The Milano Cortina Winter Games ended on Sunday night in the familiar Olympic style: with light, spectacle and speeches about unity. In Verona, the Olympic flag passed on to the French Alps, and the twin flames were extinguished as the curtain came down on another Winter Games.
Yet even as the formal ceremony drew to a close, the sense that these Olympics carried an unusual political charge lingered. The atmosphere in Milan and across the Winter Games showed that patriotism can be generous, but it also suggested that sport and politics were never far apart.
Unofficially, attention was already turning elsewhere.
More than 6,000 miles west, Los Angeles is preparing to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, and the scale and symbolism of that event may amplify many of the same tensions seen in Italy. If these Games felt political, the next Olympics could bring that dynamic to a much bigger, louder stage.
A transition from winter ceremony to summer spotlight
The closing moments in Verona followed the traditional Olympic formula. There was ceremony, there was pageantry, and there were the usual calls for shared purpose. The flame was extinguished, the flag was handed over, and the focus shifted to the next host in line.
But the handover also served as a reminder that the Olympic cycle never really ends. While the Winter Games were still fresh, the conversation had already moved toward the political and cultural pressures surrounding Los Angeles 2028.
That future event is expected to unfold on the biggest and loudest stage sport can offer. With that comes not only the global attention that always accompanies the Olympics, but also the possibility that questions of identity, patriotism and public meaning will become even more pronounced.
Patriotism and politics at the Olympics
The Milano Cortina Games offered a version of patriotism that could be expansive rather than exclusionary. Athletes and fans alike showed that national pride does not have to come at the expense of the Olympic idea of unity.
Even so, the broader backdrop made clear that sport does not exist in isolation. The Games were shaped, at least in part, by the political atmosphere around them, and that influence is likely to remain a feature of future Olympic events.
Los Angeles, with its global reach and outsized cultural presence, may prove to be an especially vivid test of how the Olympics absorb the politics of their host city and host country. The 2028 Summer Games will arrive in an environment that is certain to invite intense scrutiny and strong opinions.
What was visible in Milan and Verona was a reminder that the Olympics are not just about medals, ceremonies and competition. They are also a stage on which nations present themselves to the world, and where the meaning of patriotism is continually negotiated.
If this Winter Olympics offered one lesson, it is that even the most familiar rituals can carry fresh political weight. By the time the torch reaches Los Angeles, that weight may be heavier still.
