Since 2023, I've been trying to collect all of the mascots of the Olympics.

I have Miraitowa from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, The Olympic Phryge from the Paris 2024 Olympics, and most recently Tina from the Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

I'm hoping to collect the LA28 mascot when it gets revealed later this year or early next year.

EDIT: I've had Miraitowa since 2019, but I decided to start collecting them after I got my hands on The Olympic Phryge.

Idk if this is the right subreddit but I wanted to show my creation. I'm still a beginner in designing. I'm doing the pictograms rn

Besides the major powers like the US and Russia who would be the obvious answers, which countries are known for being very good at both winter and summer sports?

With Norway and Canada's breakthrough performance at this year's World Cup (quarters for Norway and R16 for Canada; two countries historically more known for winter sports), I feel like both of them have to be among the front-runners for this question.

In summer sports, Norway has the world's best striker (Haaland), a 9x NY Marathon winner (Grete Waitz), the best middle distance runner in the world (Ingebrigtsen), one of the best hurdlers in the world (Warholm), a 3x grand slam finalist (Ruud), top 10 golfer in the world (Hovland), and the greatest chess player of all time if that counts too (Carlsen).

In winter sports, Norway needs no introduction as they regularly top the medal count at the Winter Olympics with some of the greatest winter athletes in the world in alpine skiing, biathlon, speed skating, and cross-country.

For Canadian summer sports, they have one of the world's best LBs (Davies), the b2b reigning NBA MVP (SGA), one of the greatest decathletes of all time (Warner), the world's best female swimmer (McIntosh), two top 10 players in men's/women's tennis (FAA and Mboko), one of the GOATs of women's football (Sinclair), two of the world's fastest men in their eras (Bailey and De Grasse), a former F1 world champion (Villeneuve), and a former Masters Champion (Weir). They also produced one of the most badass dudes of all time, Terry Fox.

In winter sports, the Canucks need no intro either as they're a modern powerhouse in the Winter games, especially in disciplines like ice hockey, curling, freestyle skiing, figure skating, and speed skating.

Historically though, I think neither of them can top Sweden as Sweden in the late 20th century was truly a global sporting powerhouse in several winter and summer sports.

🔹 Just 100 days remain until the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, when 2,700 young athletes from across the globe will gather in Senegal for the first Olympic sporting event held on African soil. The milestone will be celebrated with the premiere of the official Dakar 2026 song, a vibrant expression of the spirit, creativity and values of the YOG.

🔹 On 31 October 2026, the Opening Ceremony will mark the start of the YOG. Across eight venues in Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly, young athletes representing all 206 National Olympic Committees, alongside the Youth Refugee Olympic Team, will come together to compete in 25 competition sports.

🔹 Beyond the field of play, Dakar 2026 will also feature a vibrant programme of engagement sports and cultural activities, creating opportunities for young people to connect, learn and share experiences through the Olympic values.

➡️ Full story: https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/dakar-2026-celebrates-100-days-to-go-as-the-countdown-to-africa-s-first-olympic-sporting-event-enters-its-final-stretch

The state government has chosen three firms to design a new National Aquatic Centre at Centenary Pool and revealed renders of the proposed design.

Deputy Premier Jarrod Bleijie refused to directly answer whether the proposed centre's seating capacity would be scaled back to avoid cost blowouts.

The Games Independent Infrastructure and Coordination Authority will take possession of the site from September 1.

Has anyone booked a hotel or other accommodation this far out if planning to attend the LA28 games? I wonder if hotels will even book this far in advance. And I hesitate to use Airbnb even if they would book this far out, for several reasons, including that hosts may cancel the reservation and jack up prices.

Can this be easily calculated? The years and years of practice, preparation and opportunity. The monetary value of a dream coming true. Doing something very few people ever dreamed of?

They're unnamed

Interesting film I found on YouTube about Rio 2016.

Registration for the draw* for the chance to get a time slot in Drop 2 closes July 22. tickets.LA28.org

Qualifying* Visa cardholders are also eligible to enter the draw for an exclusive Visa Presale ahead of Drop 2 time slots. To enter: Go to tickets.LA28.org, register for the Drop 2 Draw and check the box certifying you are a qualifying Visa cardholder.

🔹 Milano Cortina 2026 showed that a distributed hosting model can deliver impactful Olympic Winter Games.

🔹 The Games delivered important sustainability and legacy outcomes, with 85% of competition venues existing or temporary, and more than EUR 5 billion in expected economic impact for Italy.

➡️ The report also details important legacy outcomes:

▪️ The Games supported more than 36,000 jobs.

▪️ They are expected to have generated over EUR 5 billion in net economic impact for Italy.

▪️ Nearly 100 infrastructure projects were accelerated thanks to the Games, funded by more than EUR 3 billion in public investment.

▪️ This was aligned with long-term territorial priorities, helping to strengthen the resilience of Alpine communities.

▪️ Some 47 sports facilities and 51 transport infrastructure projects were initiated, alongside more than 315 initiatives focused on health, inclusion and community development.

▪️ More than two million young people participated in Gen26 education programme initiatives.

➡️ From a sporting perspective, the report highlights significant advances in gender balance and Olympic programme innovation, alongside record-breaking performances on the field of play:

▪️ Women represented 47% of the athletes – the highest proportion in Olympic Winter Games history.

▪️ A record 50 women’s events took place, 58 men’s events, and eight mixed events.

▪️ Ski mountaineering made its Olympic debut, the first new Winter Olympic sport in more than 25 years.

▪️ One world and 13 Olympic sporting records were broken.

📎 The full report

Here is an article about how the 1996 Summer Olympics transformed Georgia Tech. It was the location of the Olympic Aquatics Center which is still in use to this day as well as the Olympic village.

For context: The Olympics began on this day in 1996. This is but a simple comparison 30 years after the cauldron in the photos was first lit outside what is now Center Parc Stadium. Recently, there have been plans to move it, though I’m not sure how much it will be impacted by it.

There’s the translucent roof and the halo led board, but do you think there could be other features utilized in the opening ceremony like lights on the seats to project images like in previous ceremonies like London? I’m also wanting to know if it seems possible there could be any props hanging from the roof or even the halo or would it be too weak to support it.

This is an old article but I figured I would share it for today's 30th anniversary. This explains how Atlanta was able to pull off winning this bid and being able to do so despite not being the favorite. I found this interesting.

Japanese keirin legend Toshiaki Fushimi dies at 50 after race crash

Toshiaki Fushimi, one of Japan’s most successful keirin cyclists and an Olympic silver medalist, has died at the age of 50 following a crash during a race in Matsusaka on July 18.

According to the JKA, Fushimi crashed into the outside barrier after trying to avoid a major incident involving riders ahead of him on the final lap. He was rushed to a hospital in Matsusaka but died the following morning from a spinal cord injury.

Fushimi made his professional keirin debut in 1995 and went on to record 619 wins in 2,423 races, with 75 tournament victories. He won the prestigious KEIRIN Grand Prix twice, in 2001 and 2007, and claimed five G1 titles.

Internationally, he represented Japan at the 2004 Athens Olympics, winning a silver medal in the men’s team sprint alongside Tomohiro Nagatsuka and Masaki Inoue.

Even at 50, Fushimi was still competing at the highest level. Just two days before the fatal crash, he won a race at Matsusaka with a powerful solo attack.

His death is a major loss for Japanese keirin and track cycling.

A while ago I was on a thread where I commented on what cities I’d like to see host the olympics if all economic and political factors were ignored. I said I’d like to see the Olympics in Vienna and Prague, but given how we’ve now had a couple World Cups hosted in multiple countries, with the next one also being hosted by three countries, do you think it’s feasible to do that for the Olympics?

It eases the costs of hosting the games, it eases crowding and over tourism, and it’s a good way to bring prestige to multiple cities at once. With my example of Vienna and Prague, I think it’d be amazing to have a “central Europe Olympics” with events in Austria, Czechia, Hungary, and Slovakia.

The main issues I can think of are ego issues, if the opening ceremony is in Vienna I don’t think people in Prague, Bratislava, and Budapest would appreciate being shafted for that event. But honestly, that’s basically a feelings issue, the practical impact is that each city gets the benefits and prestige at a fraction of the costs.

Beijing 2008 was the first Olympics I truly followed, at 11 years old. It was like an out of body experience to actually be there! 🥹

I maintain Beijing’s opening ceremony is still the greatest one I’ve ever seen “live” (even if it was the NBC replay), right there in the Bird’s Nest. Plus, as a gymnastics fan, I remember how awesome the women’s team final was and that battle for gold between the US and China in the National Indoor Stadium! And seeing the Cube in person? Priceless!