After Calgary's withdrawal from the race.. the 2026 Winter Olympics will be held in Milan and Cortina, Italy

The people of Calgary woke up on Friday morning feeling, perhaps unconsciously, that there was an important event that was supposed to happen — as if something was missing from the calendar. For some, those feelings were linked to a major global event that was scheduled to start this week in the Canadian city.
But if the residents of Calgary looked for this event, they would not find it facing the Rocky Mountains, but about **8,000 kilometers southeast, in Milan, Italy, which is now hosting the 2026 Winter Olympics along with the city of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

From the dream of hosting to the Italian reality

In 2018, Calgary was one of the strong candidate cities to host the 2026 Games, especially amid global appreciation of its potential based on its previous experience hosting the 1988 edition. It seemed that the journey towards a new Winter Olympics had started in the right place.
But the candidacy journey was not without local controversy. Intense questions were raised about the city's ability to bear the high financial costs of organizing such a large event, and whether the expected benefits justified the huge expenses associated with hosting the Games.
Those discussions resulted in a public referendum in November of last year, in which 56% of voters voted in favor of officially abandoning the bid, a decision considered a severe blow to the ambitions of holding the Games in Calgary.

Attention returns to Italy

After Calgary's withdrawal, all eyes turned to Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, which are now hosting the global event that is attracting the attention of athletes and winter sports fans from all over the world.
While Italy is witnessing massive events and wide media coverage, the people of Calgary are experiencing moments of reflection and nostalgia for what could have been, especially those who supported the idea of hosting the Games and saw it as an opportunity to bring the city back into the global spotlight.

What remains of the dream?

Calgary's decision to abandon hosting the Games remains a subject of debate between supporters who see it as protecting public finances, and opponents who consider it a lost opportunity to put the city back on the global map after more than three decades since the Games it hosted in 1988.
But for Canadians in general and Calgary residents in particular, the 2026 Games are now a distant event taking place under the European sky, while the question remains whether the chances of hosting another global event will return to Canada in the future.