing at that level against each other since The 2014 Winter Olympics (XXII Olympic Winter Games.)

“We also have the Canadian and American Women’s Olympic teams facing off and that’s been arguably, just as strong or even a stronger rivalry because they’ve met in almost every Final World Championship Olympics over the last several decades,” said Lorenz.

“As people who follow those hockey games, the Women’s final has often been more intense than the Men’s in the last few Olympic Games.”

The Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 Opening Ceremony is scheduled to begin at 12 p.m. MT Friday, Feb. 6.