The Olympic Winter Games 2026 will take place in a large city in northern Italy for the first time.
While Milan will undoubtedly give the 2026 Games a catchy moniker, the majority of the contests will take place in locations that are named after World Cup stages in a variety of winter sports: Cortina d’Ampezzo, Bormio, and Val di Fiemme. The official motto for this spectacular tournament is Dream Together.
Rich Background and Italian Support
Given that Cortina d’Ampezzo is a well-known ski resort, its wealth of expertise likely aided the Italian effort to win the vote. The Olympics were scheduled here in 1944, but they were postponed until 12 years later due to the Second World War.
In addition, the city has been home to the world championships in skeleton, bobsleigh, skiing, and alpine skiing on several occasions.
As a consequence, most of this location’s sporting facilities are ready. Thirteen of the fourteen facilities that are supposed to be included in the Olympic program will either be temporary or already operating, according to the Olympic Committee, which is something they specifically emphasized.
Timetable, and Opening Ceremony
It should be held between February, 6 th and 22 nd. According to reports, more than 3,000 athletes from about 93 states will have taken part in approximately 109 competitions within 15 kinds of sporting activities.
Additionally, it is anticipated that the event will draw around two million spectators. Based on the data from previous years, it can be assumed that more than 30,000 journalists will receive accreditation.
Thus, whether you are an experienced writer or just starting your career path in this field and looking for a position on Jooble, hurry up, as working as a journalist at the Olympics is a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the most important sporting event in the world and tell millions of people about it.
Although the tournament timetable has not been revealed yet, the tournament usually starts several days before the Grand Opening.
Parity of Genders
With more women’s events than ever before, Milano Cortina 2026 is expected to be the most gender-equal Olympics ever. The schedule includes fifty activities just for women.
The IOC noted that the tournament will make a record for female attendance among sportsmen for the Winter Games: the share of women will be 47%, which is 2% higher than at the preceding Games in Beijing, indicating substantial progress in reducing the gender divide.
One important turning point in this endeavor will be to Continue pushing for gender parity.
Discover the remarkable achievements of snowboarders during past Winter Games.
New Olympics Events to Anticipate in 2026
Eight additional disciplines have been introduced to the 2026 Winter Olympics schedule. One of them was the Olympic registration of a new sport – ski mountaineering. This is the first new winter sport since 2002 when skeleton went back to the tournament.
Thus, the program contains ski mountaineering activities (men’s and women’s and mixed distance), mixed skeleton team competitions, men’s and women’s pair moguls in freestyle, women’s competitions in ski jumping from a large springboard and in a two-man sled.
Contrary to expectations, a single-mix was not added to the biathlon program, so everything remained unchanged in this sport.
Official Anthem
Fino All’alba, which means “Before Dawn” in the English translation, was written by “La Cittadina”, a music group from Seveso, and received 72 percent of the votes at the end of the song contest, which ended on February 22.
The song was performed on the Sanremo 2022 Festival stage by Italian singer and actress Arisa.
Official Mascot
The official mascots of the Olympics 2026 are two stoats in helmets, one of the stoats wears a fur coat made of white wool, and the second is brown with a white spot.
Both animals wear blue helmets. 53% of the participants of the popular vote voted for ermines. Now the choice must receive formal approval by the organizers.
The animals were drawn by students of the Institute in Catanzaro. In total, about 1.6 thousand applications were submitted for participation in the tournament, which was sent by schoolchildren and students of Italian educational institutions.
Edelweiss and snowdrop, representatives of the flora of the Alps, also participated in the voting.
The IOC’s Historic Decision. What Happened?
The famous Eugenio Monti bobsleigh track constructed in 1923 was one of the highlights of the Italian campaign when Milan faced off against a Swedish proposal for the 2026 Games. Trump delivered triumph when Italy was given the privilege to host the Olympiad.
Later it was discovered that the track was in such bad condition that its renovation was projected to cost €50 million. However, upon more thorough inspection, the organizing board concluded that it would be simpler to destroy the building and construct a new track.
Also, the price is close to €150 million. The Italian authorities declined to invest millions more money, despite having previously boosted funding to €2 billion (compared to the initial €1,5). It became evident all of a sudden that bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge events could not be held in Italy throughout the Olympic Games.
How was the IOC’s response? They commended the Italian government for their economic wisdom and caution. It is not essential to develop the thing as it is too costly and its ongoing functioning may lead to significant problems.
The Olympic Committee applauded the decision to transfer these disciplines to a different country overall. Austria’s Innsbruck has previously said that they are ready to host a portion of the Olympic tournaments, where 10 sets of medals would be played simultaneously.
So, how about that? One more Olympic location will exist. All that’s left to do is wait for the formal application.
