2026 Winter Olympics - discussion thread

[TopTort777]

In most Olympic sports it is like that, I agree, but in some Olympic sports the best athletes do not compete, like Boxing for example.
If the best athletes do not compete, then we cannot say that the Olympic champions are truly the best in their category.
On the other hand, of course every athlete gives their best at the Olympic Games and that the competitions are very attractive and interesting, no one disputes that.

Lets stop on boxing as an example. Why do you think Olympic boxers are better or worse than professional boxers (lets skip amateur boxing) ? I find it incorrect to compare professional athletes and those who train exactly to perform during Olympics. Professional boxer - an athlete who fight ranked boxing matches under specified promotion and his opponents often determined by contracts. Olympic boxer - an athlete who during 4 years participated in numerous world championships and gained medals, to get score points, to be selected to represent country. One fight only few times per year and opponent who he was told to fight. Other fight anyone, multiple times per year/tournament. One have to give all of him during 1 fight, then have a rest for 3-12 months. Other try to avoid damage/save energy, because he has 2-3 more fight, and will have next fight in 3+ months. This is two different kind of boxing. Or correct me if I am wrong.

And all discussions can be broken by one example. Olexander Usyk Olympic gold medal + all heavyweight belts owner

[stompix]

Lets stop on boxing as an example. Why do you think Olympic boxers are better or worse than professional boxers (lets skip amateur boxing) ? I find it incorrect to compare professional athletes and those who train exactly to perform during Olympics. Professional boxer - an athlete who fight ranked boxing matches under specified promotion and his opponents often determined by contracts. Olympic boxer - an athlete who during 4 years participated in numerous world championships and gained medals, to get score points, to be selected to represent country.

Why do we need to "skip" amateur boxing?
That was the reason why you had no professional boxers at the Olympics in the first place till 2016!
Nobody "trained" for the Olympics because they like that more than turning profesional well, if we exclude Cuba for obvious reasons!

And all discussions can be broken by one example. Olexander UsykOlympic gold medal + all heavyweight belts owner

Wow....that is your argument? Who could have thought of it!
Michael Schumacher, first kart champion then 7 times Formula 1 champion, so kart drivers are the same as F1 drivers!
You realize how stupid this is?

[TopTort777]

Lets stop on boxing as an example. Why do you think Olympic boxers are better or worse than professional boxers (lets skip amateur boxing) ? I find it incorrect to compare professional athletes and those who train exactly to perform during Olympics. Professional boxer - an athlete who fight ranked boxing matches under specified promotion and his opponents often determined by contracts. Olympic boxer - an athlete who during 4 years participated in numerous world championships and gained medals, to get score points, to be selected to represent country.

Why do we need to "skip" amateur boxing?
That was the reason why you had no professional boxers at the Olympics in the first place till 2016!
Nobody "trained" for the Olympics because they like that more than turning profesional well, if we exclude Cuba for obvious reasons!

And all discussions can be broken by one example. Olexander UsykOlympic gold medal + all heavyweight belts owner

Wow....that is your argument? Who could have thought of it!
Michael Schumacher, first kart champion then 7 times Formula 1 champion, so kart drivers are the same as F1 drivers!
You realize how stupid this is?

I was only trying to tell that training to be professional boxing and training to be Olympic boxer are two different preparation programs, strategies and gameplans Also I understood that Daniel91 told that professional boxers as athletes are better than Olympic, when I see them as two different athletes. Also he told that Olympic athletes are not the best in category, but then how can Usyk be best as a boxer and best as professional boxer. I can easily break that saying myself by saying that Olympic gold medal athletes, lets say in wrestling, in mix martial arts, against other elite wrestlers are not 100% winner

P.S. that is off-topic, but are karting championship differs much from F1 ? No pit stops, kart is less powerful. But isnt race principles are similar?

[LTU_btc]

Btw, even though Winter Olympic games starts on February 6 and opening ceremony will be at @ 21:00 (local time), first competitions will start in 2 days, February 4, but first medals will be awarded this Saturday already. Full timetable available on https://www.olympics.com/en/milano-cortina-2026/schedule.

Those who are betting, if there is option to bet who is going to take first gold medal, consider betting on Switzerland

Btw, surprisingly, tickets for opening ceremony are still available.

Yeah, as usual women ice hockey and curling tournaments before opening ceremony. There is one time in 4 years when I tune in to watch women hockey. Withall respect, but it's quite difficult to watch.
BTW, there is some issues with main ice hockey venue - with few days remaining final works isn't finished yet:
https://www.bbc.com/sport/ice-hockey/articles/cq6vdpnelvzo
Also, ice rink will be a bit smaller than they use in NHL, despite that most part of players is from NHL.

[TopTort777]

Olympic ice rink is always different than NHL rink. Only last time they had same as NHL.

Here is difference between two:



(in Europe, Olympic size ice rink is used). I prefer neutral zone fro NHL, as it allows to attack be longer. I think also difference is in pauses length. Because usually Olympic and IIHF games last 2 hours, but NHL game is slightly longer (or maybe they do that on TV only).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_hockey_at_the_2026_Winter_Olympics Group A look stronger than others Because 3 teams will be fighting for 2 spots, when in other groups is more or less clear who will those two who advances to play-off.

[stompix]

Also he told that Olympic athletes are not the best in category, but then how can Usyk be best as a boxer and best as professional boxer.

Causation vs correlation type thing!
Usyk would have been a good professional boxer even without boxing at the Olympics!

P.S. that is off-topic, but are karting championship differs much from F1 ? No pit stops, kart is less powerful. But isnt race principles are similar?

Yeah, just how a crop duster is the same as 787 or if we take it by Independence Day logic same as an F18 Hornet.

[LTU_btc]

Legendary Lindsay Vonn will participate in Olympics despite torn ACL:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/lindsey-vonn-olympic-dream-after-knee-injury-crash/story?id=129706272
I just can't imagine how it's possible to compete in sport like alpine skiing with such injury. Even walking should be painful task. And it's so pity because after return from retirement Vonn perfromed very well, now she can't fight for good result.
Today in the beginning of curling mixed doubles games electricity just disappeared, fortunately it was quickly fixed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/olympics/comments/1qvw4yv/power_out_during_curling/

(in Europe, Olympic size ice rink is used). I prefer neutral zone fro NHL, as it allows to attack be longer. I think also difference is in pauses length. Because usually Olympic and IIHF games last 2 hours, but NHL game is slightly longer (or maybe they do that on TV only).

I was sure that in Vancouver and other North American Olympics they used NHL size rink, but thanks for correcting me. About game length, IIHF games barely can fit in 2 hours, it's more like between 2:15-2:30. But yeah, NHL game lasts longer because there so many commercial breaks.

[TopTort777]

Do you think we would have curiosities during Olympics? I have recently remembered Raygun, Australian break-dancer


I hope athletes will take it serious and wont waste tax payers money like she did.

Legendary Lindsay Vonn will participate in Olympics despite torn ACL:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/lindsey-vonn-olympic-dream-after-knee-injury-crash/story?id=129706272
I just can't imagine how it's possible to compete in sport like alpine skiing with such injury. Even walking should be painful task. And it's so pity because after return from retirement Vonn perfromed very well, now she can't fight for good result.

Oohhh... ACL. That is probably an injury that 99,99% of skiers get. My mother torn her ACL about 10 years ago in Austria while skiing. I understand that it is very individual, but it took her 3 months to recover from surgery. Walking isnt painful for her, even running is not a problem. But going up and down on the staircase can cause discomfort. Curved staircase is most problematic, as you put pressure on knee, and twist/turn body/leg to move. After injury, she has returned to skiing, but do it more cautious. Does not put a strain on the leg, avoid risk, and sauna after half day of skiing is a must. That is a regular skier. But Vonn isnt regular, she compete against best and her downhill is much complicated. Good luck to her, but I dont expect medals from her.

[Daniel91]

Legendary Lindsay Vonn will participate in Olympics despite torn ACL:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Culture/lindsey-vonn-olympic-dream-after-knee-injury-crash/story?id=129706272
I just can't imagine how it's possible to compete in sport like alpine skiing with such injury. Even walking should be painful task. And it's so pity because after return from retirement Vonn perfromed very well, now she can't fight for good result.
Today in the beginning of curling mixed doubles games electricity just disappeared, fortunately it was quickly fixed:
https://www.reddit.com/r/olympics/comments/1qvw4yv/power_out_during_curling/

(in Europe, Olympic size ice rink is used). I prefer neutral zone fro NHL, as it allows to attack be longer. I think also difference is in pauses length. Because usually Olympic and IIHF games last 2 hours, but NHL game is slightly longer (or maybe they do that on TV only).

I was sure that in Vancouver and other North American Olympics they used NHL size rink, but thanks for correcting me. About game length, IIHF games barely can fit in 2 hours, it's more like between 2:15-2:30. But yeah, NHL game lasts longer because there so many commercial breaks.

Lindsay Vonn's return is great news for all true fans. After her return, she was successful, achieved very good results, even won some races and I am glad that she recovered from her injury and will compete at these Olympic Games.
At the Olympic Games she has won 3 medals so far, 1 gold and 2 bronze, in my opinion too few considering her talent and I sincerely hope that she will win a few more medals at these Olympic Games.

[LTU_btc]

First day of Olympics is over. Today we had 5 medal events - men downhill, women 20km skiathlon, Women's normal hill individual, snowboarding big air and speed skating women 3000m and here is how medal table looks after first day - 3 countries sharing 1st place:

On Sunday for me main events is biathlon mixed relay and final of men luge event. There is also final of figure skating team event, but that's not my sport.

[TopTort777]

It is always easier to perform at home As they say, "at home even wall help" No wonder why Italy is on first place by number of medals. In 2022 Italy finished Olympic games not even among top10.

8 medal sets will be awarded today. There are events where Italy already got medals (like speed skating and alpine skiing). I think more medals will be for Italy. Norway most probably win in biathlon. China in figure skating.

Men ice hockey starts on Wednesday

[Jostern]

This is the first mention of the Winter Olympics that I’ve seen. Sort of shocking considering how close we are to the start. I haven’t even heard of any athletes to watch. It seems like people are either losing interest in the Olympics or tv stations aren’t making enough money to advertise it.

This is just the winter Olympic season, and I don’t think it’s actually taken more seriously as people would rather suggest, like you have said I’m not familiar with the Athletes who will be competing in the winter Olympic, but I’m anticipating more of the track and field events, those that will be competing in the races and marathon and endurance races, and fast runners well I guess this might actually sounds different from what we usually experience from the usual Olympic Sports events, and the aquatic events which are not familiar and it’s not really know to ourselves.