Some of the special athletes who elevated these Olympics

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Veteran sportswriter Richard Deitsch takes an international view of the Olympics.

There was once a time when Sports Illustrated was a global sponsor at the Olympics and one of the perks for being a financial media lion amid this international world was that knucklehead writers such as myself had perks we could only dream about in real life. 

I can distinctly remember travelling with the late Grant Wahl, arguably North America’s greatest soccer writer, to the final Sports Illustrated party of the 2004 Olympics. Here I was in Athens, the heartbeat of civilization, at a corporate bacchanal held at an open-air beach club with Olympians and high-end booze everywhere. A billionaire would be embarrassed by the excess, and Grant and I both laughed at the absurdity of the moment as we drank in the Aegean Sea surrounding us. 

When you are at the Olympics, it is hard not to get caught up in the myth the IOC sells. Indeed, what a wonderful world this could be, especially with an expense account. 

The Olympics has many issues and it would take a dissertation to list them all here. But what always remains true as every Olympics concludes — the athletes save the Games every time. CBC Sports gave me an incredible assignment to write about the Winter Olympics every day from a global perspective. It was the first time for me covering the Olympics away from the site. I experienced everything through a screen, be it watching on traditional channels such as CBC or the amazing experience on CBC Gem. It provided a viewing experience far greater than I possibly could have had if I were in Milan or Cortina. 

The drawback, of course, is not being able to see the scenes with your eyes. Nor can you gain insight from the competitors on the whys and hows immediately after competition. But you can get a much broader view of the Games, which is impossible if you are covering them in person. So a sincere thanks to CBC Sports for letting me return to my favourite content space. 

WATCH | Liu’s gold-medal performance:

Alysa Liu becomes 1st American to win the Olympic figure skating women’s singles title in 24 years

American Alysa Liu ended a 24-year drought, by winning the Olympic figure skating women’s singles title at Milano Cortina 2026.

My takeaway from the Milano-Cortina Olympics is that they exceeded my expectations. The competition was incredible. The broader operation ran mostly without issue. We had no human tragedies. These are successes. 

But the athletes. My God, the athletes. Alysa Liu skated with joy to win the women’s figure skating after initially retiring from the sport at 16. Mikaela Shiffrin exercised her Olympic demos with the most technically perfect slalom run ever. The Dutch speedskating duo of Femke Kok and Jutta Leerdam exceeded their country’s massive expectations. The Italian skier Federica Brignone, skiing with a tiger on her helmet, a nod to her ferocious nickname, Tigre delle Nevi (Snow Tiger), won the giant slalom and super-G. Her countrywoman,  Francesca Lollobrigida, emerged as a national sporting hero with gold medals in speedskating’s 3,000 and 5,000 metres. There was the gruelling dominance of Sweden’s women’s cross-country team in the women’s sprint classic as Linn Svahn, Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist swept the podium. It feels like a lifetime ago because it was so early in the competition but Switzerland’s Franjo von Allmen won the men’s downhill, super-G and team combined, one of the great alpine Olympics ever.

Even a week later I cannot believe American figure skater Ilia Malinin finished in eighth place. The gold went to Mikhail Shaidorov of Kazakhstan and it was the most shocking upset of the Games. Milano Cortina also brought us the farcical, with Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid, a fairly well-known biathlon athlete but someone most of the planet had never heard of outside of Norway, becoming a global story by saying, “Three months ago, I made my biggest mistake and cheated on her.”  We might never see that again.

WATCH | Why Ukraine athlete was disqualified:

Ukrainian Olympian disqualified over helmet design

Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych is appealing the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) decision to disqualify him after he refused to change his helmet. The IOC says Heraskevych’s helmet — adorned with the faces of fellow athletes and coaches killed in Ukraine’s ongoing war with Russia — violates their rules around athletes’ expression, a claim he and other Ukrainians reject.

What else? The courage of Ukraine skeleton rider Vladyslav Heraskevych, who gained more by not racing. The visuals of Lindsey Vonn being airlifted off the Cortina d’Ampezzo course. Moms such as U.S. bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, Loolobrigida and American hockey player Kendall Coyne Schofield shattering tired sports myths. The women’s gold medal game reconfirmed one of the great global rivalries in sports.  The debut of ski mountaineering — a success it says here. Bobsled? German excellence again. The finale was the pulsating men’s gold medal game in hockey which went to overtime. 

And then there is Johannes Høsflot Klæbo. What more can you say about this man? His 11 career Olympic gold medals is second only to swimmer Michael Phelps (23) as far as Olympic golds. The cross-country skier defined Norway’s excellence in the Winter Olympics. He helped lead his country to an astounding 41 medals including 18 gold, a new record for a single Winter Olympics.

Next will be Los Angeles. The Summer Games are always bigger, louder. Those Games promise to be all of that, including a divisive political moment. But I suspect the athletes will save that too.