Historic Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina Draw to a Close

The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina have drawn to a close, with Norway bringing home the most medals at this year's prestigious event.

The Winter Olympics, occurring every four years, consist of 116 medaling events across 16 core sports. They are widely considered as the most prestigious winter sports competition in the world, with thousands of athletes vying for a gold medal in the name of their country. This year, the Olympics were held by two cities, Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, located near the Dolomite mountain range.

Here's a quick breakdown of this year's Winter Olympics:

• Norway won the most medals of any country (18 gold, 12 silver, 11 bronze) for the third Winter Olympics in a row, having also topped the medal table in 2018 and 2022. Norway is the single-most decorated nation in Winter Olympics history, primarily due to the abundance of winter sports that take place in the nation's mountainous terrain.

• With Johannes Dale-Skjevdal's gold medal in the men's biathlon mass start event, Norway broke the record for most gold medals ever won by a single country, bringing home 18 gold medals at the end of this year's Winter Olympics.

• The United States took home second place on the medal table, with 12 gold, 12 silver, and 9 bronze medals. The nation's best moment took place during the men's ice hockey final on Sunday, where they faced off against Canada. An even score of 1-1 sent the game to overtime after 60 minutes, where both countries were forced to send out just three players and a goaltender to finish off the game. In the end, the American Jack Hughes scored the winning goal for the US, sealing their first hockey gold since 1980.

• The top 5 was rounded out by the Netherlands, with 10 gold, 7 silver, and 3 bronze; Italy, with 10 gold, 6 silver, and 14 bronze; and Germany, with 8 gold, 10 silver, and 8 bronze.

• The United States' Ilia Malinin, who was considered one of the top candidates for gold in the free skate, placed only eighth after two falls and several mistakes. Malinin is known for his signature quadruple axel, which is considered one of the most difficult moves in figure skating, and he had not lost a competition in over two years. However, he admitted afterwards that the pressure got to him during the event, and negative thoughts contributed to his performance. In the end, Kazakhstan's Mikhail Shaidorov won men's gold – the nation's only medal at the Winter Olympics – while Malinin's counterpart Alysa Liu won the women's free skate.

• Eileen Gu, an American-born woman who competes for her mother's home country of China, became the most decorated free skier in history at the age of just 22. Gu added to her two golds and a silver from the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, defending gold in the halfpipe and winning silver in big air and slopestyle, winning a total of 6 medals over just two Olympics. The wins come after a spate of controversy over her switch to representing China– a decision she made back in 2019. The Trump administration was notably unhappy with her representation of China, with Vice President JD Vance commenting, "I certainly think that somebody who grew up in the United States of America, who benefited from our education system, from the freedoms and liberties that make this country a great place, I would hope that they want to compete with the United States of America." Gu suggested that her success at the Olympics was really causing the problem, noting that her wins likely increase the amount of backlash she gets for switching. However, there are many athletes that compete for different nations, and it remains up to them to make their decision on which country to represent.

Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): 1912 saw the last Olympic gold medals made entirely out of gold. After that year, the International Olympic Committee decided that Olympic medals would be made out of silver and plated with at least 6 grams of gold, reducing cost, increasing durability, and decreasing weight.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): The hard days are the best because that's where champions are made. (Gabby Douglas)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Foray (noun, FOR-ay) - A foray is an initial and often hesitant attempt to do something in a new or different field or area of activity, as in “the novelist’s foray into nonfiction.” In martial contexts, foray means “a sudden or irregular invasion or attack for war or spoils.”

In a Sentence: The professional wrestler’s surprise foray into ballet was at first met with skepticism, but he eventually proved himself a dancer of grace and poise.

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