By Mia Kelley
The 2026 Winter Olympics began Feb. 6 in Italy, spanning from Milan to Cortina. The mountains of the northern region of the country will be the backdrop for the biggest Olympic Games ever: the highest number of athletes, sports, events and highest anticipated number of viewers and attendees than ever before.
College students have a special perspective on the games, as many of the competitors on the American team are their age or younger. This year, there are 18 athletes on the team that are between the ages of 18 and 22, providing college students at the University of Arkansas an even bigger reason to cheer on Team USA.
Freshman student Autumn Boyd said the overwhelming feeling of American pride attracts her to the events every two years. Other than the Olympics, she says she only feels this surge of emotion when it is the Fourth of July.
“I love the togetherness, the feeling like the country is united for something, because we’re so divided all the time,” she said.
Feeling pride in the United States is certainly easy when the medal count stays consistently on the rise throughout the course of the games. Snowboarding two-time Olympic gold medalist Chloe Kim is one of the returning athletes to look out for in the coming weeks.
“The United States is always one of the best [teams] if not the best,” Boyd said. “It’s the same feeling I get when we’re in Bud Walton, and we just want to win.”
The power of competition on a global stage has the strength to unite entire nations, or at least ease their tensions. Amid heightened political tension under President Donald Trump’s administration enforcing immigrant detainment and control, now is as perfect of a time as ever to be on one team.
Following the fatal shootings by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of an ICU nurse Alex Pretti, and mother Renee Good, both Minneapolis residents, anti-ICE protests have sprung up across the country. Just before the start of the Olympics, Mayor of Milan Giuseppe Sala was informed of ICE agents accompanying the US team overseas. According to CBS News, Sala said that the agents should not come to Italy, as they do not guarantee they’re aligned with Italy’s democratic security methods.
Needless to say, the elite status of the USA team to deliver success stories and bring home a plethora of medals provides the athletes a unique chance at social change. Olympic athletes have made numerous political statements in the past, especially through their victory celebrations. This year, athletes are taking a stand even before the games have started, speaking out at press conferences and on social media.
At a postgame interview, Minnesota Frost hockey player Kelly Panek, member of the 2026 Olympic team, commented on her view of the social power she wields as an athlete.
“I think people have been asking us what it’s like to represent our state and country. I think what I’m most proud to represent is the tens of thousands of people who show up on some of the coldest days of the year to stand and fight for what they believe in,” said Panek.
With ICE raids continuing in Minneapolis and beginning in other regions of the country, thousands more have started speaking out and protesting in their local communities.
“I think [being an Olympic athlete] is a good opportunity for people to speak up for what they believe in, and to speak up for what they think is right and wrong. Especially with the situation [in the U.S.] today, there’s a lot of strong opinions going around- I think not speaking up says a lot about a person,” said freshman Engineering student Ruby Templeton.
Seeing Olympic athletes, especially the young ones, model traits like courage and determination on a global platform where millions of people will watch them perform is inspiring to their peers, including some at the U of A.
Boyd said that seeing 20-year old figure skater Alysa Liu return to figure skating, and now the 2026 Olympics after retiring at 16 is especially motivating and eye-opening to her; that so much can change in just four short years, and that one’s career is not always linear.
“The fact that someone our age would be able to do something for so long, feel burnt out, and come back to doing it…that’s inspiring to me,” she said.
Students at the U of A and around the globe have access to new ways of spectating the events as well as looks inside footage of the Olympic Village via short-form content posted on social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Another student, Danielle Hammig, said that athlete-influencers changed her perspective on the 2024 Paris Olympics, specifically USA women’s rugby player Ilona Maher and USA women’s tennis player Coco Gauff. Hammig said without Maher’s content, she would not have been aware that rugby was a sport in the Summer Olympics, meaning other women and girls worldwide were introduced to it as well. At the same Olympics, now 21-year-old Gauff posted content about her experience at the events, often following viral trends or making humorous videos.
“I feel like Coco Gauff is pretty well-versed in the Tik Tok and social media world, and she makes watching tennis a lot more interesting,” Hammig said.
Most of all, athletes at the Olympics represent what it is like to be a contributor to a team, a united front of people from a vast variety of backgrounds and opinions, all with the same individual goals for themselves—something that viewers all over the world can absorb and incorporate into their own lives.
“Sports are a really beautiful thing, because you can meet your best friends through things like your teams and your teammates. And I feel like it’s just really cool that [Olympic athletes] get to represent their sport, their thing that they love so much in honor of their country,” said Hammig.
In such a time of political discourse and action toward nationwide social change, it can be difficult to remember what it feels like to be a proud American. This February, the athletes competing on the global stage to realize their dreams have a chance to remind fans back home what unity and compassion can feel like, and how powerful they can be.