They didn’t wait to get the party started. While the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics will take place this Friday evening from 8 p.m., many athletes have already entered the competition in several disciplines.
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In fact, the mixed doubles curling tournament began on Wednesday, two days before the official launch of the Olympic fortnight. On Thursday, the hockey players gave their first stick shots – the French team also lost to Italy (4-1) – while the figure skating events started this Friday in the morning.
But why was the kick-off given before the high mass supposed to mark the opening of the Winter Olympics? Quite simply for planning reasons. With 16 sports in total, some of which, like figure skating, come in several competition categories (individual, couple, team, etc.), it is necessary to go beyond the 16 days officially planned, from February 7 to 22.
No athletes crowned before the opening ceremony
This is particularly the case for curling. With a men’s, women’s and mixed doubles event, each comprising ten teams, the discipline will occupy the Olympic Ice Stadium in Cortina from Wednesday February 4 to Sunday February 22, with matches every day.
In some sports, the recovery time given to athletes must also be taken into account. Hockey players, for example, cannot play more than two days in a row, which spreads out the competition over time.
On the other hand, unlike the Paris 2024 Games, no participant can be eliminated before the opening ceremony, the IOC having prohibited medals from being awarded before Saturday February 7, the day after the launch of the global event.
As a reminder, during the last Summer Olympics, the French rugby sevens team could have been rejected from the tournament even before the ceremony on the Seine. Fortunately, Antoine Dupont and his partners avoided the disaster scenario and were finally crowned Olympic champions.
At Milan-Cortina, the anticipated events therefore concern almost exclusively qualifying and preliminary rounds.
