The Winter Olympics: a great success that cannot hide many shadows

BarcelonaThe 2026 Milan-Cortina di Ampezo Winter Olympics are now behind us. And within the International Olympic Committee, there's a palpable sense of joy and relief at having been a resounding success. After months of worry, as it seemed some venues wouldn't be ready in time, the Italian authorities pulled it off with an event that ran almost flawlessly, boasting a fantastic atmosphere and record-breaking viewership. The weather also played a part. Just as the IOC was debating the inclusion of sports unrelated to ice and snow, aiming to transform the Winter Games into a kind of mountain competition to reduce their dependence on the weather, the Italian Alps experienced their coldest winter in twenty years. So much snow fell that the snow cannons, which had been prepared as a precaution, weren't even needed.

These have been the Games of great success for Oriol Cardona and for ski mountaineering, one of the sports making its debut. The Spanish delegation has taken the opportunity to boast about this achievement, because without this sport, which they have been nurturing for years in Catalonia with the Font-romeu high-performance center, the results would have been, as is almost always the case, poor. But three medals cannot hide the fact that Spain achieves few results in an event where countries with smaller populations, like the Netherlands, or with less snow, like Australia, invest more.

Record audiences

According to the IOC, two out of every three Italians followed the Games. Italy has been swept up in the competition, largely due to the magnificent performance of its athletes, who have surpassed their medal record by competing at the same level as giants like the United States. Only Norway—the country that always shines—with Johannes Klaebo, who won six gold medals, has outperformed them. In the United States, the Games averaged 24.3 million viewers across NBCUniversal platforms., More than double the viewership of the last Winter Games in China, with sports like figure skating particularly standing out. Furthermore, new audiences have emerged, such as in Australia, where winter sports have been heavily promoted, and in Brazil, where fans went wild watching thanks to Lucas Abeto's first-ever gold medal for a Latin American. All of this has boosted viewership for the Winter Games, and the IOC has celebrated the crucial role played by new platforms, streaming, and the use of social media for viral content.

The athletes, key

In fact, athletes have played a key role: they have generated over 1.4 billion interactions on their social media accounts and, collectively, now reach almost a billion followers. Athletes have understood the changing times and have leveraged social media to connect with the public and share their daily lives. Unlike other sports, these athletes project a sense of approachability, with a positive image and inspiring stories of overcoming adversity that have resonated deeply. In sports like figure skating, a joyful atmosphere has prevailed, as seen at the final gala, where competitors laughed together and put on a spectacular show. The Games have also been a huge success for mothers, since never before had so many women who are mothers won medals; of the normality of the LGTBI+ communityAnd of the surprising stories, like that of the Norwegian who admitted after winning a medal that he had cheated on his partner, which surprised everyone.

The television production, which used drones and took advantage of beautiful alpine scenery, was key to the success of the Games, for which almost all tickets were sold. This was due to the fact that some of the countries where the Winter Games are most followed, such as Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Netherlands, were unable to attend. The Games sold 1.3 million tickets, which is approximately 88% of the total available, according to the organizers. And 63% of the tickets were purchased by people from outside Italy. Interestingly, the sport with the most viewers was the biathlon.

Many venues: sustainable, but less of an environment

These were Kirsty Coventry's first Games as IOC president. Coventry, a former swimmer from Zimbabwe, was active throughout the Alps, advocating for a Games model that, for the second time, featured venues widely separated from one another, as had been the case in Beijing. In fact, some athletes complained about this, claiming a lack of "Olympic spirit," because in some villages only one sport is practiced and the athletes already know each other. "If the new Games have to be like this, I confess I'm retiring," said German skier Linus Strasser. Coventry responded that she had visited "each and every village" and that they were "exactly the same," with the aim of fostering greater interaction between the local community and the athletes, as well as making the Games more sustainable and requiring less investment.

The IOC's great obsession was to prove that organizing a Winter Games was worthwhile. The next ones will return to the Alps, this time the French Alps, in 2030, after that long selection process in which it seemed no one wanted to host them. Games for which Catalonia fought to host them in the Pyrenees and in Barcelona, ​​but without success. "It has been incredible to see the focus on community legacy and how the venues are being designed to bring lasting value to everyday life, creating opportunities for young people to learn sports like..." luge, heskeleton and the bobsleighand strengthening one of Italy's youngest communities. That sense of long-term impact, which is already noticeable, is incredibly exciting," Coventry said, highlighting how the Italians have avoided grandiose projects and distributed the benefits of the Games among different venues. The next Games must follow this approach, as a seaside city like Nice will host Games that will require many kilometers to travel from one location to another. These are lines that the IOC advocates. The 2034 Games will be held in Salt Lake City, USA. -BK_SLT_LNA~

However, Coventry hasn't been able to hide some problems amidst a general sense of satisfaction. At the post-election press conference, she said she would fire her press officers when they asked her about issues she "knew nothing about": that someone with a position within Russian sport was implicated in the Sochi Games doping scandal; that FIFA President Gianni Infantino, an IOC member, participated in political events alongside Trump; or that Germany doesn't want to bid to host the 2036 Games because it doesn't want to commemorate the centenary of the 1936 Games, organized by Hitler. "I haven't been informed of these statements; perhaps someone on my communications team will have to be fired," she said, demonstrating her strong character.

Overall, the 2026 Games have so far been free of doping scandals, and the major controversies have been political: the protests against the presence of ICE agents in Italy, The removal of Catalan separatist flags and banners from the families and friends of Oriol Cardona and Ot Ferrer in ski mountaineeringCriticism of Israeli athletes and, especially, the war in Ukraine. In Kyiv, there have been complaints about the presence of Russian athletes, not many, competing under a neutral flag, and especially about the disqualification of Ukrainian Vladyslav Heraskevych. The runner from skeleton He was expelled because he insisted on wearing a helmet with images of more than twenty Ukrainian athletes killed in Russia's large-scale war against their country. The International Olympic Committee considered it a violation of the Olympic Charter, which prohibits political statements in competition venues. One of the major debates Coventry will have to face in the coming months is precisely what will happen with Russian athletes and whether they can return to the Olympic Games. The next Games will be in Los Angeles in the summer, with Donald Trump still in power. This will be a completely different event from Milan-Cortina di Ampezo, which, despite some setbacks, was characterized by an atmosphere of Olympic brotherhood during a dark period.