The athletes, events and simmering geopolitical crises that we\u2019re watching at this year\u2019s competition.<\/b>
\nVox loves the Olympics. Absolutely loves them. We briefly debated popping up a limited-run Winter Olympics newsletter this week, but then remembered that we are not in fact a sports site and have no actual sports reporters on staff.
No matter! The Olympics are fun (and, occasionally, inspiring and heartbreaking and anxious and weird) because they touch a wide range of human interests, from geopolitics to climate to celebrity and culture. And in that spirit, I\u2019ve polled my colleagues and poked my head into a few planning sessions to see what Olympics storylines everyone is watching.
In today\u2019s edition, we round up the interesting characters, open questions, and emerging trends that could define the Milan Cortina Games, from the debut of skimo (fascinating! fun!) to the complicated moral calculus of rooting for Team USA right now (nuanced, uncomfortable, in short: a bummer).
The whole shebang officially kicks off this afternoon at 2 pm ET, with a primetime broadcast at 8 pm. You can absolutely bet that I and many others at Vox will be tuning in.
Are we the baddies? I think it\u2019s going to be fascinating to see how American fans react to, well, being global villains. I think it could be particularly interesting around Olympic hockey. Probably the most famous moment of American underdogness \u2014 at least since the American Revolution \u2014 was the 1980 Olympics hockey win. The Americans and the Canadians are the top rivals in Olympic hockey, and these Games will be intense. We\u2019re not plucky underdogs \u2014 the US team probably has the second-best chance at the gold after Canada \u2014 and we will not be the crowd favorite. What\u2019s that going to feel like? \u2014Bryan Walsh
Skimo. I\u2019m still rooting for the Winter Olympics to add two of my favorite sports \u2014 cross-country running and cyclocross bike racing, both of which are great in the snow \u2014 but for now, I\u2019m plenty excited about the new sport we did get: skimo, or ski mountaineering. As the name suggests, it involves summiting a climb (partially with skis, partially without) and then tearing back down it. Athletes have to transition between phases along the way, triathlon-style, and it looks thrilling. \u2014Cameron Peters
Ilia Malinin. Twenty-one-year-old figure skater Ilia Malinin is competing in his first Olympics this year, but he\u2019s already broken a ton of records. In 2022, he became the first (and still only) skater to land a fully rotated quadruple axel in international competition, and in December, he landed a record seven quadruple jumps in a single program. In other words, Malinin is a mind-bogglingly aggressive, physical skater \u2014 The Atlantic dubbed him \u201cthe man who broke physics\u201d \u2014 and his programs will be really fun to watch when they kick off this weekend. \u2014Caitlin Dewey
A figure skater\u2019s tragic backstory. Maxim Naumov is a member of the US Olympic figure skating team whose parents \u2014 world champions in skating themselves \u2014 were among the 67 people killed when an American Airlines plane and a helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, DC, last January. As much as the plane crash affected DC, it was even more devastating for the figure skating community, which lost 28 parents, skaters, alumni, volunteers, and more. It\u2019s hard not to root for Naumov in the aftermath of such sadness. \u2014Libby Nelson
US immigration agents. The Department of Homeland Security often has a presence at the Olympic Games, providing security services and monitoring criminal activity. But the news that some ICE agents would deploy to Milan has sparked outrage and protests in Italy. Milan\u2019s governor called ICE \u201ca militia that kills\u201d and said \u201cthey are not welcome\u201d in his city. \u2014CD
Possible political demonstrations. Hundreds of athletes competing in Milan hail from one of the world\u2019s most politically volatile nations: the United States of America. As Vox\u2019s Alex Abad-Santos has written, American athletes are bound to face questions about representing the nation of Donald Trump. It seems likely that some US Olympians, many of whom are immigrants or the children of immigrants, will speak out against ICE; I will be watching to see who does and what they say. At last year\u2019s Four Nations men\u2019s hockey tournament, pro-MAGA and anti-Trump sentiment colored the US-Canada final, with Trump himself calling the men\u2019s team and raising the tempers of Canadian players and fans with his calls to annex what he was calling \u201cthe 51st state.\u201d \u2014Seth Maxon
\u2026and not just from Team USA. There are four Israelis competing at these Games who may face protests or become fulcrums of controversy. And there are Ukrainians, \u201cunaffiliated\u201d athletes from Russia, a couple of Iranians, and even a Venezuelan cross-country skier competing. Whether any of them speak up or are confronted about their nations\u2019 turmoil will be worth watching out for. \u2014SM
Winter weather. Many Winter Olympic events hinge on ideal outdoor snow and ice conditions that are becoming harder to achieve as the planet warms up. The IOC said they are now considering moving the Winter Games earlier in the year to chase the cold weather. On the other hand, some of the early ski sessions for the current Games were canceled due to too much snow. \u2014Umair Irfan
Milo and Tina. I don\u2019t think any Olympic mascots will ever top Paris\u2019s anthropomorphic hats, but keep an eye out for the scarf-wearing, short-haired weasels that organizers have called the Games\u2019 \u201cfirst openly Gen Z\u201d representatives. The open Gen Z-ness relates to their backstories (Milo and Tina are reportedly teenagers) and their design origins (Italy invited primary and secondary school students to submit mascot proposals). \u2014CD
Alysa Liu. Not only is 20-year-old figure skater Alysa Liu competing on the biggest stage in the world after a nearly two-year hiatus from the sport, but Liu told her coaches that she wanted to design her own costumes and skate to her choice of music. So far, that\u2019s involved a lot of Lady Gaga, a smiley piercing, and halo-striped hair. I can\u2019t wait to see what she and the rest of the US figure skating team accomplish. \u2014Sydney Bergen
Macklin Celebrini. The term \u201cgenerational talent\u201d gets tossed around a lot when hockey watchers talk about the 19-year-old forward from Vancouver. He\u2019s made a stagnant, struggling team (my team, the San Jose Sharks) competitive once again. Celebrini is set to become the youngest player to represent Canada in a Winter Olympics featuring players from the National Hockey League \u2014 where he\u2019ll play alongside NHL icons like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid. Celebrini has been a fascinating player to watch when an entire team relies on him, so I can\u2019t imagine what he can accomplish when he\u2019s playing alongside his sport\u2019s biggest stars. \u2014Christian Paz
Lindsey Vonn. The 41-year-old American skier completely ruptured her ACL in a fall last week, but has insisted that she\u2019ll compete in her fifth Winter Games despite the (severe and debilitating!) injury. If she competes as planned, Vonn will be the oldest female Alpine skier in Olympic history. As a person around Vonn\u2019s age, and as the owner of a fully reconstructed ACL, I am both vaguely horrified for Vonn and very invested in her competition. \u2014CD
Chloe Kim. The American snowboarding superstar suffered a shoulder injury in early January that has prevented her from training in the weeks that have followed. Thankfully, she has recovered enough to still compete. But is she still in top form and able to contend for gold as expected? I hope so! Either way, I\u2019m sure NBC and Peacock are already preparing their scripts about how much adversity she\u2019s overcome to get back on the podium. \u2014SM
Laila Edwards. The 22-year-old senior at the University of Wisconsin made history in Italy by just being there: Edwards is the first Black woman to play for the US women\u2019s Olympic hockey team. And thanks to a successful GoFundMe campaign \u2014 which included a donation from the Kelce brothers, who are from her hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio \u2014 Edwards\u2019s parents and other family members have made the trip to Milan as well. \u2014Esther Gim
Eileen Gu. A breakout star at the 2022 Olympics is back to compete in freestyle skiing. At the last Games, she ignited debate in both the US and China as an American who chose to compete for China, her mother\u2019s home country. But the controversy hardly hurt her success; she\u2019s become a huge celebrity in China with millions of dollars in endorsement deals, and she won three medals, including two golds, in Beijing. She\u2019s only 22 years old and is gearing up for even more success, and stardom, in Milan. \u2014SM
Giorgia Meloni. Italy\u2019s first woman prime minister already occupies an odd place on the world stage: She\u2019s a right-wing populist who enjoys a close relationship with President Donald Trump and his administration\u2026 but she\u2019s also, obviously, a European leader who\u2019s had to grapple with Trump\u2019s attacks on the continent. The Olympics, Italy\u2019s first since 2006, will put her in the global spotlight once again. (That, and a comically Italian scandal wherein a partisan art restorer snuck Meloni\u2019s face into a church fresco.) \u2014CD
Cultural initiatives. Alongside the athletic events, Italy is hosting a nationwide Cultural Olympiad with exhibitions, theater and music performances, artist installations, festivals, and workshops. Los Angeles should be watching closely, as local officials are concerned that the city is way behind on planning and fundraising for arts programming for the 2028 Games. Can LA showcase itself as an entertainment mecca and a capital of cultural diversity, as it did when it last hosted the Games in 1984? The clock is ticking. \u2014Avishay Artsy
Greening the Games. Remember during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris when organizers were getting heat for how they approached \u201cgreening\u201d the competition? At the time, organizers focused on nudging behavioral choices, such as defaulting toward climate-friendly foods (read: no meat) or no AC, which wasn\u2019t popular. So I was excited to hear that this year\u2019s Winter Olympics focused its energy on the actual construction of the Milano Cortina Olympic Village instead. According to the architects behind the project, the village employs a modular design made with low-carbon construction methods and prefabricated facade panels. It might be a model for future Games. \u2014Izzie Ramirez
\u201cThe battle of millimeters.\u201d Last month, a cheating scandal rocked the ski-jumping world when three staff members on the Norwegian team were suspended for modifying the crotches of the outfits of two jumpers, including the reigning Olympic champion. In sports like ski jumping, small changes like extra stitching can have big aerodynamic impacts \u2014 part of what one ski jumping enthusiast described to The Athletic as \u201cthe battle of millimeters.\u201d We\u2019ll see what that means for Norway\u2019s athletes in these Olympics. \u2014Cameron Peters
Olympic muffins. The best TikToks from the Olympic Village have nothing to do with sport: They\u2019re the clips of globe-trotting, carb-loading, world-class athletes reviewing mid-range cafeteria food. Chocolate muffins stole the show in Paris. (Can confirm: These muffins are good.) And while the Milan Cortina Games have yet to produce a breakout foodstuff, the torta della nonna looks like a contender. \u2014CD
The Minions guy. Spanish figure skater Tom\u00e0s-Lloren\u00e7 Guarino Sabat\u00e9 is not expected to medal at this year\u2019s Games, but he\u2019s already a winner in one regard: He triumphed over film production company Universal Pictures in a petty, comical dispute the internet dubbed #Minionsgate. Sabat\u00e9, who skates to music from the Minions movies, was briefly blocked from using his signature soundtrack over copyright concerns, which the Olympics have taken much more seriously since a 2022 lawsuit. \u2014CD
AI music on ice. Figure skating is trying to stay relevant by encouraging figure skaters to make contemporary music choices: classical music out, pop bangers in. But it\u2019s led to a music licensing nightmare in the sport, as Minion Guy found out the hard way. Some skaters are turning to an ethically dubious solution: AI music, which avoids expensive fees and prolonged negotiations. As AI slop hits Spotify playlists and Billboard charts, will things get sloppy on the ice too? We\u2019ll be watching, er, listening to see. \u2014Peter Balonon-Rosen
New sports tech. Gymnastics judges for the 2024 Paris Games got a leg up from a novel tool: an AI system that could automatically capture, model, and evaluate athletes\u2019 movements against standard parameters. AI tools will also be in use at the Milan Cortina Games, where they\u2019ll do things like capture the height, length, and air time of figure skaters\u2019 jumps. A number of teams have also enthusiastically embraced AI-informed training\u2026 though only time will tell if that gives them the edge that some have claimed. \u2014CD
NHL stars. Men\u2019s hockey will be a particularly splashy event this year: It\u2019s the first year in more than a decade that the National Hockey League has allowed its players to participate in the Games. And following the breakout success of the Canadian gay sports romance series Heated Rivalry, there\u2019ll be a new audience of fans and casual viewers that will be tuning in. (Thank you, Shane Hollander!) \u2014Christian Paz
The rise of sports betting. This year\u2019s Olympics arguably mark the first event since prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket became a mainstream phenomenon. Already, Polymarket users have traded millions of dollars\u2019 worth of bets on individual competitions and overall medal counts. Notably, the Milan Cortina Games come just as these platforms face a wave of new scrutiny related to sports cheating scandals. \u2014CD
Health and wellness. It\u2019s increasingly hard to believe that, a mere five years ago, the Tokyo Olympics mandated masking, social distancing, and other Covid protocols. Now, most Olympic athletes don\u2019t even mask routinely during travel. Personally, I\u2019d be so stressed about illness. Imagine how awful it would be to get sick while sharing a tiny dorm room with your teammates or not feeling 100 percent healthy during the biggest moment of your career. Organizers already had to push the women\u2019s hockey game between Canada and Finland because of a norovirus outbreak. \u2014Lauren Katz<\/p>\n