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Vox loves the Olympics. Completely loves them. We briefly debated popping up a limited-run Winter Olympics publication this week, however then remembered that we aren’t actually a sports activities web site and don’t have any precise sports activities reporters on workers.
Irrespective of! The Olympics are enjoyable (and, sometimes, inspiring and heartbreaking and anxious and peculiar) as a result of they contact a variety of human pursuits, from geopolitics to local weather to movie star and tradition. And in that spirit, I’ve polled my colleagues and poked my head into just a few planning periods to see what Olympics storylines everyone seems to be watching.
In at this time’s version, we spherical up the fascinating characters, open questions, and rising developments that would outline the Milan Cortina Video games, from the debut of skimo (fascinating! enjoyable!) to the difficult ethical calculus of rooting for Workforce USA proper now (nuanced, uncomfortable, briefly: a bummer).
The entire shebang formally kicks off this afternoon at 2 pm ET, with a primetime broadcast at 8 pm. You possibly can completely wager that I and lots of others at Vox will likely be tuning in.
Are we the baddies? I feel it’s going to be fascinating to see how American followers react to, effectively, being world villains. I feel it might be significantly fascinating round Olympic hockey. In all probability essentially the most well-known second of American underdogness — at the very least because the American Revolution — was the 1980 Olympics hockey win. The Individuals and the Canadians are the highest rivals in Olympic hockey, and these Video games will likely be intense. We’re not plucky underdogs — the US group most likely has the second-best likelihood on the gold after Canada — and we won’t be the gang favourite. What’s that going to really feel like? —Bryan Walsh
Skimo. I’m nonetheless rooting for the Winter Olympics so as to add two of my favourite sports activities — cross-country operating and cyclocross bike racing, each of that are nice within the snow — however for now, I’m loads excited concerning the new sport we did get: skimo, or ski mountaineering. Because the identify suggests, it entails summiting a climb (partially with skis, partially with out) after which tearing again down it. Athletes should transition between phases alongside the way in which, triathlon-style, and it seems thrilling. —Cameron Peters
Ilia Malinin. Twenty-one-year-old determine skater Ilia Malinin is competing in his first Olympics this yr, however he’s already damaged a ton of data. In 2022, he turned the primary (and nonetheless solely) skater to land a completely rotated quadruple axel in worldwide competitors, and in December, he landed a document seven quadruple jumps in a single program. In different phrases, Malinin is a mind-bogglingly aggressive, bodily skater — The Atlantic dubbed him “the person who broke physics” — and his applications will likely be actually enjoyable to look at once they kick off this weekend. —Caitlin Dewey
A determine skater’s tragic backstory. Maxim Naumov is a member of the US Olympic determine skating group whose mother and father — world champions in skating themselves — had been among the many 67 folks killed when an American Airways aircraft and a helicopter collided over the Potomac River in Washington, DC, final January. As a lot because the aircraft crash affected DC, it was much more devastating for the determine skating group, which misplaced 28 mother and father, skaters, alumni, volunteers, and extra. It’s exhausting to not root for Naumov within the aftermath of such disappointment. —Libby Nelson
US immigration brokers. The Division of Homeland Safety typically has a presence on the Olympic Video games, offering safety companies and monitoring prison exercise. However the information that some ICE brokers would deploy to Milan has sparked outrage and protests in Italy. Milan’s governor known as ICE “a militia that kills” and mentioned “they aren’t welcome” in his metropolis. —CD
Potential political demonstrations. Tons of of athletes competing in Milan hail from one of many world’s most politically unstable nations: america of America. As Vox’s Alex Abad-Santos has written, American athletes are sure to face questions about representing the nation of Donald Trump. It appears probably that some US Olympians, lots of whom are immigrants or the kids of immigrants, will communicate out in opposition to ICE; I will likely be watching to see who does and what they are saying. Ultimately yr’s 4 Nations males’s hockey match, pro-MAGA and anti-Trump sentiment coloured the US-Canada ultimate, with Trump himself calling the boys’s group and elevating the tempers of Canadian gamers and followers together with his calls to annex what he was calling “the 51st state.” —Seth Maxon
…and never simply from Workforce USA. There are 4 Israelis competing at these Video games who might face protests or turn out to be fulcrums of controversy. And there are Ukrainians, “unaffiliated” athletes from Russia, a few Iranians, and even a Venezuelan cross-country skier competing. Whether or not any of them communicate up or are confronted about their nations’ turmoil will likely be price watching out for. —SM
Winter climate. Many Winter Olympic occasions hinge on perfect outside snow and ice circumstances which are turning into more durable to realize because the planet warms up. The IOC mentioned they’re now contemplating shifting the Winter Video games earlier within the yr to chase the chilly climate. Alternatively, among the early ski periods for the present Video games had been canceled as a result of an excessive amount of snow. —Umair Irfan
Milo and Tina. I don’t assume any Olympic mascots will ever high Paris’s anthropomorphic hats, however hold an eye fixed out for the scarf-wearing, short-haired weasels that organizers have known as the Video games’ “first overtly Gen Z” representatives. The open Gen Z-ness relates to their backstories (Milo and Tina are reportedly youngsters) and their design origins (Italy invited major and secondary faculty college students to submit mascot proposals). —CD
Alysa Liu. Not solely is 20-year-old determine skater Alysa Liu competing on the most important stage on the planet after a virtually two-year hiatus from the game, however Liu informed her coaches that she needed to design her personal costumes and skate to her selection of music. To date, that’s concerned loads of Girl Gaga, a smiley piercing, and halo-striped hair. I can’t wait to see what she and the remainder of the US determine skating group accomplish. —Sydney Bergen
Macklin Celebrini. The time period “generational expertise” will get tossed round rather a lot when hockey watchers speak concerning the 19-year-old ahead from Vancouver. He’s made a stagnant, struggling group (my group, the San Jose Sharks) aggressive as soon as once more. Celebrini is ready to turn out to be the youngest participant to signify Canada in a Winter Olympics that includes gamers from the Nationwide Hockey League — the place he’ll play alongside NHL icons like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid. Celebrini has been a captivating participant to look at when a complete group depends on him, so I can’t think about what he can accomplish when he’s enjoying alongside his sport’s greatest stars. —Christian Paz
Lindsey Vonn. The 41-year-old American skier fully ruptured her ACL in a fall final week, however has insisted that she’ll compete in her fifth Winter Video games regardless of the (extreme and debilitating!) harm. If she competes as deliberate, Vonn would be the oldest feminine Alpine skier in Olympic historical past. As an individual round Vonn’s age, and because the proprietor of a completely reconstructed ACL, I’m each vaguely horrified for Vonn and really invested in her competitors. —CD
Chloe Kim. The American snowboarding celebrity suffered a shoulder harm in early January that has prevented her from coaching within the weeks which have adopted. Fortunately, she has recovered sufficient to nonetheless compete. However is she nonetheless in high type and in a position to contend for gold as anticipated? I hope so! Both approach, I’m positive NBC and Peacock are already getting ready their scripts about how a lot adversity she’s overcome to get again on the rostrum. —SM
Laila Edwards. The 22-year-old senior on the College of Wisconsin made historical past in Italy by simply being there: Edwards is the primary Black girl to play for the US girls’s Olympic hockey group. And due to a profitable GoFundMe marketing campaign — which included a donation from the Kelce brothers, who’re from her hometown of Cleveland Heights, Ohio — Edwards’s mother and father and different relations have made the journey to Milan as effectively. —Esther Gim
Eileen Gu. A breakout star on the 2022 Olympics is again to compete in freestyle snowboarding. On the final Video games, she ignited debate in each the US and China as an American who selected to compete for China, her mom’s house nation. However the controversy hardly damage her success; she’s turn out to be an enormous movie star in China with hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in endorsement offers, and he or she received three medals, together with two golds, in Beijing. She’s solely 22 years outdated and is gearing up for much more success, and stardom, in Milan. —SM
Giorgia Meloni. Italy’s first girl prime minister already occupies an odd place on the world stage: She’s a right-wing populist who enjoys a detailed relationship with President Donald Trump and his administration… however she’s additionally, clearly, a European chief who’s needed to grapple with Trump’s assaults on the continent. The Olympics, Italy’s first since 2006, will put her within the world highlight as soon as once more. (That, and a comically Italian scandal whereby a partisan artwork restorer snuck Meloni’s face right into a church fresco.) —CD
Cultural initiatives. Alongside the athletic occasions, Italy is internet hosting a nationwide Cultural Olympiad with exhibitions, theater and music performances, artist installations, festivals, and workshops. Los Angeles needs to be watching carefully, as native officers are involved that the town is approach behind on planning and fundraising for arts programming for the 2028 Video games. Can LA showcase itself as an leisure mecca and a capital of cultural variety, because it did when it final hosted the Video games in 1984? The clock is ticking. —Avishay Artsy
Greening the Video games. Bear in mind through the 2024 Summer time Olympics in Paris when organizers had been getting warmth for the way they approached “greening” the competitors? On the time, organizers centered on nudging behavioral selections, resembling defaulting towards climate-friendly meals (learn: no meat) or no AC, which wasn’t common. So I used to be excited to listen to that this yr’s Winter Olympics centered its vitality on the precise development of the Milano Cortina Olympic Village as an alternative. Based on the architects behind the venture, the village employs a modular design made with low-carbon development strategies and prefabricated facade panels. It is likely to be a mannequin for future Video games. —Izzie Ramirez
“The battle of millimeters.” Final month, a dishonest scandal rocked the ski-jumping world when three workers members on the Norwegian group had been suspended for modifying the crotches of the outfits of two jumpers, together with the reigning Olympic champion. In sports activities like ski leaping, small modifications like further stitching can have huge aerodynamic impacts — a part of what one ski leaping fanatic described to The Athletic as “the battle of millimeters.” We’ll see what which means for Norway’s athletes in these Olympics. —Cameron Peters
Olympic muffins. The very best TikToks from the Olympic Village don’t have anything to do with sport: They’re the clips of globe-trotting, carb-loading, world-class athletes reviewing mid-range cafeteria meals. Chocolate muffins stole the present in Paris. (Can affirm: These muffins are good.) And whereas the Milan Cortina Video games have but to supply a breakout foodstuff, the torta della nonna seems like a contender. —CD
The Minions man. Spanish determine skater Tomàs-Llorenç Guarino Sabaté is just not anticipated to medal at this yr’s Video games, however he’s already a winner in a single regard: He triumphed over movie manufacturing firm Common Photos in a petty, comical dispute the web dubbed #Minionsgate. Sabaté, who skates to music from the Minions motion pictures, was briefly blocked from utilizing his signature soundtrack over copyright considerations, which the Olympics have taken far more critically since a 2022 lawsuit. —CD
AI music on ice. Determine skating is making an attempt to remain related by encouraging determine skaters to make modern music selections: classical music out, pop bangers in. But it surely’s led to a music licensing nightmare within the sport, as Minion Man discovered the exhausting approach. Some skaters are turning to an ethically doubtful resolution: AI music, which avoids costly charges and extended negotiations. As AI slop hits Spotify playlists and Billboard charts, will issues get sloppy on the ice too? We’ll be watching, er, listening to see. —Peter Balonon-Rosen
New sports activities tech. Gymnastics judges for the 2024 Paris Video games bought a leg up from a novel software: an AI system that would mechanically seize, mannequin, and consider athletes’ actions in opposition to customary parameters. AI instruments can even be in use on the Milan Cortina Video games, the place they’ll do issues like seize the peak, size, and air time of determine skaters’ jumps. Quite a lot of groups have additionally enthusiastically embraced AI-informed coaching… although solely time will inform if that offers them the sting that some have claimed. —CD
NHL stars. Males’s hockey will likely be a very splashy occasion this yr: It’s the primary yr in additional than a decade that the Nationwide Hockey League has allowed its gamers to take part within the Video games. And following the breakout success of the Canadian homosexual sports activities romance collection Heated Rivalry, there’ll be a brand new viewers of followers and informal viewers that will likely be tuning in. (Thanks, Shane Hollander!) —Christian Paz
The rise of sports activities betting. This yr’s Olympics arguably mark the primary occasion since prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket turned a mainstream phenomenon. Already, Polymarket customers have traded hundreds of thousands of {dollars}’ price of bets on particular person competitions and general medal counts. Notably, the Milan Cortina Video games come simply as these platforms face a wave of new scrutiny associated to sports activities dishonest scandals. —CD
Well being and wellness. It’s more and more exhausting to consider that, a mere 5 years in the past, the Tokyo Olympics mandated masking, social distancing, and different Covid protocols. Now, most Olympic athletes don’t even masks routinely throughout journey. Personally, I’d be so confused about sickness. Think about how terrible it will be to get sick whereas sharing a tiny dorm room together with your teammates or not feeling 100% wholesome through the greatest second of your profession. Organizers already needed to push the ladies’s hockey sport between Canada and Finland due to a norovirus outbreak. —Lauren Katz
