Then and Now: Winter Olympics ready to return to Cortina after 70 years

Seven decades after the world’s best winter athletes came together in the Dolomites, the alpine town of Cortina will once again welcome Olympic competition in 2026.

The Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 Olympic Winter Games marked the first time that Italy had ever played the role of Olympic host, four years before the summer Games of Rome 1960 and half a century before Canadian speed skater Cindy Klassen was the star of the show with her five medals at Turin 2006.

As we look forward to watching Team Canada athletes fulfill their Olympic dreams at Milano Cortina 2026, let’s take a quick look back to 70 years ago and how much has changed on the Winter Olympic scene.

Bigger and More Balanced

In 1956, the small resort town of Cortina (home to around 6000 people) could host the Olympic Winter Games all on its own. Not so in 2026. The Games have grown so much that events will be spread across several clusters in northern Italy, including Milan, which is about a 400-kilometre drive west of Cortina.

A quick look at these numbers gives a glimpse at how big the Winter Olympics have gotten.

Milano Cortina 2026 will be the most gender-balanced Olympic Winter Games to date, with 54 men’s events and 50 women’s events as well as 12 mixed events. It is expected that 47 per cent of participating athletes will be women. Comparatively, women comprised just 16.3 per cent of competitors at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956.

The eight sports on the 1956 program were alpine skiing, bobsleigh, cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and long track speed skating. In 2026, the program will also include biathlon, curling, freestyle skiing, luge, short track speed skating, skeleton, snowboard, and ski mountaineering, with the latter making its Olympic debut.  

READ: Ski Mountaineering 101: What you need to know about the new winter Olympic sport

In 1956, only alpine skiing, figure skating, and cross-country skiing included women’s events. In 2026, the only sport in which women will not compete is Nordic combined.

Team Canada’s Increased Impact

With the growth of the Olympic program, Canada has grown into a powerhouse country at the Winter Games—both in the number of athletes who can call themselves Olympians and the number of medals that go on Team Canada’s tally.  

At each of the last four Olympic Winter Games, Team Canada has included more than 200 athletes—more than five times the number who wore the maple leaf at Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956.

Since Turin 2006, Team Canada has won at least 24 medals at each Olympic Winter Games. It was a much different story in 1956 when Canadian athletes won just three winter Olympic medals, but all were notable for their own reasons.

Figure skaters Frances Dafoe and Norris Bowden led the way with their silver in the pairs event. They were pioneers of elements we now expect pairs to perform, such as twist lifts, overhead lasso lifts, and throw jumps. While European critics claimed that overhead lifts were not mentioned in the rulebook and were therefore illegal, Dafoe and Bowden received first place marks from four of the nine judges. Their skills led to the rules for the sport being revised in 1959. Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 marked the last time that an Olympic figure skating competition was held outdoors.

Lucile Wheeler became Canada’s first ever Olympic medallist in alpine skiing when she won bronze in the women’s downhill. That also made her the first North American to win an Olympic downhill medal.

Both of those events featured Canadians who would go on to win Olympic gold four years later. Just 17 in her Olympic debut, Anne Heggtveit built on her experience to win the women’s slalom at Squaw Valley 1960. Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul followed up their sixth-place finish in Cortina with four straight world pairs titles as well as the next Olympic title.

Canada, represented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Dutchman, won bronze in hockey. A recognizable last name from that roster is Brodeur. Goaltender Denis Brodeur went on to father goaltending great Martin Brodeur, who won gold at Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010.

Fun Facts and International Intrigue

Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 made history as the first Olympic Winter Games to be televised live, with broadcasts reaching multiple European countries.

They were just the second Olympic Winter Games to be preceded by a torch relay. The flame was lit at the Capitoline, one of Rome’s seven hills, and sent on a five-day journey to Cortina via Venice. The torch relay for Milano Cortina 2026 will last 63 days after the flame is lit at Olympia in Greece in November 2025.

The star athlete of Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956 was Austrian Toni Sailer, who won all three men’s alpine skiing events by large margins. Austria won nine of the 18 medals awarded in alpine skiing, accounting for all but two of the country’s podium finishes.

There was a major innovation in ski jumping as Finnish athletes introduced a new aerodynamic style. They placed their arms against their sides during their flight, rather than reaching forward in front of their heads. It helped two of them—Antti Hyvärinen and Aulis Kallakorpi—win gold and silver.

READ: Everything you need to know about Milano Cortina 2026

Venues Re-Visited

There are only three venues in Cortina that will be used during the 2026 Winter Olympics, but two of those will be hosting Olympic events for the second time.

What will be the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium was known in 1956 as the Cortina Ice Stadium. It was the site of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, as well as the figure skating and hockey competitions. 

The Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre, which will host women’s alpine events in 2026, was the primary alpine skiing venue for both women and men in 1956.

In 2026, the sliding sports of bobsleigh, skeleton, and luge are also planned to take place in Cortina. The Cortina Sliding Centre is currently under construction at the location that previously housed the Pista olimpica Eugenio Monti. Considered by many to be the greatest bobsleigh pilot ever, Monti won two silver medals during Cortina d’Ampezzo 1956, racing on the track that would be named for him after he won four more Olympic medals, including a pair of gold in 1968.