This {photograph} exhibits the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games medals throughout the unveiling ceremony in July. – Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images
The solely time I’ve cried whereas protecting a sporting occasion — for precise sports-related and not deadline-induced stress causes — was the gold medal sport in girls’s hockey at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Team USA beat its rival, the long-dominant Team Canada, in a dramatic shootout. In the jubilation that instantly ensued, I watched a father of one among the athletes pounding on the glass, tears streaming down his face, begging to be allowed to run on to the rink to rejoice along with his daughter. “It’s our girls out there!” he shouted. Boom: tears.
I’m getting slightly misty-eyed proper now, as I’ve each time I’ve informed that story since. I used to be not, and am not, a girls’s ice hockey fan. That was most likely the first sport I’d ever attended, however that’s what makes the Olympics so particular. They speedrun the attraction of all sports activities – specifically, that the superhuman athletic feats and the high-pressure stakes present an excuse to emotionally make investments in the lives of individuals we’re assembly at their peak.
I like the Olympics. And belief me, even for those who don’t but, you may love the Olympics too. There is a contest storyline or a human-interest angle or an obscure show of physicality for everybody. And for those who’re really a secret skilled or a sleeper fan of one among these sports activities? (Looking at you, skimo heads.) Congratulations, your second has come to be an unrepentant know-it-all on social media.
Here at the Milano Memo, we wish to serve you an aperitivo unfold of Olympic goodness and weirdness. I, Hannah Keyser, hate being chilly and won’t be in Milan. But now we have a unbelievable crew stationed throughout the apparently sprawling Olympic infrastructure. You’ll hear from Coy Wire, Amanda Davies, Dana O’Neil, Ben Church and others who shall be throughout this huge 2026 Winter Olympics.
Every day of the Olympics beginning with the Opening Ceremony on Friday February 6, we’ll ship hyperlinks to the nice longform work that the crew is producing, plus authentic dispatches, overheard quotes, our favourite video clips, pictures, ephemera, and different bits and bobs(leds) to maintain you up on all issues Olympic.
Look for us in the early night. It’ll both be me or Ben (his can have that genuine Italian aptitude) in your inbox.
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