The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy concluded on Sunday. The Leonardo knot cauldrons in both places have been extinguished, and the athletes have returned to their home countries. The opening ceremony had a theme of “Armonia” (harmony or peace), but the true emotion seen was joy, in line with the official motto “IT’s your vibe.”
This joy was mainly because this was the first Winter Olympics unencumbered by COVID restrictions, which was appreciated by both spectators and athletes. Among the most memorable expressions of joy was of American pairs figure skater Danny O’Shea, who after making the Olympics for the first time at 35 years old, skated the performance of his life with his partner Ellie Kam, to propel the USA to the team gold medal.  Another expression of true joy was that of American bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who won her first gold medal at 41 years old in women’s monobob.  Brazilian giant slalom skier Lucas Pinheiro Braathen’s samba after winning the first gold medal for South America and Brazil in a Winter Olympics was also a great moment of celebration.  Few competitors, though, exemplified the joy better than US figure skater Alysa Liu.  While other competitors seemed daunted by the pressure of the Olympics, Alysa came in wanting to have fun and not worrying about what the judges thought.  Her joyful, mistake free program ended up winning the individual gold.   

Though the joy at these Olympics was everywhere with celebrations, the Olympics began with a horrific crash and ended with a horrific crash. The first was on the ski slopes, where American downhill skier Lindsay Vonn, attempting a comeback at age 40, crashed off course and shattered her leg and had to be evacuated by helicopter from the slope.  The crash at the end was to Polish short track speed skater Kamila Sellier, who had a vicious crash and was cut on the face by another skater’s blade.  She had to be carried off the ice, protected by a white sheet from the view of the camera.  Both said they were recuperating in the hospital.  

The Olympics, in the end, is about results.  The most dominant athlete was Norwegian cross country skier “King” Johannes Hosflot Klaebo, who won every cross-country ski race he competed in, earning six gold medals.  Led by Klaebo, Norway topped the medal table.  The Dutch continued their dominance in long track speed skating, only slightly stymied by the US’s Jordan Stolz (2 golds and 1 silver medal) and even excelled at short track speed skating.  Host nation Italy had its best showing in a Winter Olympics.  The Japanese excelled in the more artistic of sports, snowboarding and figure skating.   The United States, after a slow start, had its best showing in an Olympics not held in North America.  The USA won a medal in almost every sport, culminating in the men’s and women’s ice hockey teams defeating Canada in 2-1 overtime wins in the gold medal game.   Canada, on the other hand, has to ask themselves serious questions about how their Olympic sports are structured.  After struggling in the World Juniors, critics have suggested that potentially talented hockey players are priced out of playing.  Canadian speed skaters were also disappointing, as their star speed skater William Dandjinou was shut out of individual medals, only garner a silver in the mixed relay.  Might the Canadian Olympic Committee and Hockey Canada rethink how their sports programs are structured in light of these disappointing results?  It was telling that the man most credited with the United States men’s hockey victory, goalie Connor Hellebuyck, only played AA hockey as a youngster due to high cost, yet he was able to develop in the USA, playing for a less-heralded college program (University of Massachusetts at Lowell).  Hockey Canada may have some serious questions about whether a similar player could be lost to the ever increasing price of high-level junior hockey.  The  Czechs and Finns also had underwhelming medal counts for the expectations going into the Olympics.

In the end, despite some setbacks and disappointments for many of the Olympic favorites, the general vibe was that of joy and of athletes competing their hardest.  As a spectator from home, I enjoyed the emotional moments of athletes who were surprise medalists, like the US downhill skier Breezy Johnson, who won the USA’s first gold medal, Kazakhstani figure skater Mikhail Shaidorov (who won Kazakhstan’s only medal), and the Van’t Wout siblings sharing the podium.  An overlooked moment was the Spanish ski mountaineering athlete Ana Alonso Rodriguez, getting a bronze mere months after being hit by a car in a training run, tearing her ACL, MCL, and breaking her ankle.  But even more fun were those athletes not in contention for the medal stand, like the US cross-country skier Jessie Diggins giving her all with bruised lungs to finish fifth, or the figure skaters in the early groups who nailed their routines and gave it everything they could.  

As the 2026 Winter Olympics goes into the history books, the most lasting memories will be of the multiple parades of athletes, the party atmosphere of both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and the Czechoslovakian wolfdog Nazgul crossing the finish line of a cross-country team sprint.  The dog was happy to be there, and so were the spectators, at Tesero, Italy (where the race was), across the other venues around Italy and those watching at home around the world.  Though the world is a troubled place, the 2026 Winter Olympics were a moment where the world (most of it, anyway) could gather and feel the elation of athletes giving their all for glory.