The surge on the Olympics is making its way back to headlines! The all new 2026 Winter Olympics is coming back in Milan Cortina d’Ampezzo Italy. The best part is that the Olympics has lots of different people getting to compete this year from all around the world. Mostly, the winter olympics involve a variety of sports such as Ice hockey, figure skating, Skiing and snowboarding all take place around this time of year during February 6-22.
One of the people getting to compete this year for the 2026 winter Olympics is Illia Malinin, who is a 21 year old Olympic gold medalist for the U.S. team for figure skating and Geroge Mason student. Many people were appalled by his very move and rhythm on his performance that he so elegantly did on the ice. Junior Sanna Smithen says,”I can’t believe that he’s from Fairfas, Virginia, he literally represents our state!” She says. This means that he got to help represent America and the state of Virginia, where he’s from which sparked many happy people online and herself included about this information. His performance also sparked much controversy as he did a backflip and landed on the ice in which previously known in figure skating, this actually used to be illegal after ice skater Surya Bonley performed it at the Olympics, but was quickly banned after she did so landing on only one foot. Then, the ban was lifted in 2024 where ice skater Illia Millan got to outshine his creativity and skills on the ice ring this year.
Another piece of performance that sparked much attention online was that Jake Paul’s girlfriend Jutta Leerdam, a Dutch background, got to win gold for her speed skating event that took place. This had many people shocked and had the benefit of the doubt in which many people online were happy for these power couples to win. Jake Paul’s reaction to his girlfriend winning had him in tears. Senior Emma Jacob says,” Yeah, that was pretty intense and emotional to watch her win while Jake Paul was tearing up.” says Jacob. This leads to many people wondering if Jake Paul will also ever compete in the Olympics just like her girlfriend did.
Also, many Olympic medalist athletes after winning their medal noticed something strange after jumping in joy, that their medal was falling off the ribbon that was supposed to hold their precious medals but instead, it didn’t and this left many athletes on social media concerned and confused with all of this amidst the Olympics being a very high sporting event and that last olympics, athletes beds were made of cardboard. Was this the second beginning of a terrible disaster such as the last Olympics? Speculations made online had the people who created the medals offered new ones to those who had them broken. Many athletes are left sad, confused and wondered about this.
And so therefore, the Olympics really did have their very own moment, just like the Grammys did. And, it wouldn’t have been the Olympics without a little bit of controversy.
