Every Olympic season that comes and goes, there are countless recap articles that all discuss the same things: best moments, worst moments, biggest WTF moments, etc. In my reflection of this year’s 2026 Winter Olympics, I’ve chosen to highlight moments in the sports I most enjoyed watching that embody what I consider the top values of sports: respect, fairplay, and integrity. Also, I want to spotlight some deserving people that were behind the scenes. This isn’t to say that these moments are the only ones that mattered. Every person who took part in the Olympics in any way deserves a medal for their hard work, but these are the moments that stuck out to me.
Respect
One of the most sought-after alpine ski racers, American Olympic medallist Lindsey Vonn returned to the Olympic games after retiring due to a history of many detrimental injuries. Having won gold at the 2010 Winter Olympics, she came out of retirement this year intending to make a tremendous comeback and take home one final win despite her physical trauma –– but it didn’t turn out as expected. In her final downhill race, she took a horrifying crash only 13 seconds into it. It resulted in a broken leg that was near amputation, and a complete tibia fracture in her left. For this career-ending moment, Vonn deserves so much respect because of her impressive resilience and ability to be positive as she recovers, and accept no longer being number one in women’s downhill standings.
Fairplay
American figure skater and “Quad God” Ilia Malinin skated his absolute heart out while competing in the men’s free skate and short program, but the pressure and nerves of being America’s favourite with all hope to win gold for his country caused him to fall short –– literally. Malinin placed eighth in his free skate after falling out of his quad axle and quad salchow-triple axle. He’d been undefeated, holding a world record of 238.24 in the free program, but scored only 156.33 points in this year’s competition. Despite his devastation about his heavy loss after a long-time winning streak, he set it aside to celebrate and give recognition to the gold medal winner, Mikhail Shaidorov for Kazakhstan. The medal was also the first for his country. I got chills after learning that Malinin went on to receive the Milano Cortina 2026 Fair Play Award for his sportsmanship.
Integrity
Canadian curler Marc Kennedy was accused of cheating by his Swedish opponent Oskar Eriksson. Sweden believed Kennedy performed the illegal move of double-touching which is when the curling stone is touched after it crosses the hog line. No proof of cheating was found, but a video surfaced after the match of their heated argument as a result, and Kennedy believed it was a “premeditated attack,” the accusation coming from them feeling a loss closing in and were “grasping at straws trying to stay alive.” Eriksson commented on his perspective: “We tried to play an honest and fair game and it’s been on the wall the last couple of years … people are touching the rock after the hog line.” Olympic officials issued the Canadian team a warning under rule R.19. While Canadians weren’t happy about Kennedy’s response of using foul language, the important part here is that when interviewed, Kennedy’s response conveyed a protectiveness of his team that asserted his trust and belief in them.
Mentorship
Athletes couldn’t get through the Olympics without coaches and mentors. Former competitive skater Benoît Richaud, or “kiss and cry royalty,” is a prolific choreographer of ice skating, building his way up from teaching grandmothers to skate to coaching some of the top skaters in the world. This year, he was the coach of 16 different ice skaters from 13 countries. In the kiss and cry zone of the rink, he went viral for his extensive coat wardrobe rotation, changing his attire for each skater as he repped every one of his athletes during their performances. It has to be intensive work to mould one athlete into an Olympian, nevermind 16. Not only do I admire his ambition, but his perseverance and dedication to the sport after almost quitting skating all together when he lost his parents in 2025.
Dedication
Of course, it would be the coolest experience if we all had the chance to attend the Winter Olympic Games in person, but there’s those that attend the games whom we are to thank for allowing us to witness it from afar while still feeling the impact of a success or failure –– particularly 84-year-old sports photographer Giuliano Bevilacqua. This year marked his 30th year of photographing the Olympic Games and his age has not weakened his eye for a fabulous shot or his passion for capturing the moment. His passion ignited while photographing the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and he intends to keep the momentum going so he can photograph the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. It’s inspiring to see that just as much passion and drive flows from behind the scenes of the Olympics as it does from the athletes in the spotlight.
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.