Au Revoir, Paris. Hellloooo, L.A.
From Paris to Los Angeles, Via Milan
The 2024 Paris Olympic Summer Games officially came to a close today. They ended on a high note, with the USA taking the final Gold Medal (Women’s Basketball) to claim the top spot on the Medal Table and a memorable closing ceremony. (Plus a rogue climber.)
A large part of the Closing Ceremony was devoted on Paris handing off to LA. With the United States hosting the World Cup in 2026, it’s going to be an exciting few years for sports in America. But LA28 is not the next Olympics, Milan Cortina 2026 is just 544 days away.
The cities of Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo will host Italy’s third Winter Games (and fourth overall) 20 years after Turino 2006 and 70 years after Cortina hosted a much smaller Games in 1956. Other nearby towns will also host events.
The 2026 Winter Games mark the debut of a new Olympic sport: Ski Mountaineering, known as Skimo. It’s basically regular skiing without the chairlift. Athletes start the race by climbing the mountain on their skis, including sections of cross-country skiing, then ski back down the un-groomed mountainside. The Olympic version will feature sprints, 90-minute races, and a mixed team relay.
Milan will also bring the return of NHL players for the first time since 2014, giving the Olympic Hockey tournament a huge boost. With another favorable European time zone, the LA games only 2 years after, and the (likely) continuing growth of streaming, look for NBC to once again bring you more Olympics coverage than ever before when Milan lights the torch on February 6, 2026.
We’ll be back at the end of next year to preview those Games.
Final Medal Table
No matter how you slice it, Team USA came out on top again. The United States had a great Games. They collected 126 total medals, 35 more than China, and tied the Chinese for the most Gold Medals with 40. That’s America’s biggest overall haul since 1984, the last time the Games were in LA. More than 40% of Team USA athletes earned a medal.
Photo of the Day
To close out this edition of Olympics Daily, here’s a round-up of some of the best photos of Paris 2024:
We hope you enjoyed the Paris 2024 edition of Olympics Daily.
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