Christine Brennan discusses the Winter Olympics athletes to watch on 'Settle In'

Amna Nawaz:

The 2026 Winter Olympics are now officially under way after the Opening Ceremony in Milan, which is co-hosting with the city of Cortina.

Today's star-studded spectacle featured performances by Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, among others. About 2,800 athletes from more than 90 countries are taking part.

And this week's episode of our podcast "Settle In," is all about the Games and what you need to know. I spoke with Christine Brennan of USA Today before she flew to Italy for more on the Games, the athletes, and the world coming together in an uncertain era.

Let's talk about some of the big storylines to watch, because there's so many fascinating personalities and so many potentially exciting moments.

Let's start with women skiing and Mikaela Shiffrin, because if you are someone like me who loves a redemption story or loves a comeback, this could be the one, right?

Christine Brennan, USA Today:

Absolutely.

Amna Nawaz:

Tell us about Mikaela.

Christine Brennan:

Mikaela Shiffrin is only 30 years old. She's lived a lifetime or two or three early success, Sochi and PyeongChang, and then absolutely a devastating Olympics in 2022, where she just...

Amna Nawaz:

Broke my heart to watch.

Christine Brennan:

And you and probably millions of people watching. No, and just had a terrible run of bad luck, didn't finish. Everything that she had done so beautifully over the time she'd been in the public eye, it all fell apart. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

But a great -- why people love her so much and why she is such a terrific role model and good person is the way she handled it.

Amna Nawaz:

Yes.

Christine Brennan:

Answered every question, showed up at interviews, didn't run away, didn't hide, absolute pro.

Talked about her mental health, talked about how hard this was. It's bigger than sports and she handled it beautifully. And here she comes. She is back, only 30, as I said, so there's still plenty of time.

Amna Nawaz:

OK, let's talk about figure skating, because I know that's where you're going to be focusing a lot of your reporting and work as well.

And I feel like that is -- that's where a lot of core memories for viewers are made. And certainly for me growing up watching, I still have memories of these great American skaters like Michelle Kwan and Kristi Yamaguchi and Tara Lipinski. How are the Americans doing? Can they medal this year?

Christine Brennan:

Yes, they can. They should. I think they will.

I actually think this could be the greatest U.S. figure skating team ever assembled. 1960s is the last time that two Americans in figure skating won gold men and women. This U.S. team, Ilia Malinin, who's 21, from the D.C. suburbs, born and raised in D.C., the son of two-time Olympians, both, his mom -- I covered his mom.

Amna Nawaz:

You covered his mom?

Christine Brennan:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

Oh, that's wild.

Christine Brennan:

Yes, Tatiana Malinina. She was in the 2002 Games and then in Salt Lake and then withdrew.

Amna Nawaz:

So he's coming in with a good pedigree.

Christine Brennan:

Exactly, born and raised in the United States. He is by far the prohibitive Olympic gold medal favorite in the men's event and also just a terrific young man, gets it, the bravado, calls himself the Quad God. He's...

Amna Nawaz:

He calls himself the Quad God?

Christine Brennan:

Quad God. And you know what? It ain't bragging if you can back it up, as they say. Well, guess what? He landed seven quadruple jumps in his long program, four minutes, in the Grand Prix Final in December. And that is the most quadruple jumps ever by a human being in the history of figure skating. So, hello, Quad God.

The reigning world champion is Alysa Liu. And she's 20. And get this. She won the national championship, first one at age 13, youngest U.S. woman to ever win a national title. Alysa Liu won another national championship at 14. She was so little that her competitors, second and third place, had to help her up to get to the top of the medal stand.

So, national champion 13, national champion 14, retires at 16, unretires two years later at 18, wins the world title at 19, and now makes her second Olympic team at 20.

Amna Nawaz:

I love this story already.

Christine Brennan:

She has come back with a totally different perspective. She didn't want -- she hated the life of a young kid, regimented as she was. She wanted to go skiing and take vacations and do stuff that she couldn't do.

Amna Nawaz:

Yes, and be 16.

Christine Brennan:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

Yes.

Christine Brennan:

And so she did. And she did that for two years and she loved it. And she goes, now I want to come back to skating.

Amna Nawaz:

We are at this moment of enormous global uncertainty, right? There's all these shifts in terms of alliances and just America's place in the world.

And I wonder how, as you're preparing for this, because I know you prepare a ton going into these Games -- do you anticipate some of that's going to show up at the Games? I mean, will there be protests? Will people try to use this platform to make a statement? What are you kind of getting ready for?

Christine Brennan:

You know, the thing you wonder right off the bat -- and I'm sure everyone listening or watching would maybe go, yes, this is the one that comes to mind. Will the Americans be booed?

Amna Nawaz:

Really?

Christine Brennan:

And that's a question. And I ask that as a question with a question mark at the end. I don't know.

I have never seen in all of the Opening Ceremonies I have covered, which is all of them going back to '84 in L.A., I don't recall hearing boos. Do I think -- I will answer my own question. Do I think that the Americans will be booed as they come into the Opening Ceremony? My guess is probably not.

Number one, a lot of us tourists go to these events, come overseas, other countries that might be friendly to the U.S., also, although again, that certainly has been an issue in the last year with the Trump administration. But I also think, in general, people, even if they're angry about things, don't necessarily force that or direct that to the athletes who are coming in, right?

Amna Nawaz:

It is fascinating you feel the question has to be posed.

Christine Brennan:

Oh, without a doubt, the notion that politics doesn't enter the Olympics. And there might be people going, oh, wait a minute, but they don't have politics.

Are you kidding? I mean, this is -- it's a mirror of our society.

Amna Nawaz:

And you can find the rest of that episode of "Settle In" on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.