Thoughts on the 2026 Winter Olympics

I have been watching the Olympic Games for most of my life, ever since I was a kid. As a child, I was caught up in the pageantry and Olympic spirit. As an adult, I’m more aware of the politics involved, and the corruption, sportwashing, and other human rights issues that so often mar the games. However, I keep waiting, as even if the games themselves don’t live up to the spirit, I still kinda believe in the dream. So, how about this year’s Games?

First off, as a surprise to me – I fell off watching Snowboarding. As a teenager, the X-Games served as a showcase for these newer sports, which at the time weren’t well regarded. Saying “Skateboarding is not a crime” wasn’t just “punk kids” being edgy – some towns had laws that explicitly or implicitly banned skateboarding. There was an active debate at the various ski resorts on Mt. Hood and Mt. Bachelor over whether snowboarding would be allowed. The Winter Olympics snowboarding events were the first crack in that dam, leading to the legitimization of Snowboarding.

Except, at long last, Skateboarding became an Olympic sport, and I came to realize – I enjoy watching Skateboarding more. A lot more. Skateboarding has a wider range of tricks, making the sport more visually dynamic to watch. You just can’t kickflip a snowboard, and many of the events aren’t designed in ways where grinding is a feasible trick.

Instead, both by the nature of my work schedule and just my own interest, I’ve been watching a lot more Curling. Now, the length of the matches often means I’m only watching one match a day, but they’re generally interesting, and over the course of the Olympics, I’ve learned much more of the minutia of the sport.

I’ve also watched a moderate bit of Figure Skating. I’ve generally enjoyed Figure Skating – not just because I’m bi. It’s one of the Olympic Events that pairs physical skill with artistic expression. I think, in a historical standpoint, the relaxing of modesty standards for women actually helps show this – when the permitted hemline for a woman figure skater’s dress is below the knee (or even hides the thigh), what it also ends up doing is hiding the work that’s done when the skater lands from a jump. The force from a triple Salchow going down the leg and through the razor blade of an ice skate, while the skater also has to maintain their balance.

And then this year, we have Women’s Hockey. I came in primed for this after having watched Pride of Orange, but the Olympics make for a place where you can watch the men’s and women’s versions of a sport side by side. So, if you’ll pardon the pun, you get the impact of Men’s Hockey allowing checking and Women’s Hockey not. It means that the women are basically trained when they learn the sport that they need to show more precision and control on their skates, so they don’t get a penalty. The men, on the other hand, feel like they’re told, “Ehh, ice is slippery, sometimes you crash into each other, rubbin’ is racing, am I right?”

It makes for a situation where the athletes whose sport has less mainstream penetration, and who are almost certainly paid less, are required by their sport to show more skill than their male counterparts.

In all, I enjoyed watching the Olympics a great deal, and I wish I had more time to watch them. One of these years I’ll figure out how to DVR some of the broadcasts so I can catch some of the Hockey games later.

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