2026 Winter Olympics Begin in Milan-Cortina, Italy

What Happened?

The 2026 Winter Olympic Games kicked off this weekend in Milan-Cortina, Italy. Nearly three thousand five hundred athletes from ninety-two countries will compete in sixteen different categories of sporting events over the next two weeks. The 2026 Winter Olympics will be the first Olympics co-hosted by two cities, with competitions held in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Because the two locations are over two hundred miles apart, this winter Olympics will encompass the largest amount of territory ever, covering over eight thousand square miles in northern Italy. Athletes from Russia and Belarus will be competing as ‘Individual Neutral Athletes’ due to a ban on those countries because of the war in Ukraine.

Why it Matters

Despite there being more active conflicts in the world today than at any time since the end of the Second World War, ninety-two countries still sent athletes to take part in the competition. Olympic games are watched globally, with billions of viewers expected to watch over the two-week course of the events schedule. Roughly two million people from around the world are expected to attend the winter games in person.

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This winter Olympics will have nine new events. The 2026 Games will introduce ski mountaineering, also known as skimo, as a new sport, along with eight other new events: men's sprint in skimo, women's sprint in skimo, mixed relay in skimo, men's dual moguls in free style skiing, women's dual moguls in free style skiing, women's doubles in luge, mixed gender team in skeleton, and women's large hill in ski jumping.  

Italy has deployed significant security measures to protect the athletes and spectators. More than twice as many security personnel as athletes will be in place as protection against potential threats.

Every Olympics has its own security planning committee, which usually begins planning security for the next Olympics as soon as the current one is over. That makes Olympic security planning a year-round and perpetual endeavor. A stricter law against public protests in Italy was also passed just days before the opening ceremony to try to curb public demonstrations.

Because the Olympics involve so many countries and have a global audience, past Olympic games have frequently been used by a wide range of groups to try to promote or spread their own political messages or agendas. There have been terrorist attacks against past Olympics, which is one of the reasons why security is always so heavy for the games. 

How it Affects You

The first modern Olympic Games were held in Athens, Greece, in 1896, and ever since they have continued to grow and evolve. Olympics have not always been immune to politics; the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow games due to Cold War tensions, and during the 1936 summer games, the Nazi regime tried to use the Olympics as a massive propaganda event, to cite just two examples. 

Despite the security threats and influence of politics, the Olympic games continue to serve as a beacon of international cooperation and sportsmanship, providing an example of how the world can work together peacefully.

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