NOTE: If you are short on time, watch the video and complete this See, Think, Wonder activity: What did you notice? What did the story make you think about? What would you want to learn more about?
SUMMARY
The Winter Olympics are upon us. The 2026 Games, which kick off Feb. 6, will be jointly hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, a ski town near Italy's border with Austria. Around 2,800 athletes representing 90 national Olympic committees are expected to compete in in 116 medal events. The United States is sending 232 of those athletes, its largest contingent ever. PBS News' Tim McPhillips takes a look at what else to know about this year's Winter Olympics.
News alternative: Check out recent segments from the NewsHour, and choose the story you’re most interested in watching. You can make a Google doc copy of discussion questions that work for any of the stories here.
WARM-UP QUESTIONS
- Where will the Winter Olympics be held?
- Who is hosting the Olympics?
- Why is it considered a feat that Lindsey Vonn is competing?
- What is the new sport being introduced this Olympics?
- How many athletes will be competing? How many sports disciplines?
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
- Will you watch the Winter Olympics? Why or why not?
- Do you think professional athletes should be able to compete in the Olympics? Why or why not?
Media literacy: This News Hour video falls under the "Shorts" category on YouTube. Why do you think this category was created? Watch a few other News Hour "Shorts." What do you notice about their aesthetic (how they look)? Do you like this format? Why or why not?
WHAT STUDENTS CAN DO
Did you know talking with a neighbor or someone in your community is a small but powerful act of civic engagement? Yes, civic engagement! Discuss this question with a neighbor or someone in your community: What winter sport would you like to compete in if you were a Winter Games athlete? For a full list of sports, click here. Report back to the class what you learned about your fellow community member and how the conversation went.
News: Then & Now
The News: Then & Now section of the Daily News Lessons allows students to see connections between current and past news events. The activity provides historical context using primary sources from the Library of Congress.
See PBS News Hour Classroom's Journalism in Action website for interactive examples of how journalists covered key events in U.S. history while honing your primary source, civics and digital news literacy skills.
THEN
Inspired by the Ancient Greeks, the modern Olympic Games, an international sporting competition of amateur athletes, were first held in 1896 in Athens, Greece.
However, the first Winter Olympics were not held until 1924. During the winter of 1924, the French Olympic Committee organized the "International Winter Sports Week" in Chamonix, France. While not officially designated the first Winter Olympics at the time, its success led to its continuation, and, retroactively, it was designated the first Winter Olympics. The first game originally had six sports, which included ski jump, bobsled, curling, ice hockey, skiing, and skating, and was divided into 14 events. Today, the Winter Olympic Games include 15 different sports with more than 100 events.
The sport of ice hockey predates the Winter Olympics, having been first introduced at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The image below shows the first American Olympic Hockey Team.
Tri-State News Bureau, Copyright Claimant. First American Olympic hockey team. , ca. 1920. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2013646110/.
The first Winter Olympics in America, the third official Winter Olympics, were held in 1932 in Lake Placid, New York. To commemorate and promote the event, the poster titled “Olympic bobsled run, Lake Placid Up where winter calls to play” below was created in association with the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project.
Olympic bobsled run, Lake Placid Up where winter calls to play. New York Lake Placid, None. [Nyc: works progress administration federal art project, between 1936 and 1938] Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/94502739/.
During the 1932 Winter Olympic Games, the American bobsled team, consisting of Jay O'Brien, Clifford B. Gray, Edward F. Eagan and William Fiske, took home the gold, as reported in the Henderson Daily Dispatch article below.
Henderson Daily Dispatch. (Henderson, NC), Feb. 1 1932. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn91068401/1932-02-01/ed-1/.
NOW
The 2026 Winter Olympic Games, which ran from February 6 to February 22, marked the 25th Winter Olympic Games. Jointly hosted by Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, a ski town near Italy's border with Austria, the games featured around 2,800 athletes representing 90 national Olympic committees, competing in 116 medal events across 16 disciplines. The United States sent 232 athletes, its largest contingent ever, with ages ranging from the 15-year-old freeskier Abby Winterberger to 54-year-old curler Rich Ruohonen.
If you have more time, watch this PBS News Hour segment featuring interviews with photojournalists at the 2026 Winter Olympics.
Discussion questions:
- What role do sports play in shaping national identity and pride?
- How do different media formats above, such as the poster and photographs, help to tell the story of the Olympics in a way that a regular news article may not?
Written by Claudia Caruso, PBS News Hour Classroom's intern and sophomore at the University of Southern California, and News Hour's Vic Pasquantonio.
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