Italian Renaissance: Does ‘home ice’ give Winter Olympics host a competitive advantage?

From Milan to Cortina and beyond, the star of the first Olympic weekend in Italy was… Italy.

The electric party started on Saturday in Bormio, near the Swiss border, with silver and bronze in the men’s downhill. They sounded a few hours later in Milan, where Francesca Lollobrigida set an Olympic record in the women’s 3,000 meters speed skating and won the host country’s first gold.

On Sunday, the festivities in various sports were spread over scattered locations: snowboard bronze in Livigno, biathlon silver in Antholz, luge bronze in Cortina, among others. In Milan, figure skater Matteo Rizzo dropped to his knees after finishing his free skate and cried tears of joy on the ice. He jumped over the wall to join his compatriots in celebrating their bronze, the country’s first-ever medal in the team event.

In two days, Italy already had more medals (nine) than in Sochi 2014 (eight) and many more than in Vancouver 2010 (five). The host nation was almost halfway to its Olympic record of twenty medals in Lillehammer 1994.

Monday passed without a medal, but Italy added to their tally on Tuesday, taking medals in sports ranging from the posh (mixed doubles curling, bronze) to the frenetic (mixed short track relay, gold). On Wednesday they doubled in the luge doubles (men’s and women’s) to take their gold medal tally to four. Thursday brought more gold in the women’s super-G and the women’s 5000 meter speed skating.

To some extent, momentum for the host country is typical of the Olympic Games. The US shattered its medal records in Salt Lake City in 2002. Canada set a record for gold medals at a single edition of the Winter Olympics when they hosted in 2010, although that record has since been broken by Norway. South Korea and China won more medals as hosts in 2018 and 2022 than ever before in any edition. (The 2014 Games in Russia cannot provide a solid point of comparison due to the widespread doping problems involving the host country.)

Home advantage in the Olympics, especially the Winter Games, is not quite the same as in basketball or any football code, where fans can intimidate opponents and officials. Curly frowns during bickering. Home fans don’t yell at opposing biathletes to make them miss their shots. Cheering can be a boost, but only in some sports. A downhill skier leaving the starting gate will not be affected by the cheering from the bottom of the slope.

But “home ice cream” can be a literal benefit. American bobsleigh, skeleton and luge racers delivered great performances in 2002 on their beloved circuit in the Utah Olympic Park, where they knew all the turns like the back of their hand.

And Olympic committees and sponsors are well aware of the opportunities they will have when the Games come to town. Canada, embarrassed by not having won a single event at the 1976 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Winter Olympics, launched the “Own the stagecampaign five years before the 2010 Olympic Games began in Vancouver, China a daring attempt to allow more citizens to participate in winter sports.

These investments can also pay off outside the host games. The US has remained a winter sports power, happily taking advantage of the world-class facilities built in Utah that will host the Olympic Games again in eight years. Canada has remained remarkably consistent since 2010.

The country that has largely failed to benefit from hosting the Olympic Games in the 21st century is now making up for it.

In 2006, when the Games took place in Turin, Italy fell far short of their best ever performance twelve years earlier in Lillehammer. In 1994 they won twenty medals, seven of which were gold. At home they won 11 medals, five of which were gold. Even though Lillehammer has been written off as an aberration – skewed by cross-country skier Manuela Di Centa’s five medals – Italy’s medal total as host fell short of the total of 13 compared to four years earlier in Salt Lake City.

The indelible image of Italy’s 2006 efforts was reflected in the ice dance, where 2002 bronze medalists Barbara Fusar-Poli and Maurizio Margaglio tumbled onto the ice near the end of their program, and Fusar-Poli stared at her old partner in despair and exasperation for a cringe-worthy 30 seconds before finally taking their bows.

What’s different this time?

Overall improvement is one factor. After hitting a low of five medals in 2010 and no gold medals in 2014, Italy bounced back in 2018 and came close to its record by winning 17 in 2022.

The increase could also reflect increased enthusiasm. Turin never really warmed up to the Olympics. This year’s Games feel different, and Italy’s early success – punctuated by lively celebrations – should only keep the ball rolling.

Momentum is difficult to quantify. Did the Italian figure skating team inspire ice hockey goaltender Damian Clara to stop 46 Swedish shots to keep Italy on the brink of a major upset on Wednesday before leaving with an injury? Certainly not in a direct sense.

Sports require crunching numbers. Thousandths of a second when tobogganing. Picayune adjustments to execution scores in figure skating. But many of the best moments in sports defy explanation. When the crowd roars for Rizzo and the short course relay team disrupts traditional power, can the presence of something simply magical be denied?