In honor of the Winter Olympics being in Milano Cortina for 2026, this brings up this debate once again of which Olympics is better between Summer and Winter. 

The Summer Olympics is a joy for millions of spectators to attend or viewers to watch. Many key sports are a part of the Summer Olympics’ lineup such as swimming, track and field, basketball and even one of the more grueling sports in the triathlon, where you have to bike, swim and run all in the same event.  

The Winter Olympics is much more of a technical type of Olympics with events where precision and technique prevail, such as figure skating or alpine skiing. It is more on the dangerous side when compared to the summer Olympics with events such as the skeleton (going on a sled face first on a frozen track reaching speeds up to 85 mph), hockey or anything that has to deal with either skates or skis.  

Many more people watch the Summer Olympics than the Winter Olympics as more countries are involved with more events in the Summer compared to  Winter.  

According to the 2028 Summer Olympics, which will take place in Los Angeles, there will be 351 medal events compared to the 116 offered in the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina. There are more opportunities to win in the Summer Olympics compared to the Winter Olympics which in a way makes winning a medal in the winter more prestigious. 

The Summer Olympics is significantly better due to the impact with more countries. 

The Summer Olympics provide more viewership and have more meaningful games than the Winter. The events create more of a spectacle than the more technical tighter knit winter events and you have the bonus of not freezing your butt off during the games.  

Who wouldn’t want to see a perfect archery shot or a swimmer out touching another swimmer. Those moments get replayed in peoples’ minds over and over but so does someone doing a 900 on a snowboarding halfpipe or a figure skater doing a triple axle.  

Whichever side you are on, the Olympics is such an amazing event that we are so lucky to be able to celebrate every four years.