Over recent years, I’ve not given the Winter Olympics the attention it deserves. I wrote about it in 2014 and you can tell in that post I’m in two minds about the whole concept. Well, that all changed this past fortnight, with the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. The coverage in the UK was with TNT Sports, on Discovery+, but they included it in the £3.99 price plan which is an absolute bargain. If that was too much, though, there were elements available on the BBC - although from what I’ve heard they continued the tradition of mostly watching curling non-stop.

Meanwhile, I’ve watched as much as is physically possible on Discovery, and here are some thoughts:

• We need to talk about MultiView. Discovery launched this as a live channel you can stream, and it brings you multiple screens of whatever is going on at any one time. Sometimes it can just be two feeds, but it can be up to four, and it is revolutionary. You can pick which commentary you want, but I’ll be honest, I mostly had this on silently in the background - this wonderful backdrop of incredible sports. What am I going to do without MultiView in my day to day life?
• I was really into the curling to start with, I love the Mixed Doubles and Jen and Bruce did an incredible job for Team GB right up until it all fell apart. I didn’t specifically watch any of the men’s and women’s competitions, but you couldn’t ignore what was going on, what with the falling over and the claims of cheating and the endless drama. Great for Bruce and co to get a medal in the end, but I think we could have done more!
• The other sports I’ve enjoyed are the ski and snowboard cross (bring back Crashed Ice!), and all the circular action in the Speed Skating, and Short Track. It’s like the velodrome but different. New sports this year include the dual moguls - initially I didn’t want to watch this because it hurts my knees just seeing them go down the hill, but of course I got hooked - and the ski mountaineering. That last one is chaos, these people going up the hill, down the hill, skis on, skis off, steps and diamonds, love it.
• I enjoyed the figure skating more than in previous years - ice dance, and individual programs. The problem with it is similar to gymnastics, once you’ve watched the team competitions, you’ve seen most of the routines, and that makes the individual competitions a bit less interesting. So much focus on Ilia Malinen too, but fascinating to see someone so good really struggle with the specific pressure that the Olympics piles on.
• This does seem to have been an Olympics littered with weird moments - that guy confessing to cheating on his girlfriend for no apparent reason, the dog that crossed the line for a medal in the cross-country, and the furore around the guy who just wanted to skate dressed as a minion. Such chaos, such greatness!

I’ve got the most out of this Winter Olympics, it’s fair to say, and reading back to that 2014 post, I think one of the best things has been the commentary. Inclusive and engaging, good for beginners, and definitely wise to the fact that people tune in who don’t know anything about these sports but want to become armchair experts for two weeks every four years.

The next Olympics is in the French Alps and there’s talk of a couple of new sports (actual ice cross, hooray! and maybe ice climbing!). This year’s sports aren’t even fully over yet and I’m already excited for the next games.