Every Olympics has their highlights, golden moments and scandals leaving speechlessness. The 2026 Winter Olympic Games are no different. Based in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, the two-week non-stop competitions brought widespread smiles, tears, gasps and gossip. As they have come to an end, let’s recap.

Medal counts

For a fifth straight Winter Games, Norway topped the medal chart with 41 total medals, of which 18 were gold—the most ever won by a nation at the Winter Games. America came second with twelve gold medals and 31 total medals, a national record.

The U.S. took several high-profile gold medals, especially in figure skating and ice hockey. The U.S. men’s hockey team won a nailbiter against Canada 2-1 in overtime in a shocking upset, as did the U.S. women’s team in what NBC calls a “storybook ending” to skip Hilary Knight’s Olympic career. Elsewhere on the ice, U.S. figure skaters shone, with standout performances by “Quad God” Ilia Malinin and Alysa Liu, who both brought home a gold medal.

(Side note: if you’ve not watched Alysa Liu’s long routine, you are missing out. She is so infectiously happy.)

Other strong performances came from the Netherlands and host nation Italy, both winning ten gold medals.

Public Infidelity 

Norwegian biathlete Sturla Holm Laegreid shocked viewers when he publicly admitted to cheating on his girlfriend. The affair happened three months into their relationship, and after coming clean shortly before he took the world’s snow-covered stage, he stated that he wanted to set the record straight after he had “nothing to lose.” Not long after his confession, his ex, whose name has been disclosed, reported that Laegreid’s actions are “hard to forgive.” She “did not choose to be in this position and it hurts to have to be in it,” despite it being Laegreid’s “biggest mistake” of his life. 

Condom Shortages 

Safe to say Laegreid will not be in need of the complementary condoms the Olympics graciously hands out. But even if he was, the shortage would postpone him anyway. Entering the 2026 season, Olympic officials had 10,000 condoms distributed for the 2,800 athletes competing; an average of only 3.5 condoms per athlete. Desperation only increased with Valentine’s Day hitting right in between the Winter schedule, where lovebirds, flings and medal highs all clash together. 

This is not out of the ordinary for the Olympics, however. In the 1992 Winter Olympics, 30,000 condoms were dispersed, and 70,000 in 2000, where there had to be an emergency delivery of another 20,000. In 2002, while hot tubs were provided for use, they were quickly retracted after many used them for sexual pleasure; 100,000 were given out that year. 130,000 condoms, with an additional 30,000 packets of lube, were available for athletes in the Summer Olympics of 2004, and in 2012, 150,000 were ordered, or approximately 15 condoms per athlete, leading British tabloids to call it the “Raunchiest Olympics Ever.”

Attempts to cheat

While the International Olympic Committee no longer flogs or fines cheaters, as was commonplace in the ancient Greek Games, athletes have been trying to cheat the system for three thousand years. Several cheating scandals were raised in Milan.

A notable attempt at cheating was discovered when Swedish curlers called out Canadian curlers for “double-touching” one of the 40-lb stones in violation of the rules. Allegedly, the Canadian pushing the stone told the Swede to “f— off.” Later that weekend, one of Canada’s stone tosses was disqualified due to double-touching, which became a sensitive topic after the Canadian team loss.

Ski jumping also brought intrigue after allegations that male ski jumpers were injecting hyaluronic acid into their genitalia to make them larger during the required body scan. (Ski jumpers’ suits are required to be skin-tight, with a small buffer). Studies on the topic suggested that two extra centimeters of fabric could add 5.6 meters (18.4 feet) to a jump, which could be the decider in a close jump. Maybe size does matter after all.

As the Games draw to a close in Milan, all eyes will turn on Los Angeles. It will be the third time the U.S. city has hosted the Summer Games (the others were 1932 and 1984), and the first instance of three-hosts by a non-European city. The 2030 Games will return to Europe in the French Alps.

Contrary to popular opinion, sports and money are not the two most relevant conversations to be had about these Games. If you don’t believe me, you’re wrong.

These Games have provided a microcosmic view of the current global political landscape, and this display has been nothing short of fascinating.

On the plus side, the 2018 Winter Olympics have featured remarkable displays of athleticism from all ages. Seventeen-year-old Americans Red Gerard and Chloe Kim each won gold in snowboarding and 37-year-old Norwegian Marit Bjoergen won the 11th medal of her Olympic career when she took silver in the 15 km event. But it would be ignorant to neglect the political connotations of these Games.

For starters, these are the first Games with a Nigerian team represented. This is a Nigerian team composed entirely of women, no less. Nigeria as a nation has an alarming history of neglecting women’s rights, so their representation at these Games is both an indicator of and an opportunity for women’s empowerment.

These Games also featured a debut of an Olympic team from Kosovo, which has significant implications for the hotly debated resurgence of an East-West political divide. Kosovo declared its national independence from Serbia in 2008, but despite being recognized by the United Nations as an international governing body, their independence is not endorsed by several of the world’s super-powers.

Most notably, Kosovo is not recognized as a state by Russia.

Russia, the nation spearheading the insurgence of several eastern nations against the west and accused of interfering in the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, was banned from competing in this year’s Games due to a state-run doping scandal. To say the very least, these circumstances have not pleased Putin.

Regionally, the lead-up to these Games was severely affected by the 2017-2018 missile crisis and ongoing tensions between North and South Korea. Several nations threated to boycott the event entirely if their safety was not ensured and it was not until January that North Korea engaged in dialogue with its Southern counterpart, the first high-level dialogue between the nations in the last two years, and agreed to compete.

Needless to say, viewers were shocked to see Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jon Un, shaking hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during the opening ceremony. Athletes from both nations then marched together under flags showing a unified Korea, a move thought to indicate thawing of decades-long hostilities between the two countries.

Unfortunately, the peaceful connotation of North Korea’s presence at the 2018 Winter Olympics has been soured by the sudden, unexpected departure of the sole North Korean International Olympic Committee (IOC) representative on Sunday morning. This move came amid threats from North Korea that the United States and Donald Trump will be destroyed by a “nuclear holocaust”, after the recent publication of the U.S. 2018 Nuclear Posture Review.

Speaking of the U.S., this nation has also dropped the ball—or, more accurately, lost a ski—at these Games.

Adam Rippon and Gus Kenworthy are both representing the U.S. at the 2018 Winter Olympics. These are the first openly gay men to compete for the States and guess who was sent to represent their delegation? None other than current Vice President Mike Pence. Pence has been a long-time critic of same-sex marriage and is openly opposed to laws prohibiting workplace discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Perhaps a small amount of solace can be found in Kenworthy taking to social media to speak out against the hypocrisy. During the opening ceremony, he posted a picture on Instagram of himself and Rippon embracing, captioned “The #OpeningCeremony is a wrap and the 2018 Winter Olympic Gaymes are officially under way! I feel incredibly honored to be here in Korea competing for the US and I’m so proud to be representing the LGBTQ community alongside this amazing guy! Eat your heart out, Pence. #TeamUSA #TeamUSGay.”

We were all made aware of the power that social media can have last year with the rise of the #MeToo movement, and its ripple effect has not escaped these Games.

Less than a week into the Games, the #MeToo movement surfaced when American snowboarder Shaun White was questioned about allegations of sexual harassment leveled against him in 2016. These questions were asked in a press conference immediately following his gold medal winning performance in the men’s halfpipe event.

White fumbled his response to the line of questioning stating that he was there “to talk about the Olympics, not gossip.” He has since appeared on the “Today” show and has been recorded in the New York Times apologizing for the use of the word ‘gossip.’

Despite these apologies, White still used the platform of Olympic press coverage to minimize sexual harassment charges and undermine the issue of objectification and assault in the workplace. It is worth noting that during the press conference White did not call upon any of the female journalists in the room.

Like it or not, these Games have been politically charged and, without even mentioning the results to date, thoroughly unsettling. The Games have been running for two weeks and already we have seen clashes on issues including human rights, nuclear arms, LGBTQ+ rights and sexual assault.

These Games have exposed underlying conflicts between nations, created media turmoil and provoked advocates for several international movements, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and #MeToo, to name a few.

Honestly, there is so much going on at the Games this year that I don’t understand this conception that the Winter Olympics are just about sports.

While over 20 million people tuned in to watch the opening ceremonies, many wonder which athletes or events they should specifically watch.   

There are four new events taking place at the Winter Olympics: big air snowboarding, mass start speed skating, mixed doubles curling and mixed team alpine skiing. Big air snowboarding was an event specifically designed to attract a younger audience.

Big air snowboarding is thrilling because of its dangerous nature. Athletes “fly off a highly pitched ramp similar to those on the slopestyle course, and perform jumps with multiple flips and spins. They do as many jumps as possible in an allotted amount of time,” according to The Associated Press.  

Katie Ormerod from the U.K. was favored to win big air snowboarding but broke her heel during training a week before the Olympics. This means that there is a fairly even playing field among those competing in this event.

The Netherlands is favored to win in mass start speed skating. Canada is favored to win in mixed doubles curling, as the reigning men’s and women’s Olympic champions are Canadian. Austria and Switzerland are the two primary contenders for mixed team alpine skiing. Austria has won 114 Olympic medals in alpine skiing and Switzerland has won 59.    

To those looking for a heartfelt story, bobsledding is the sport to watch. Three Nigerian-American women have become the first ever African bobsled team to qualify for the Winter Olympics.  

All three women, each a former track and field star, felt called to represent Nigeria when they learned a Nigerian athlete had never made it to the Winter Olympics. They even made their own bobsled in order to practice.

The women’s ice hockey game between the Korea and Switzerland Feb. 10 attracted international attention because of the controversy surrounding North and South Korean relations.  

The relations have been amicable during the Olympics, in part due to the decision of the countries to enter a unified hockey team into the competition. This team is referred to as Korea and marches under the Korean Unification flag.

While Korea lost its first hockey game, this did not deter fans from enjoying the monumental occasion they had witnessed.  After the game, fans were seen holding large banners that read “We are one.”  

Lindsey Vonn is a specific athlete to watch. A torn ACL kept her from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Vonn walked away from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics with a gold and bronze medal. At 33 years old, many believe this will be Vonn’s last Olympics to ski.  

“Eight years has been a very long time. Obviously, I was very … disappointed and devastated and frustrated that I missed Sochi. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I’m ready,” said Vonn.

Other Americans to look for are Nathan Chen in figure skating and Lindsey Jacobellis in snowboard cross. Chen made figure skating history in 2016 when he became the first man ever to land five quadruple jumps in one 4 1/2 minute long program. Jacobellis is the most decorated woman in snowboard cross history but is still seeking an Olympic gold. She earned a silver medal at the 2007 Olympics.

The Winter Olympics began Friday, Feb. 9 and end with the closing ceremony Sunday, Feb. 25. Live streaming and competition schedules can be found on NBCOlympics.com.

Photo courtesy of Goneskiing.com