LET THE GAMES BEGIN.

Italy's Olympians used Rossini's "Figaro" (from Il Barbieri di Siviglia) as their walk-up music.  Although the opening performances featured giant circus heads of Rossini as well as Verdi and Puccini (what, no Vivaldi?) there were no references to Bugs Bunny.  Cold Spring Shops hereby correct that oversight.

The competition was under way before the opening ceremonies, with, for example, the United States mixed doubles curling team qualifying for the medal round Sunday, beating Sweden in a match that was much more edifying than any Super Bowl halftime show or the counterprogramming.

Also on Sunday, downhill skier Lindsey Vonn had the sort of run that ABC's "Wide World of Sports," back when that was a thing, could use to showcase, if that is the word, "the agony of defeat."

Lindsey Vonn was the 13th skier to hit the slopes in the alpine ski women’s downhill at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics on Sunday and her dreams of powering through a devastating knee injury to make the medal podium came to a crashing halt.

Vonn was entering the first sector when she fell hard onto the slopes. The crowd gasped as they came to terms with the wipeout. She writhed in pain as medical professionals came to check on her. A helicopter came to get Vonn off the mountain.

U.S. officials said Vonn sustained an injury during the crash, but was in "stable condition and in good hands with a team of American and Italian physicians."

Downhill skiers have to navigate a twisty course and shaving a fraction of a second by getting in close to the mark is of the essence, and perhaps sports medicine types will work through whether whatever bracing or taping she used to ski with a serious injury affected her timing.

Her pole and shoulder caught a gate near the top of the mountain, spinning her sideways and sending her tumbling off the course. Her skis dug into the snow, twisting both knees and leaving her prone and bent on the hillside. According to the Associated Press, Vonn’s mandatory air bag worn under her race suit did inflate. A helicopter arrived within 10 minutes to evacuate her from the course, and after about 20 minutes, the event continued.

That helicopter evacuation was spectacular in its own right.

Photo by Al Bello of Getty Images retrieved from Yahoo Sports.

A person who competes in that sport at that level is probably not disposed to be prudent.

While most athletes protect their longevity, Vonn chased speed, skiing courses others tiptoed down. Coaches knew what they were sending her into; she also knew, but fear never ran the program. Determination did.

It's that background that explains why her Olympic return felt inevitable. After all, if anybody could push through recent and lingering injuries, it seemed like she could.

Meanwhile, the Olympics brought out the environmentalist wackos.  "Thousands Take to Milan Streets to Protest Olympics’ Environmental and Social Harms, ICE."  Because of course they did.  But their litany is as overplayed as "Bugler's Dream" these days.

Around 10,000 demonstrators rallied in Milan Saturday to protest the economic, social, and environmental impacts of the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics, the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the games, genocidal Israel’s participation, and other issues.

The union and activist network Comitato Insostenibili Olimpiadi, or Unsustainable Olympics Committee, organized the demonstration, which it called “a popular gathering of social opposition, bringing together grassroots and community sports organizations, civic and environmental movements, territorial committees and student collectives.”

The coalition said it is “fighting for the right to housing and for militant trade unions, movements that have stood alongside the Palestinian people, and the Global Sumud Flotilla,” the seaborne campaign to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

Protesters also decried Decree Law 1660, which empowers police to preemptively detain people for up to 12 hours if they believe they may act disruptively, as well as “state racism against migrants and racialized people, and transfeminist anger against social and institutional patriarchy.”

At the vanguard of the protest march were about 50 people carrying cardboard trees representing larches they said were cut down to construct the new bobsleigh track in Cortina d’Ampezzo. They held a banner reading, “Century-old trees, survivors of two wars, sacrificed for 90 seconds of competition on a bobsleigh track costing €124 million.”

Same Weimar freak show, same cluster of grievances, different event for calling out the protesters.  It's too bad, as there might be an opportunity for libertarians to make common cause with at least part of their complaint.

One healthcare worker at the protest told Euronews: “It’s public money that has been spent on a display window. It may be interesting to have these showcase events, but at a time when there is not enough money for essential things, it makes no sense to spend it in this way.”

Another demonstrator said that the Olympics “have not brought any wealth to the city of Milan and Lombardy.”

“They have taken money away from social welfare, public schools, and healthcare,” he added. “This money has literally been burned, and not a single lira will go to Italian citizens, particularly those in Lombardy, so these are bogus Olympics.”

Yes, sports subsidies in general, and Olympic subsidies in particular, have lousy benefit-cost ratios, which might be why totalitarian states are more keen to host them, even if playing conditions at the resulting Olympics are less than desirable.  Sailing off the Chinese or Brazilian coast, or skiing near Sochi, anyone?