What the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games shall be remembered for

MILAN — William Shakespeare didn’t attend the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, having died greater than 400 years earlier than they started. But he did use Italy as a backdrop in additional than a 3rd of his performs together with “Romeo and Juliet,” which he set in Verona, remodeling a metropolis as soon as identified for violent feuds between noble households right into a locale synonymous with romance.

And his lament over the ache of farewells possible shall be felt by most of the athletes gathering Sunday for the Olympic closing ceremony at Arena di Verona, a 1st century Roman amphitheater.

The Milan-Cortina Games had been the primary Winter Olympics to function two host cities, and it’ll turn out to be the primary to have the opening and shutting ceremony at completely different websites. In between, everybody appeared to have a superb time.

“It’s a lot of fun,” American pairs skater Danny O’Shea mentioned. “Skating on Olympic ice is literally dreams coming true. [It’s] been an amazing experience.”

“It’s been everything and more,” U.S. determine skater Isabeau Levito added. “I don’t think there’s anything not to enjoy.”

There’s definitely lots to recollect.

Parting is such candy sorrow

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2)

U.S. determine skater Alysa Liu competes on the Milan-Cortina Olympic Games on Feb. 17.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

These had been a Games that noticed two forty-something American bobsledders, Elana Meyers Taylor and Kaillie Humphries, win medals in entrance of their youngsters whereas Mexico’s Sarah Schleper, competing in her seventh Olympics, skied alongside one in every of her children, making them the primary mother-son to duo to take part in the identical Winter Games.

This might not have been an Olympics for the ages, but it surely was definitely one for the aged with three athletes over the age of 40 — together with Meyers Taylor in monobob — successful particular person gold medals. Before Milan-Cortina just one athlete over 40 had gained a person Winter Olympics gold ever. And roller Rich Ruohonen, an legal professional from Minnesota, turned the oldest U.S. winter Olympian at 54.

Figure skater Alysa Liu turned the primary American lady to win gold in singles in 24 years, including that title to the one she gained earlier within the workforce occasion, whereas Mikaela Shiffrin claimed gold within the slalom. Jordan Stolz climbed to the highest of the medal stand twice in speedskating.

Led by Elizabeth Lemley’s gold, the U.S. thus far has gained six medals in freestyle snowboarding, however Lindsey Vonn’s run within the downhill solely run lasted lower than 13 seconds earlier than she clipped a gate, triggering a horrific crash that shattered her left leg. She’s nonetheless within the hospital.

The U.S. gained gold in ladies’s hockey, beating Canada in extra time; the lads will play Canada on Sunday within the closing occasion of those Games.

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1. Cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo of Norway broke the report for many Winter Olympic gold medals. (Matthias Schrader / Associated Press) 2. U.S. skier Mikaela Shiffrin gained gold within the slalom. (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) 3. Ilia Malinin was the heavy favourite to win gold in males’s determine skating earlier than a devastating free skate. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 4. Ukraine’s Vladyslav Heraskevych takes half in a skeleton coaching session. (Alessandra Tarantino / Associated Press)

Accusations of dishonest in opposition to Canada marred the usually pleasant curling competitors whereas Ukrainian sledder Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified for insisting on sporting a helmet lined with photos of athletes and coaches killed throughout his nation’s struggle with Russia.

Politics entered the Milan-Cortina Games in one other manner, too, with many U.S. athletes being requested, after which answering, questions in regards to the federal immigration raids in Minneapolis.

“Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.,” freestyle skier Howard Hess mentioned.

Norway was the massive winner, getting six titles from cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo and successful a report 18 gold medals total. Speaking of cross-country, the U.S. males, who had gained one medal within the earlier century, gained two right here with Ben Ogden taking silver within the particular person, then becoming a member of Gus Schumacher to complete second within the workforce dash. Jessie Diggins took residence a bronze within the 10-kilometer freestyle, the fourth Olympic medal of her profession.

Led by Klaebo, Norway is ready to win the general medal depend for fourth straight Winter Games. It had 40 medals heading into Sunday, an exceptional whole for a rustic with a inhabitants practically equal to that of Los Angeles County.

The U.S. completed with 33 medals, together with 12 gold, essentially the most U.S. golds ever in a Winter Olympics. However no medal went to the Czechoslovakian wolfdog named Nazgul who bought free on the course and sprinted to the end line in a ladies’s cross-country race, ending twentieth.

In honest Verona, the place we lay our scene

(Romeo and Juliet, Act 1, Prologue)

Visitors stand in entrance of Arena di Verona, website of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics closing ceremony.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Organizing the Milan-Cortina Olympics was an immense $6.7-billion gamble. They had been the biggest and most expansive Winter Games in historical past, with practically 3,000 athletes from 93 nations competing at a dozen venues unfold over an space in regards to the dimension of New Jersey, stretching from the city grit of Italy’s second-largest metropolis to the breathtakingly lovely Alpine villages of the Dolomites.

It was if the Games had been held in two nations, with Italian spoken within the metropolis and German up the mountains. Yet all of it labored.

“These Games have been truly successful in a new way of doing things, a way that I think many people thought maybe we couldn’t do or couldn’t be done well. And it’s been done extremely well,” IOC president Kirsty Coventry mentioned Friday.

In each Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, there was a rush to get some venues accomplished in time. The predominant hockey enviornment opened with roughly 3,000 seats lacking, however that didn’t impression the competitors.

“They pulled it together sort of right at the last minute,” mentioned Alpine skier Piera Hudson of the United Arab Emirates. “I know there was a lot of drama coming into it. But as far as my experience goes, I had a really good one.”

U.S. ladies’s hockey gamers rejoice after beating Canada within the gold-medal sport on Feb. 19.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

What was missing was a lot of an Olympic fever, no less than in Milan, the place most individuals prevented the excessive ticket costs and watched the competitors on tv. Tourist traps such because the Duomo Cathedral had been full of foreigners, as was the Arco della Pace, the place the Olympic flame burned.

At the close by Sforza Castle, individuals gathered in a fan village to observe the Games on a large-screen monitor.

Like Romeo and Juliet, U.S. skier Breezy Johnson, who gained gold within the ladies’s downhill, additionally discovered love in northern Italy, receiving a wedding proposal from accomplice Connor Watkins, who dropped down to 1 knee close to the the super-G end line. Hilary Knight, captain of the ladies’s hockey workforce, proposed to speedskater Brittany Bowe the day earlier than her third-period purpose helped rescue the U.S. in its gold-medal win over Canada. She realized a day later she would carry the U.S. flag within the closing ceremony.

“I’ve had a heck of a week,” Knight mentioned.

They weren’t the one ones who discovered the realm romantic: the Olympic village’s two-week provide of condoms was exhausted in three days.

A rose by another title would odor as candy

(Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II)

Visitors take photos of the Olympic cauldron on the Arco della Pace in Milan on Feb. 15.

(Maja Hitij / Getty Images)

The subsequent time the Olympic cauldron is meant to be lit shall be in Los Angeles on July 14, 2028. Those shall be one other overly massive Games with venues unfold from the seashores of San Clemente to a softball venue in Oklahoma City. Soccer matches shall be performed throughout three time zones.

Whatever the legacy of the Milan-Cortina Games could also be, Coventry mentioned the athletes greater than delivered.

“I don’t think you can be leaving these Games without being inspired,” she mentioned. “It’s been really magnificent.”

Times workers writers Sam Farmer and Thuc Nhi Nguyen contributed to this story.