The 2026 Winter Olympic Games of the XXXIII Olympiad are officially closed. I’ve always enjoyed the Olympic games. So I thought I’d take a bit of time to reflect on my memories of the Olympics over the years.

My first Olympic memories would be the 1972 Olympics in Munich. Fortunately, my memories of those particular Olympics are very limited but good ones. I remember going with my parents to visit some of their friends, I want to say in New Haven, CT. Their friends had kids, a bit older than me. We ended up watching Mark Spitz race. Of course the joke then and for a few years later was how did they fill the Olympic swimming pools?

I honestly don’t recall the 1976 Olympics. I was probably more caught up in the country’s Bicentennial.

But then, there were the 1980 Winter Olympics. If you are old enough and an American (and I suppose Russian, though for opposite reasons) you know where you were when you heard those immortal words, “Do you believe in Miracles?” For the record, I was in a hotel in Washington DC with some then in-laws, coming back from Florida. (We had taken the then private Auto-Train back from Florida and spent a few days in DC). This was a positive highlight during the Cold War. What I find most interesting is if you asked most Americans, they’d think that was when we won the Gold, but in reality it was a round-robin playoff game and we had to defeat Finland two days later to claim the Gold. This was of course in Lake Placid New York, and while I haven’t been on the rink, my wife has played hockey there.

I recall the 1984 Summer Games because a friend from back home went to them. She promised me a postcard which I never received. But that’s another story.

By 1988, I was in college. I watched some of the Winter Games events on TV and recall hearing how they weren’t sold out. A friend and I seriously thought about a road trip to Calgary, but decided it wouldn’t be a great idea. While the time off from school probably wouldn’t have helped our grades, I think the bigger worry was whether his car would make it and we decided being caught somewhere in the American or Canadian plains states in the middle of winter was not a wise idea. That said, I have a few regrets about not taking that road trip.

The 1996 Summer Games of course were marred by the bombing. But the highlight to me was Mohammed Ali lighting the torch.

The 2004 Summer Games stood out because of the return to Greece, though some argued it should have happened in 1996 on the 100th anniversary of the Modern Games. Being a fan of Vangelis, his music being front and center was a pleasure.

Beijing, 2008 – I’ve got to say, the opening ceremony was one of the most impressive I’ve seen. I can’t say it was my favorite, but it was huge and spectacular, exactly what I’d expect from the Chinese.

James Bond and the Queen, opening the 2012 games. This has got to be one of the best opening ceremony stunts of all times.

The 2022 Winter games were heartbreaking. Watching Mikaela Shiffrin fail to medal, not once but more than once tore at my heart. It was obvious that the death of her father was still hard on her mind. As a father I so much just wanted to tell her, “it was ok, he’s here, he’s proud of you.” I obviously have no connection to her so I know it wouldn’t do any good, but as a father, I know one is always proud of their kids.

And so, watching her finally medal in her final run in 2026 was amazing. I jumped for joy.

These entire Olympics were a joy to watch. The story of Alysa Liu was inspiring. To know that she had come back on her own terms and with joy in her heart. Man, that was just incredible. It was clear that she was having fun. That she was finally doing the sport because she wanted to and how she wanted to, not because of being goaded on by her coaches.

And I do think there was some bias in scoring for Madison Chock and Evan Bates. That said, I think the most fun program to watch in the ice dancing was Lilah Fear & Lewis Gibson from the UK.

I have other memories, but these are the ones that pop up.