#Olympics

#Olympics

I think that the Paris Games deserve a lot of the credit for rejuvenating that interest and enthusiasm, and some of that momentum continued through to Milan,

On the foothills of the mountains, by the banks of the river in Cortina, there was a forest. It was full of tall larch trees. Arborists said the oldest of them had been there for 150 years and dendrologists that it was unique because it was unusual to find a monocultural forest growing at such a low altitude in the southern Alps.

The Winter Olympics come to an end Sunday, with the much anticipated hockey gold medal game between the USA and Canada. And with that, the Rangers' break from the grim reality of their lost 2025-26 season is over. The NHL's Olympic roster freeze ends at midnight [Sunday, going into Monday morning], meaning the clock begins ticking again Monday for those players worrying about potentially being traded. And it will continue to tick all the way up until the March 6 trade deadline.

Since the start of her international short-track speedskating career just over seven years ago, 24-year-old American Corinne Stoddard has established herself as one of the best competitors in her field. The Seattle native currently sits third in the world rankings for both the 500-meter and 1,000-meter events, and fourth in the rankings for the 1,500 meters. When Stoddard first began competing internationally, the reputation of American short-track speedskating was arguably at its nadir. Her prowess on the ice has helped change that.

Four years ago at Beijing 2022, Daniela Maier of Germany and Fanny Smith of Switzerland were the unwilling protagonists of a convoluted medal dispute. Smith had crossed the finish line in third ahead of Maier in fourth. But the race jury flipped the result after ruling Smith had interfered with Maier, despite both skiers disagreeing. Smith appealed against the jury's decision to the court of arbitration for sport (Cas), which overruled the officials' decision and deemed that bronze medals should be awarded to both skiers.

Quinn and Jack Hughes watched in person as the U.S. women's hockey team rallied to beat Canada in the gold medal game at the Olympics on Thursday night in an overtime thriller that showcased the face of the sport in Hilary Knight and her likely successor in that spot, Laila Edwards. The Hughes brothers had a family stake in the matter. Their mom, Ellen, had a role in the women's championship as a player development consultant.

The couple shared the happy news Wednesday on Instagram with a video of Knight getting down on one knee to pop the question. "Olympics brought us together. This one made us forever," reads the caption of the video, which also features Bowe showing off her new hardware while in the arms of her fiancée. According to the Associated Press, Knight had been thinking about proposing while at the Milan-Cortina Games "for a few months."

Figure skater named Amber Glenn, never heard of her before this, but launched a rant about Trump and the transgender issue, saying, quote, It's been a hard time for the LGBT community overall in this administration,' which it hasn't been. But she was a three-time reigning champ and was expected to at least win a medal. She flopped, got 13th place.

"I was like, 'Am I hallucinating?'" Tena Hadzic, a 21-year-old Croatian skier, told NPR. There on the course was a real, live, beautiful wolfdog. He appeared on the final stretch of the qualifying event Wednesday morning and raced along, pursuing the sliding track camera like a superstar before turning to follow a couple of athletes across the finish line. Look at him:

"There's nothing that stops people from talking," Columbus Blue Jackets GM and president of hockey operations Don Waddell said. "You just can't consummate a deal, of course. You're not going to call a guy when he's either at the Olympics or in Mexico City or Miami or wherever he is and tell him he's been traded."

But fear not, as more are on the way. The Milano Cortina 2026 organising committee told People: "We can confirm that condom supplies in the Olympic Villages were temporarily depleted due to higher-than-anticipated demand. "Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday. "They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continues availability."

Switzerland's men have dominated the ski slopes of Milano Cortina. Not since the super-G and the team combined were added to the Olympic programme in 1988 has one country won four of the five events a feat achieved with Loic Meillard's victory in the slalom on Monday. Only Brazil managed to stop them in these Games. Franjo von Allmen has been their undisputed star, heading home with three golds in his hand luggage.

Levito and the United States' "Blade Angels" are trying to stay calm under pressure at the Olympics, where chaos has reigned at Milano Ice Skating Arena. The United States was expected to dominate figure skating in Milan, but has yet to win a gold medal in an individual event entering Tuesday's women's short program. A supposed sure-fire gold medal disappeared in stunning fashion with Ilia Malinin's eighth-place collapse.

Ilia Malinin posted a video on social media Monday juxtaposing images of his many triumphs with a black-and-white image of the U.S. figure skater with his head buried in his hands, and a caption hinting at an "inevitable crash" amid the pressure of the Olympics while teasing that a "version of the story" is coming on Saturday. That is when Malinin is expected to skate in the traditional exhibition gala to wrap up the Olympic figure skating program.

Fiala, who is third on the Kings in goals, points and assists, underwent surgery over the weekend to repair multiple fractures in his lower left leg and will miss the rest of the season. Fiala was playing for Switzerland against Doughty and Canada in the Milan-Cortina Olympic hockey tournament Friday when he backed into a hit by Washington Capitals' forward Tom Wilson along the side boards with less than three minutes left in Canada's 5-1 win.