Five-time Olympic medalist, the most decorated Black winter Olympian and mother Elana Meyers Taylor grew up in Douglasville, Georgia. This week, she won her first gold medal at the age of 41.
Her victory at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games is a story Georgia Entertainment is proud to cover. As the 2026 Creative Economy Journal examines, the bond between sports, arts and entertainment has been enduring and transformative in this state. In Georgia, that relationship has evolved into a dynamic ecosystem where creativity, commerce and community intersect, generating $80 billion annually in tourism alone and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs, from venue owners to caterers to media professionals.
That convergence of capital and content is exactly what Georgia Entertainment explored alongside CAIA at the “Beyond the Spotlight: Investing in Sports and Entertainment” summit in January. Presented by Ares Management Corporation and Variant Investments, the event brought together institutional investors, private wealth leaders and decision-makers allocating billions into sports, entertainment and emerging creative economy assets. Ares Credit Group’s Juan Arciniegas underscored the resilience driving that interest, noting that “demand for live sports regardless of economic conditions” has helped the sector grow without major crashes.
Georgia Entertainment will continue following the sports beat closely this year, including coverage of the FIFA World Cup in Atlanta and other major sports events to be announced. Stay tuned.
Watch Elana Meyers Taylor’s interview with 11Alive here:
