The curtain has been drawn on the 2026 Olympic Games: Romania does not exist in the medal ranking. Bulgaria, Kazakhstan or Brazil do it instead
After almost three weeks of competition, the Milan Cortina Olympic Games came to an end last night when the closing ceremony took place in the city of Verona. Italy handed over the Olympic flag to France, the host of the next edition, from 2030.
The closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, hosted by Verona. Photo Getty images
Norway is the big winner at the Winter Olympics, with the Nordics setting a competition record by winning 18 gold medals out of a total of 41 honours. Six victories were achieved by one athlete alone, the cross-country skier Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo, who prevailed in all possible events: 10 km freestyle interval start, 10 + 10 km skiathlon, 50 km classic block start, classic style sprint, 4×7.5 km relay and freestyle sprint relay. Norway has also topped the previous editions of the Winter Games, hosted by Beijing in 2022 (16 gold, 8 silver and 13 bronze) and Pyeongchang 2018 (14 – 14 – 11).
484 Olympic Winter Games medalists
Of the 2,900 athletes, representing 92 National Olympic Committees, 484 won medals, either gold, silver or bronze. Unfortunately for our country, Romania does not appear in the medal ranking, the tricolors only managing an admirable 5th place in the bobsleigh event for two people. Instead, Bulgarian neighbors got two bronze medals, Kazakhstan one gold, Georgia one silver. A first was recorded at these Games: the first medal for a South American country: it was even a gold, won by the Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen in the giant slalom event of alpine skiing.
If each country had a few disciplines that it totally dominated (Norway – cross-country skiing and biathlon, Netherlands – speed skating, Switzerland – alpine skiing, Germany – bobsleigh), the USA, occupying the second place in the medal hierarchy, scored in 11 sports, from alpine skiing or freestyle skiing to speed skating and hockey.
In total, 29 countries won at least one medal at the Milan Cortina Olympics. The last country that caught the hierarchy is Belgium, with a bronze trophy.
