In Milan, athletes showed that patriotism can be generous. In Los Angeles, that definition will be tested on the biggest, loudest stage sport can offer
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he Milano Cortina Winter Games ended on Sunday night as the Olympics always do: in light, spectacle and speeches about unity. In Verona, the Olympic flag passed to the French Alps and the twin flames were extinguished. But unofficially, at least, a flame also flickered 6,000 miles west.
If these Games felt political, just wait until Los Angeles a little more than two years from now.
The Olympic movement is resurgent in the United States – not a moment too soon for NBC, which paid $7.75bn for the rights through 2032 – but the world’s biggest sporting event returns to a country trapped in a neverending cycle that rarely keeps politics offstage. And over the past two weeks in Italy, American athletes demonstrated that there is more than one way to carry a flag.
