 |
|
|
|||||
The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics may be winding down, but the memories will linger for years to come. The competition began on Wednesday, February 4, with the official opening ceremony on Friday, February 6. A little more than two weeks later, the Games will conclude with an epic closing ceremony on Sunday, February 22. So much action was packed into the event that it was a full-time job keeping up. Since a lot of people have actual full-time jobs, heres a look back at the highlights, endearing moments, and heartbreaks of the XXV Olympic Winter Games. How can I track 2026 Winter Olympics medals? First things first. You can stay up to date with all of the medals and medalists who have emerged victorious this winter with this handy medal count tracker on Olympics.com. Now for the highlights. The first gold medal of the Games While it is quite an impressive accomplishment to even qualify for the Olympic Games, lets be realmost athletes want to win it all. Franjo von Allmen got to live out his wildest dreams when he took home the first medal of the Games for Switzerland in the mens downhill alpine skiing event. He liked winning gold so much that he did it again two more times. His story off the slopes highlights the power of community. When von Allmen lost his father when he was just 17 years old, it appeared that his skiing aspirations might have to be put on hold because of finances. Instead, those around him crowdfunded so the young athlete could continue to pursue his dreams. Team USAs first gold medal The first gold medal for Team USA came in the women’s alpine skiing downhill event. Breezy Johnsons time of 1 minute, 36.10 seconds, bested Germanys Emma Aicher by a mere 0.04 seconds. Johnson is now one of only two American women to win the Olympic downhill. Her gold medal? Well, it broke shortly after Johnson was presented it. Thankfully, she eventually got a replacement. Lindsey Vonns Crash The other American woman to win a gold medal in alpine downhill skiing is Lindsey Vonnshe won it in 2010. She also has two bronze medals, one for the Super-G (2010) and the other for alpine downhill (2018). On the same day of Johnsons win (February 8), Vonns 2026 Olympic medal dreams came to an unfortunate end when she crashed and fractured her left leg. Curling baby A happier Olympic moment involves the 1-1/2-year-old son of Swiss curlers Briar Schwaller-Huerlimann and Yannick Schwaller. After his parents won their opening game in overtime, River took to the ice to get in on the action. Fans thought he looked adorable with the curling broom. Its never too early to begin your Olympic dreams. A shirtless celebration On the opposite side of the age spectrum, Austrian Benjamin Karl could not contain his excitement after winning gold in the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboard event. After the medal ceremony, he ripped off his shirt to celebrate the achievement. It was his second consecutive win in the event, having also taken home gold in 2022. Karl proves that age is just a number, as his latest victory makes him the oldest individual gold medalist in Winter Olympic history, at 40 years and 115 days old. This title was short-lived, as Elana Meyers Taylors life experience uncrowned Karl shortly after (see below). Favorite foods of Olympic athletes No matter how old they are, competitors have to fuel their bodies to compete. Communal meals in the athlete villages are there to help. In Paris, chocolate muffins were all the rage. Meanwhile, several social media posts have celebrated different cuisines in Milan and Cortina. Lava cake and tiramisu seem to be the sweet-treat favorites of the 2026 Games. For carb-loading purposes, pasta was served in the shape of the Olympic rings. This meal was a triple threat: delicious, pretty, and practical. Ilia Malinins backflip Backflips were once a no-no in the figure skating world. American Terry Kubicka made history at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, when he successfully landed the move in competition for the first time. The next year, the International Skating Union banned it, citing safety and technical reasons. Backflips involve taking off and landing on two feet, whereas other jumps only utilize one foot. The move didnt disappear from figure skating completely, even though it was outlawed. Many athletes chose to execute the move in exhibition skates. In the 1998 Nagano Games, French skater Surya Bonaly added it to her routine. Last year, the International Skating Union reversed the ban, paving the way for American skater Ilia Malinin to do his thing in 2026. Malinin was dubbed the “Quad God” because of his ability to land a quadruple axel in competitions while continuing to raise the technical stakes even higher. He was the clear favorite to win gold in mens singles figure skating. After the short program, he was even five points ahead of the pack. But he fell twice during the long program, resulting in an eighth-place finish. Despite his heartbreak, he immediately congratulated gold medalist Mikhail Shaidorovteaching the world how to lose with grace. However, Malinin did take home a gold medal from the earlier team skating event, and it’s doubtful the Olympics have seen the last of him. American womens hockey takes home gold Things have long been tense between the United States and Canada, and we are not talking tariffs. The long-lasting rivalry between the womens hockey teams was on full display in the 2026 Winter Games. This time around, Team USA took home the gold after a nail-biting final matchup. Amercan captain Hilary Knight scored the goal that tied the game, forcing an overtime battle. This set up Megan Keller to net the final nail in Canadas defeat. The crowd went wild. Among the loudest supporters of the women were Haley Winns older brothers: Casey, Ryan, and Tommy Winn. This trio went viral for wearing over-the-top matching outfits and posting their support on social media. The Winn familys home videos also show how Haleys brothers were instrumental in teaching her the love of the game. Figure skating gold medal More good news on the ice: Team USAs 24-year gold medal drought in womens figure skating was put to an end by Alysa Liu. The 20-year-old had walked away from the sport when she was 16 because she was burned out. After the short program, she was in third place. Her impressive performance to Donna Summers “MacArthur Park” focused on joy. This propelled her to win that gold medal. A Canadian curling scandal A less joyous occasion occurred when two Canadian curlers were accused of cheating. The first incident took place on Friday, February 13, when Canada was up against Sweden. Canadian Marc Kennedy was accused of double-touching the stone, which is against the rules. He had some heated words for his opponent Oskar Eriksson. The following day, a similar incident happened when Canadian women’s captain Rachel Homan faced more cheating accusations. These events caused the World Curling governing body to further explain the rules of the game. The sport does not use video playback, so no retroactive penalties are added, as on-ice calls are considered final. A wolfdog gets in on the action Who said humans get to have all the fun at the Winter Olympics? Not this four-legged friend. During the women’s cross-country skiing team sprint, Nazgul wanted to play. This 2-year-old Czechoslovakian wolfdog may not have won a gold medal, but he sure stole everyones hearts. Sturla Holm Lgreids confession They say cheaters never prosper, but Sturla Holm Lgreid has won five medals at the time of this writingthree silver and two bronze in the various individual and relay biathlon events (cross-country skiing and rifle shooting). While Lgreids athletic feats are impressive, he went viral for another dramatic reason instead. During a live on-camera interview, he admitted to cheating on his ex-girlfriendin an attempt to get her back. While this could be considered a grand romantic gesture, his ex does not appear to think so and issued a statement saying she wishes she wasnt in the spotlight. Elana Meyers Taylors bobsled victory Elana Meyers Taylor, 41, is no stranger to Olympic competition. She debuted in 2010 and has medaled in all five of her appearances. Milano Cortina was her retirement year, and boy did she go out on top, winning her first gold medal. She was victorious in the monobob, a one-person bobsled event. Her triumph was earned by being 0.04 seconds faster than Germany’s Laura Nolte. This mother of two almost gave up feeling guilty about the time the sport took her away from her family. This makes the viral moment of her signing to her boys that she won even sweeter. Chloe Kims sportsmanship American Chloe Kim is the golden girl of snowboarding. She was heavily favored to win gold in this years games, defending her 2022 win. This was not how it went down on the halfpipe. Instead, South Koreas Gaon Choi took home gold, with Kim taking home silver. In a wonderful display of sportsmanship (instead of getting angry), Kim immediately went over to celebrate with her 17-year-old rival. The sweetness didnt start there. Even before the games, Kims family helped bring Choi to the United States to train after seeing her potential, despite playing for different countries and teams. Kim saw herself in Choi and acted as a mentor. Perhaps thats the true meaning of the games after all.
Category:
E-Commerce
Alysa Liu, who quit skating at 16, didn’t ‘need’ a gold medal, she told reporters in Milanshe had already found joy. The 20-year-old from California, who won the first individual Olympic gold in womens figure skating for the U.S. after 24 years, didn’t need to be champion. She says she was just thrilled to perform. “I don’t need this [medal],” Liu said right after winning, full of joy, while cheering on her competitors. “But what I needed was the stage and I got that, so I was all good. No matter what happened.” Liu isn’t feigning enthusiasm for the cameras. You can feel it radiating from her body when watching her skatewhich she did, flawlessly, when performing to Donna Summer’s “MacArthur Park” this week in the long program routine that ultimately won her first place. “That’s what I’m fing talking about!” she could be heard saying as she skated off the ice, knowing she’d just done something magical. Later, standing on the podium, she adorably jumped for joy, squealed, and hugged her competitors. It felt like she was sharing her bright light with them, and everyone watching in the audience, and at home. The moment was truly special. Mainly, because one thing was made crystal clear: Alysa Liu came to the Olympics for the love of the sportnot for a bronze, silver, or gold medal. It goes without saying that most athletes love their sport. But they also want to win. However, Liu’s journey has been different from that of most young athletes’, in more ways than one. Just four years ago, the skater quit, citing burnout after a sixth place finish at the Beijing Winter Games. Burnout easily comes with the territory when you’re a professional athlete. However, Liu focused on herselfon being a teenagerand finding joy outside of the rink. “I was going to concerts, which I never could have done before,” she told NBC Sports. “I also got my driver’s license. I did a whole year at college. I went on vacation for the first time. I went skiing. I went snowboarding. I got to do so many different things that I never would have done had I stayed in the sport.” The step back was crucial for many reasons, like saving the Olympians mental health. But it’s also likely what saved her from quitting skating forever, because she was able to invest in herself in other ways. . .and simply be a kid for a while. At the end of the day, Liu returned to competing because she simply loved skating too much to stay away. One of her coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo, even tried to talk her out of it, but her spirit was unstoppable. Alysa is different, said DiGuglielmo, who coaches Liu alongside Massimo Scali, per NBC. We know she wasnt here to win a medal. She was here to skate and to enjoy it. These titles are huge, but I dont want them to overshadow who I am and what I do and what I am all about, Liu said. Winning isnt all that, and neither is losing. All you have to do is watch Liu perform to know that the most important thing to the spirited athlete is not medals. It’s her true love of the sport and a profound joy at getting to keep doing it. And that was something she found before setting one skate on the ice in Milan.
Category:
E-Commerce
As major employers have slashed jobs over the last year, many of them have cited artificial intelligence or automation to justify the cuts. AI was referenced in nearly 55,000 layoffs in 2025, according to outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmasand the latest figures suggest that trend is continuing into this year alongside a record-high surge in job cuts, which crossed 108,000 in January alone. But economists and experts have repeatedly said that employment data does not indicate AI is replacing jobs en masse at the moment. And it seems even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman shares this skepticism over whether AI is actually responsible for the layoffs roiling the workforce. “I don’t know what the exact percentage is, but there’s some AI washing where people are blaming AI for layoffs that they would otherwise do, and then there’s some real displacement by AI of different kinds of jobs,” Altman said in an interview during the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week. “I expect we’ll see more of the latter over time. There are plenty of potential explanations for ongoing layoffs, from immigration policy to broader economic uncertainty, but business leaders have been quick to cite AI. Companies like Citigroup have claimed AI will reshape how work gets done and have alerted employees to additional layoffs in the coming months. UPS has cut tens of thousands of jobs over the last year, and CEO Carol Tomé claimed automation is a core part of the business becoming more efficient. Tech companies like Amazon and Microsoft have declared AI will revolutionize how they work, all the while trimming headcount under the guise of becoming leaner. Despite what business leaders say about the promise of AI, however, research shows that the labor market has not yet seen a dip in employment across the jobs that are most likely to be disrupted. Unemployment figures also do not indicate that workers are being replaced by AI in significant numbers just yet. Altman noted, as many experts have, that AI would likely disrupt more jobs over time. Of course well find new kinds of jobs, as we do with every tech revolution, he told CNBCs India affiliate, TV18. Altman added that the impact of AI will be palpable in the coming years. Some AI leaders have been more forceful than Altman: Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has said AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs as soon as five years from now. It is true that AI adoption is starting to affect more junior roles, particularly in the spheres of tech and finance. Early-career workers in sectors like software engineering and customer service have, in fact, seen a 13% decline in employment since 2022, and unemployment among recent college graduates is on the rise. And while its more difficult to quantify how AI is changing the nature of work, it is clear that the technology is transforming how people do their jobs, particularly across HR and software engineering. But Altman argues its not just entry level jobs or engineering roles that might be on the chopping block soon. Altman went so far as to say that CEOs could eventually lose jobs to AI, tooincluding himselfif superintelligence becomes a reality and AI can perform at a level that outpaces humans. AI superintelligence at some point on its development curve would be capable of doing a better job being the CEO of a major company than any executivecertainly me, he said. In other words, the CEOs who are currently using AI as a rationale for layoffs might find themselves out of a job for that very reason in the not too distant future.
Category:
E-Commerce
All news |
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||