Olympic cross-country ski champion Veronica Stepanova in a column on , she wrote that the spirit of Olympism will not be felt at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
The 2026 Olympic Games will be held in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.
— I have been to Lillehammer, Norway, more than once. It’s a small town, but it managed to host all the programs for the 1994 Olympics. And everyone hung out in the same place. In Sochi, if you wanted, you could watch cross-country skiing in the morning, bobsledding in the afternoon and figure skating in the evening, everything was nearby. At the Beijing Olympics, this was no longer possible. For example, I never visited the Chinese capital, it was too far from our Olympic ski village. At the upcoming Olympics in Italy, all the competitions were held in different locations – even the skiers and the biathlon were separated. And bobsleigh will not take place in Italy at all.
This means that none of the participants will feel any “spirit of Olympism”, even in theory: to do this, it is necessary to at least occasionally cross paths and get to know athletes from other disciplines. But in reality, they will see absolutely the same faces as at the World Cup stages, the same tracks and stadiums. They will only live, train and perform in two or even three security rings. Great “Olympism”!
There will be those who will now read all this and say: “Well, my friend, you have changed your shoes – you were all looking forward to going to the 2026 Olympics, but now everything does not suit you!” Not everything about the Games is bad. First of all, the Olympics for most sports, including my own, represent the biggest audience, for some, the only chance to make headlines…
I’m trying to remember why the Olympics are better than other international competitions, and nothing comes to mind. Okay, that there is a “prize amount to win”, but that is just a consequence of the same high interest and promotion. “I would like to get this exactly from the Olympics – branding, promotion, recognition,” Stepanova wrote in a column on .
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Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
