The XXVth Winter Olympic Games will open Friday evening with a unique ceremony, centered on Milan's San Siro stadium, but also including athletes from other clusters. Before the grand spectacle, here's a look at this edition in numbers.
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Italy is hosting the Winter Olympics for the third time in its history, after Cortina 1956 and Turin 2006. This puts Italy on par with France (1924, 1968, 1992), and just behind the United States (1932, 1960, 1980, 2002). Five other countries have hosted the Winter Games multiple times: Austria, Canada, Japan, Norway, and Switzerland.
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Three regions will host events. Lombardy will be the most represented, with venues in Milan (ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating, short track), Bormio (alpine skiing, ski mountaineering), and Livigno (freestyle skiing, snowboarding). The Veneto region will be entirely focused on Cortina, which will host women's alpine skiing, curling, bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge. Finally, Trentino-Alto Adige will have three venues: Anterselva (biathlon), Predazzo (ski jumping, Nordic combined), and Tesero (cross-country skiing, Nordic combined).
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This represents the number of athletes participating in this edition. 1.538 are men and 1.362 are women. The proportion of female athletes is a record: they make up 47% this year, compared to 44,7% at Beijing 2022. Italy, competing on home soil, has formed the largest delegation in its history at the Winter Games (196 athletes). The United States will be the most represented with 232 competitors.
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Twenty neutral individual athletes have qualified. Thirteen of them are Russian, and seven are Belarusian. They will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, freestyle skiing, figure skating, luge, short track, ski mountaineering, and speed skating.
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The number of women's events is another record for the Winter Games, out of a total of 116 events. Adding the 12 mixed events, women will participate in 53,4% of the events.
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85% of the competition venues already existed. This reflects the organizing committee's commitment to sustainability. Two venues were built specifically for these Games: the Arena Santa Giulia in Milan and the new skating rink in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Temporary facilities were also set up, including an ice rink at the Fiera Milano Rho Exhibition Centre.
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92 National Olympic Committees will participate in these Olympic Games. Among them are three newcomers: Benin, Guinea-Bissau and the United Arab Emirates.
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As is the number of new events on the program. Ski mountaineering, included for the first time, will be represented by the men's sprint, the women's sprint, and the mixed relay. A women's doubles event is added in luge, as well as a mixed team event in skeleton. Parallel moguls will make its Olympic debut for both men and women. Finally, in ski jumping: a women's individual event on the large hill.
