Another year of Winter Olympics has come and gone, with many notable and exciting performances from athletes around the world. However, more memorable than the actual athletic results was what went on in between competitions. Whether gliding on the ice, speeding down slopes, or chucking stones across a rink, Olympic athletes both witnessed and starred in noteworthy non-sport related headlines. Some stories were lighthearted, like tiramisu becoming the new “chocolate muffin” of the villa (see Olympics 2024); others verged on misconduct, like Norwegian skier Sturla Holm Laegreid, who admitted to cheating on his girlfriend after winning 5 medals; and some were just plain crazy, like the shortage of condoms after 10,000 were used in the span of 3 days. Here, the most remarkable political controversies, dramatic scandals, and interesting athletes will be covered.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) bans political speech during competitions, under Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter. This political neutrality was enforced twice at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, once against a Ukrainian athlete and once against the Haitian team. Vladyslav Heraskevych, a Ukrainian skeleton athlete was disqualified for wearing a helmet that had images of athletes that had been killed by Russia in the Russia-Ukraine war. He rejected the IOC’s suggestion to wear a black armband instead, saying that, “These people sacrificed their lives and because of that, I am able to be here today. I’m able to be at the Olympics, and I will not betray them.” The same political neutrality rule was used as justification to force the Haitian team to paint over Toussaint Louverture, a Haitian revolutionary, after they determined that it constituted political propaganda.
Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu are both Olympic Gold medalists of Chinese-American descent. However, when it comes to the media’s portrayal, that is where their similarities end. Liu, or the “Ice Angel” has been deemed a hero after winning America’s first gold medal in women’s figureskating since 2002. In contrast, freestyle skier Eileen Gu has been compared to a “villain of a Disney movie” since switching to compete for China. Gu, China’s “Snow Princess” has received tremendous hate for this decision, with critics viewing her choice as disloyal and traitorous. The media has often compared the two because of their shared Chinese-American heritage, framing Gu in a much harsher light. Although both athletes were born and raised in California, their opposing Olympic affiliations have provided a venue for geopolitical tensions to continue to thrive.
Figure skater, Amber Glenn, made history by being the first openly queer woman to represent Team USA in women’s singles. While her powerful and expressive skating style made her an icon for LGBTQ+ athletes, she was also placed in the crossfire of a polarizing political climate, drawing criticism from America’s conservative circle. Despite this, Glenn continues to be incredibly outspoken about social justice issues, choosing advocacy in the face of discrimination. “I know that a lot of people say you’re just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all,” Glenn said. “As a community, we are strong and we support each other, and brighter days are ahead of us.”
Whether they were gliding down the slopes or flipping on the ice, hair was a highlight of Olympic beauty in Milan. Team USA’s Chloe Kim was seen rocking her ‘beauty strands’ at the women’s halfpipe event in Milan. The snowboarder has been incredibly vocal about renaming the traditional, and derogatory, term, ‘slut strands’ in past competitions. For Kim, the switch to ‘beauty strands’ is a way for her to reclaim her femininity in her own way, especially as a woman in a male dominated sport. The same goes for figure skater Alysa Liu, who was also seen making bold hair choices in both the women’s singles and team events; her ‘halo hair’ quickly skyrocketed her into becoming a style icon at the 2026 Olympics. Ultimately, the hair choices in Milan were a form of self expression and non-conformity in the world of winter sports.
Ski Jumping is a sport decided by even the smallest of gains. In a scandal with a somewhat inappropriate name, ski jumpers were accused of enlarging the size of their genitals to get bigger suits. The effects of the acid that athletes were using to increase the size of their genitals were temporary, so by the Olympics athletes would have had extra suit fabric, which could have made athletes fly a lot further. A recent study by Frontiers found that just 2 extra centimeters of fabric in the crotch could help the athlete jump up to almost 6 extra meters in distance.
The ice rink proved itself controversial after ‘Quad God’ and Olympic favorite, Ilia Malanin, fell on multiple jumps during the men’s free skate. The ‘slushy’ ice condition was a result of the rink hosting multiple events that required different ice textures. However, the scandal had viewers wondering: Would the podium stay the same if the ice quality was better?
Somehow, even curling is not without its controversies. In a scandal that rocked curling (pun intended), three teams were accused of unfairly touching their curling stones. In curling, a lesser known Olympic sport, teams push granite stones across an ice rink at a target. During a match between Canada and Sweden’s men’s teams, Marc Kennedy told members of the Swedish team to “[expletive] off” and to “get the [expletive] out of my face” multiple times after being accused of touching the granite part of the stone, which is not allowed. 2 other teams were later caught for the same violation, likely making this curling’s largest scandal since ‘Broomgate’ about a decade ago.
In a futuristic turn of events, AI has found its place at the Olympics, but not everybody was on board. Czech ice dancers Kateřina Mrázková and Daniel Mrázek took to the ice to skate to an AI-generated remix of ACDC’s most popular songs. The sibling duo received major online backlash, with the main claims arguing that ‘AI slop’ has no place in a sport that relies on human artistry, much less a competition as prestigious as the Olympics. However, it wasn’t just AI that caused media uproar; Team USA’s Ilia Malanin got flamed online for skating to his own voice during the men’s free skate, with critics calling it “cringe” or “over-the-top,” while fans defended it as “vulnerable” and “raw.” These controversies made fans question whether or not music should be a deciding factor in Olympic scoring.
