Several teams turn to unsavory methods to win gold in the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The Winter Olympics have arrived in Milan-Cortina, and there are some interesting events throughout the competitions. A lot has happened in the opening week of the Winter Olympics, and there is a lot more to come. Currently Norway leads with the most medals and most gold medals in the Olympics followed by Italy with the United States in third. The competitions have seen quite an array of news coming from it, and not all is due to the success of athletes. From cheating scandals in curling and skiing to the dominance of the United States in women’s hockey, there is a lot to look for and look forward to in the coming weeks.
Within the heat of fierce competition, we have seen some athletes and teams turn to whatever advantages they can get, even if it violates the rules. The first scandal brought to light was the Norwegian men’s ski jumping team. The team was found injecting parts of their body to increase their size so that they can gain an advantage in their suit size. Ski jumping has strict rules about the size of the suits, in that the suit cannot be four centimeters larger than the athlete’s body measurements. A baggier suit leads to more air being caught and a further flight, which means a better score. The Olympic committee has been cracking down on the cheating in ski jumping in an attempt to level the playing field.
The other big cheating scandal to hit the Olympics this year was the Canadian men’s curling team. During a match with Sweden, a Swedish competitor called out the Canadian team for touching the stone after it passed the green line. This led to a heated moment of tempers flaring in the middle of competition and the Canadian team yelling back. The Swedish team would get retribution when video evidence showed what they had claimed was true. The Canadian team used their index fingers when pushing the stone to give it an extra push after it was past the green line. The accusation and response from this incident show how much pressure each competitor feels while in these Olympic competitions.
These 2026 Winter Olympics are also the first time since 1976 that the backflip was allowed in the figure skating competition, which was banned in 1977 due to safety concerns. Because of this, we saw the first backflip in Olympic figure skating in 28 years performed by Ilia Malinin. The last time it was performed in the Olympics was by Surya Bonaly in the 1998 Olympics, where she was penalized for doing it since it was a banned move in figure skating. Since we have seen that the backflip can be done safely by multiple people, and the Olympic committee thinks that skaters can safely do the trick, there is a lot that can be expected from the figure skating world in years to come.
In the world of Olympic Hockey, there seems to be a dominating force in both the men’s and women’s divisions of competition. On the women’s side of the puck, the United States has yet to be slowed down. The women had only let up one goal in the competition before the final match, where they won gold against Canada. On the men’s side of the puck, the Canadian team is the one to beat. Although they struggled quite a bit against Czechia, they are expected to bounce back strong against Finland in the semi-finals. The winner of that game will take on the winner of the United States and Slovakia for gold.
The Winter Olympics have provided many types of entertainment this year. There has been drama caused by flaring tempers and cheating to win. There are big moments that will be remembered for years to come and shows of dominance on the ice. The start of the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina has something for almost every viewer, and there is still a lot left to watch.
