This was a great Olympics even taking away how ridiculously happy I am about USA sweeping gold in hockey.
Everything I saw indicated this ran seamlessly despite the event hubs in different cities. Most things I’ve heard from athletes and fans about their experiences were overwhelmingly positive. After all the construction issues and delays with the hockey arena in Milan, the only noticeable problem seemed to be that their only beer selection was 10 oz Corona bottles.
I also think (aside from some of the poor AI art) that this Olympics integrated tech into it to enhance the viewing experience. The biggest example is the drone shots that made nearly everything look so much cooler, especially the skiing events.
Even the mascots were 10/10!
Also seeing some of the comments here got me thinking that one of the other reasons why a lot of us love the Winter Olympics might be because that it’s a lot easier to follow and process. That’s certainly the case with me. These games had 116 medal events in 16 sports. LA28 will have 353 medal events in 36 sports. I’m a sports sicko but even I have to admit the scale of Summer Olympics is just insanely huge, even for something that’s held every four years.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like the Summer Games, but I do so in a different way. In 2028 I’ll just think: OK Olympics, just bombard me with everything you’ve got and I’ll see if I can survive it.
With the Winter Olympics, I feel like I have enough time to enjoy everything and follow along with the storylines in all the events. It’s exciting sports drama, but besides crunch time in gold medal hockey games vs Canada, it proceeds at a pleasant pace. [edit: it helps when some of those aforementioned storylines are really funny… looking at you, biathletes.]