The Winter Olympic Games, hosted by Italian cities Milan and Cortina, concluded on Feb. 22, 2026, and were capped off by a thrilling United States victory over Canada in the gold medal match for men’s hockey. This match, along with many others, drew a large international crowd, as 1.3 million tickets were sold ahead of these games to fans from all across the globe, according to the official Olympics site.
Among the lucky fans who attended the Olympics this year were Loyola’s own Joe Larson ‘27 and Olivia Olszowy ‘27, who are currently studying abroad in Rome, Italy, and Cork, Ireland, respectively. Larson recalls the booking process as an arduous one, in which he had to sign up for a lottery just to get an opportunity to purchase presale tickets. Larson’s lottery attempt was successful, but the time change, as well as the price of some specific events, proved burdensome, and he eventually purchased tickets to an Olympic hockey game.
“Tickets went live at 8 a.m. in Europe, so I was up at 2 a.m. and on the Olympic website. Figure skating was 250 euro, speed skating was 150, so hockey games were the easiest option,” Larson said.
With the tickets secured, Larson and his friends had nothing to do but wait until February for their chance to see the Olympics live and in person. Upon entering the city, though, Olszowy recalls being taken aback by the lack of Olympic spirit on the outskirts of Milan, but how drastically that amount of spirit changed once she got closer to the city’s center.
“The touristy stuff was pretty normal on the outskirts of the city. You would see people here and there in jerseys, and the games were on in cafes and restaurants … Once you got to the inner city, it was like a completely different world. They had massive light fixtures that displayed models of all of the sports, a huge viewing monitor in the middle of the city with a live feed of the games, and an absolutely massive Olympic store,” Olszowy said.
Larson and Olszowy attended two back-to-back hockey games on Feb. 13, Finland versus Sweden and France versus Czechia. Though these games were merely preliminary round play and not the most tightly contested matches, both Olszowy and Larson noted a particularly electric atmosphere inside the hockey venue, which was situated in a residential neighborhood outside Milan’s center.
Even though Olszowy did not have any stake in either game, she remembers being completely captivated.
“I was on the edge of my freaking seat, I didn’t know who to root for. I wanted them both [Czechia and France] to be happy,” Olszowy said.
Inside the arena during the first of the two games, Olszowy described being seated in front of a Finnish family with some Swedish men directly adjacent to them. Though the two countries were competing fiercely on the ice, the fans were nothing but kind to each other.
Olszowy was shocked by the sense of unity that she felt throughout her time in Milan, as well as how diverse the crowd was.
“It was such an amalgamation of different groups, and everyone was in such good spirits because they were rooting for their countries … there were languages that I encountered that I would have never been exposed to outside of the Olympics,” Olszowy said.
Though the twin flames burning in Milan and Cortina were extinguished earlier this past week, signaling the end of these Olympic Games, the in-person experience is something that Larson, Olszowy, and others will carry with them long after their time in Milan ends.