By Allison Thevenot
From broken facilities, to broken hearts, to broken players, the 2026 Winter Olympics seemed to be one disaster after another. From the initial planning stages of the games to the end of the closing ceremonies, seemingly nothing could go right for the Olympics this year.
The problems for the Olympics began before the ceremonies had even started, with security concerns including the risk of drone attacks, similar to those seen in recent conflicts. These concerns were addressed by the institution of No-Fly Zones around the perimeter of the facilities, but these security measures didn’t help to protect against attacks against something even more important to people in 2026: their phones. At the beginning of February it was discovered that Russian-origin cyberattacks had been launched against multiple websites connected to hotels, countries, and organizations involved with the games, before being thwarted by Italian security services.
Looking at the facilities, however, it seems like drones and Russian hackers didn’t need any help dismantling the games; the facilities themselves were doing the job well enough for them. Construction of the Olympic skating rinks faced frequent problems during their construction. The arenas went through lengthy construction delays and were smaller than expected, leading to criticism from hockey players and officials, citing a breach of hockey standards. They likely didn’t find these standards met any closer when the ice began to melt later in the games. Hockey rinks weren’t the only facilities to run into problems. At the women’s skiing event a dog managed to wander past security barriers onto the race course. At least the games should consider themselves lucky that it was the ski course and not the drone barrier that had the security break. The physical problems continued into logistical issues for the rest of the facilities. In an effort to limit the environmental impact and financial cost of building new arenas to house the games, the organizers decided to make use of pre-existing sports facilities across the country. This resulted in the games of international togetherness and uniting athletes across the globe being held in seven different locations spread across 22,000 square kilometres.
The dysfunction continued throughout the games with the athletes themselves. Sturla Holm Laegreid, a Norwegian athlete, confessed his love to his ex-girlfriend on camera after completing his race, urging her to take him back after their breakup. Not finding the power of a televised confession after winning a bronze medal in biathlon persuasive enough to forgive him for cheating on her, she declined. As it turns out, hearts weren’t the only thing being broken at these games. Australian snowboarder Cam Bolton experienced 2 neck fractures following what trainers have described as “an injury nightmare” for the Australian team, with six players suffering severe injuries over the course of the games and training. Canada has experienced our own “injury nightmare” in this Olympics with hockey star Sidney Crosby suffering a knee injury putting him out of the games. This led to Canada losing the men’s hockey gold medal to the United States. This marks the first time that Canada has lost in Olympic men’s hockey to the United States since 1980, another sign that nothing’s right with the world.
The Olympics is a time to celebrate the greatest athletes of the world for their achievements, and to celebrate the countries of the world, coming together in the spirit of global peace and unity. In a probably fitting metaphor for how these Olympics have gone so far, various athletes have reported their medals beginning to fall apart. And as for peace and unity between the countries of the world, well…