My Olympic Experience - February 13, 2025

It Really Does Bring The World Together

This week I was fortunate to have my first Olympic experience.  We attended the Canada vs. USA women’s hockey game on February 10th at Milano Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena, in Milan, Italy.  I have seen many Winter and Summer Olympic games events on TV, but never in-person, until now.  One more item crossed off my bucket list.  

Even though Canada lost 5-0, and was outplayed by the US team for the entire game, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I would highly recommend everyone who can manage it, attend an Olympic event.  I’m already thinking about going to the upcoming Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028, and I definitely want to see more Olympic hockey games at the next Winter Olympics in France in 2030.  

Attending the Winter Olympics in Milan was part of a two-week trip to Italy we had planned, to see friends in Rome.  Milan was an easy three-hour train ride from Rome, on-board a high speed train that travelled at 200 mph!  We arrived in the morning of game day, and with the game being held that evening, we had lots of time to explore the city.  I was excited to see Milan, having never visited there before, but having heard quite a bit about the city. 

From the train station we walked to our hotel, checked-in, and set out to explore Milan.  Before I get into that, I want to share my observation: in our walk to the hotel, there was very little hype about the Olympics, and we sensed the same lack of enthusiasm in the lobby of the hotel.  I’ll admit I was a bit disappointed by this, as part of my expectations were to experience the Olympic hype. Maybe this was because our hotel was in downtown Milan and not close to any Olympic venues?  After checking-in, we took a taxi to the site of the Olympic cauldron, where the official Olympic flame was lit; we asked the cab driver how he felt about having the Olympics in his city.  He was not thrilled to have the Olympic games in town, which was surprising.  The first hour of my Olympic experience was underwhelming, to say the least.  With this observation, I texted a friend who is a two-time Canadian Olympian, and shared my first impressions of an Olympic city.  He responded that if the host city does not set up a dedicated Olympic village, the experience away from the event venues can be underwhelming.  

Once we arrived at the site of the Olympic cauldron, things picked up!  There were lots of people there, from all over the world.  The cauldron itself was anything but a cauldron; it was an intricate design of metal bars, with the flame lit in a circle housed in the middle of the structure. 

It was a very impressive design.  Also on site were two pavilions, “Italy House” that had many Olympic-related exhibits and displays; those buildings had lots of visitors, also from various parts of the world.  After visiting the Olympic cauldron and pavilion, we had lunch at a restaurant in the area.  That place, and others nearby, were all full.  The owner of the restaurant where we ate said they have been busy all week, and they had several hundred people for lunch, just yesterday.  This was the vibe I was expecting.  

After visiting the Olympic cauldron we headed back to the hotel, to rest up before the big game.  After resting up, our group met in the lobby of our hotel.  There, I saw some people wearing USA hockey jerseys.  I was wearing a Team Canada hoodie, made eye contact with one of the American fans, and yelled out “Go Canada!”  He smiled, came right over and introduced himself.  After some pleasantries, he mentioned that the Milano Games were the 12th Olympics he had seen in-person. Wow!  He shared some stories from some of the other Olympic games he had been to, and then, inevitably, the conversation turned to the current chaos emanating from the White House.  These Americans were embarrassed by what was happening, were apologetic about the way Canada was being treated by the current administration, and shared stories of their many visits to Canada.  We expressed our appreciation for what they were saying, and reciprocated by saying we like America and Americans, but we were not big fans of the current President.  The conversation on Canadian-American politics was very civil and respectful; there was no talk of Canada becoming a 51st state, and no referring to our Prime Minister as a “Governor”; we were hockey fans of opposing teams bonding over the Olympics and a common irritant, in an Olympic city - this is what the Olympic experience should be like!

We took a subway ride to a pickup point, where a shuttle was going to take us to the Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena.  On the subway we met more Canadian and American hockey fans, also travelling to the game.  Anytime we saw a red maple leaf we struck up a conversation.  The first question always asked was where we were from, followed by how long we were in town, and how many Olympic events we were attending.  There was lots of excitement and connections made over the Olympics…this was the experience I was expecting, and I was glad it was happening as I had hoped, despite the slow start earlier in the day. 

From the subway, we boarded a shuttle that took us to the Olympic venue.  As expected, everyone on the shuttle was a hockey fan, going to the Canada-USA game.  There was even more excitement about the game, and the Olympics in general.  On the shuttle we met a father-son duo from Western Canada, who had already been to quite a few Olympic events.  We also met two sisters from a town nearby to Ottawa, where we live. They knew a couple of Team Canada players.  More bonding, more excitement, and this was generated by the Olympic experience, all occurring before the hockey game itself.  

The hockey venue was quite impressive, especially when you take into consideration that it was recently built for these Olympic games. 

As is the case with any major sporting event, the crowd was buzzing with excitement as they entered the building.  We arrived about an hour before game time, which we would never do for an Ottawa Senators game, but hey, this was the Olympics and we wanted to soak up every second of it.  At that time, about half the seats were filled, with lots of people milling about the concourse.  I did wonder for a moment, if the arena would be filled by game time, but sure enough it was…not an empty seat in the building by the opening puck drop.  

The in-game production was well done, including a primer on the video screen of the basics of hockey; those of us that have watched hockey for years knew all this information, but for hockey neophytes this was useful information.  The crowd was really into the game.  Sitting behind us were some Canadian fans who had clearly seen the women’s team play the night before.  Canada did not play well vs. the US, and these fans were quite vocal about Canada’s performance in this game, as they felt Canada looked tentative against the US tonight, and had put on a better performance in the previous night’s game.  

As mentioned, the outcome of the game was disappointing, but the experience was spectacular.  This great experience continued on the shuttle ride back to the subway station, and on the subway ride back downtown to our hotel. In both instances we met more Canadian and American hockey fans, and had great conversations with both groups. Even though the American team had handily defeated Canada, the American fans were not in our face, gloating about their win.  There was grace in their victory; one of American fans said their leaders could learn a thing or two about humility and diplomacy, from how fans treated each other at the Olympics.  It was the camaraderie I was expecting from an Olympic experience.    

The next day our train back to Rome wasn’t until the next evening so we took the opportunity to see some of the sights in Milan.  We saw Il Duomo, one of the largest churches in the world…larger than the Vatican. And, we saw La Teatro alla Stalla, a grand theatre that first opened in 1778…both were impressive!  While walking around the Piazza del Duomo, we saw people from Japan, Holland, England, France, and many other parts of the world.  They may have visited Milan otherwise, but my sense was most of them were there for the Olympics, and took in these famous sights of Milan while in town.    While walking through the Piazza del  Duomo, we met and chatted with the father of one of the Canadian Olympic hockey players, that we had watched play the night before; we stopped him in Piazza del Duomo because he was wearing a Canadian hat; when else would that have happened...and that was a fun part of our Olympic experience! 

The Olympics bring people together from all over the world; in this setting they are all peaceful, friendly and calmly discuss world events…certain world leaders could learn a thing or two from the Olympic experience.