To help with spellings and usage in coverage of the Winter Olympics in Milan Cortina, The Associated Press compiled an editorial style guide of essential terms, spellings and definitions. Some terms are from the Olympics entries in the AP Stylebook: https://www.apstylebook.com. Others are common usage in AP sports stories.

2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Topical Guide

Facts and figures

The Milan Cortina Games are the first Olympics officially shared between two host cities. This marks the third time Italy has hosted the Winter Olympics: Cortina d'Ampezzo previously hosted in 1956, and Turin held the Games in 2006. Italy has also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

Dates of the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics: Feb. 6-22. Some events begin before the opening ceremony, including the curling competition, which starts on Feb. 4. Ice hockey and snowboard competitions begin on Feb. 5.

Sports: There will be 116 medal events across 16 disciplines at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Ski mountaineering will make its Olympic debut. Several new events are being added to existing sports: women's doubles in luge, women's large hill in ski jumping, a mixed event in skeleton, men's and women's dual moguls in freestyle skiing and team combined in Alpine skiing.

Sports venues: There are 15 venues spread across northern Italy, making the Milan Cortina Games the most geographically widespread Winter Olympics in history. Ice hockey, figure skating, speedskating and short track will take place in the Milan metropolitan area, including the suburbs of Assago and Rho, with Milan's San Siro stadium hosting the opening ceremony. Cortina, located in the Dolomites, will host bobsled, skeleton, luge, curling and women's Alpine skiing. Tesero and Predazzo, in the Val di Fiemme valley southwest of Cortina, will host cross-country skiing, ski jumping and Nordic combined. Biathlon will take place in Anterselva, near the Austrian border. Bormio, in the mountains northeast of Milan, will host men's Alpine skiing and snow mountaineering, while freestyle skiing and snowboard will take place in Livigno, near the Swiss border. The closing ceremony will be held in Verona.

Athletes: About 3,500 athletes from more than 90 countries will compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and Paralympics. As in the Paris Summer Games in 2024, Russian and Belarusian athletes will compete as Individual Neutral Athletes, also known by the French acronym AIN. Any medals they win will not be included in the International Olympic Committee's medal table. The IOC banned Russia and Belarus after the full-scale of invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Budget: Organizers announced and operating budget of about 1.7 billion euros, or $1.9 million, not counting the construction of venues such as the Santagiulia ice hockey arena in Milan. Unlike at recent Winter Games in Sochi (2014), Pyeongchang (2018) and Beijing (2022), the Milan Cortina Games will rely largely on existing venues.

Medals: Each medal – gold, silver and bronze – is divided into two halves, one with a granular texture and the other with a smooth surface. They feature the Olympic rings on one side and the Milan Cortina logo and the name of the specific event on the other. The medals are produced by Italy's state mint.

Mascots: The official mascots of the 2026 Winter Olympics and Paralympics are Tina and Milo, two stoat siblings whose names derive from the host cities of Cortina and Milan. Stoats are small, agile mountain mammals from the weasel family whose fur changes color with the seasons. Tina, who represents the Winter Olympics, has white fur, while her brother Milo has brown fur. Milo is missing his right leg but creatively uses his tail to walk. The mascots, designed by students of the Istituto Comprensivo of Taverna in the Calabria region, were selected from 1,600 ideas submitted by primary and secondary school students across Italy.

Medals tables: In the United States, medal standings are based on the total number of medals won by each country – gold, silver, and bronze combined. In most other countries, rankings are based on gold medals won, followed by silver and bronze medals.

Olympic sports on the program: Alpine skiing, biathlon, bobsled, cross-country skiing, curling, figure skating, freestyle skiing, ice hockey, luge, Nordic combined, short track speedskating, skeleton, ski jumping, ski mountaineering, snowboard and speedskating. There are men and women's events in all disciplines except Nordic combined, which remains men only. Many sports have mixed-gender competitions, including biathlon, curling and figure skating.

Datelines

Milan stands alone in datelines. The other Olympic locations need Italy in the dateline, such as BORMIO, Italy. Use a Milan dateline for the venues in the Milan metropolitan area, including the speedskating and figure skating venues, which are in the suburbs of Rho and Assago, respectively.

Use the Italian version for locations with both Italian and German names, such as Anterselva (Antholz in German).

In stories with a CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy, dateline, Cortina is acceptable on first reference. In stories with other datelines, spell out Cortina d'Ampezzo on first reference.

Games

Always capitalize, even when standing alone: The Games open on Feb. 6.

Milan Cortina Games, Milan Cortina Winter Olympics

Capitalized, no hyphen. The year always precedes the host city and Olympics: 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. Use Milan, not the Italian Milano.

Names and abbreviations

IOC: International Olympic Committee. Either is OK on first reference but use full name in the story.

IOC President Kirsty Coventry: The title is capitalized when used before the name.

International sports federations: All Olympic sports are run by international federations. Don't use the abbreviation IF; use international federation or governing body.

National Olympic committee: In news stories, avoid the abbreviation NOC and use national Olympic committees or national bodies. There are 206 recognized national Olympic committees.

USOPC: U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Abbreviation acceptable on second reference.

The Olympic movement: Comprises the IOC, international federations, national Olympic committees, organizing committees and all other recognized federations and bodies, as well as athletes, judges, coaches and other sports officials.

Olympian: Any athlete who has qualified for or been named to a country's Olympic team.

Olympic: Adjective (without s) and always capitalized: Olympic gold medal, Olympic organizers, Olympic host city, Olympic flame, etc.

Olympic terms

Olympic Village, capitalized, or athletes' village, lowercase.

Olympic flame and torch relay.

Olympic opening ceremony (singular) and closing ceremony (singular).

Olympics or Olympic Games

Always capitalized. There are Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics, or Summer Games and Winter Games.

Paralympics

The Winter Paralympics in Milan Cortina begin on March 6 with an opening ceremony in Milan and end on March 15 with a closing ceremony in Cortina d'Ampezzo. The Games will involve around 600 athletes with physical impairments competing in 79 medal events in six sports. Ice hockey will be held in Milan; alpine skiing, snowboarding and wheelchair curling in Cortina; and biathlon and cross-country skiing in Tesero.

Athletes are grouped in classifications based on different types of impairments.

The word Paralympic as an adjective (without s) is always capitalized: Paralympic Games, Paralympic organizers, Paralympic gold medal, and so forth.

Paralympics as a noun is also always capitalized, following similar usage rules as Olympics: Milan Cortina Paralympics. Paralympic athletes are known as Paralympians.

The Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee; IPC is acceptable on second reference. When reporting on the Paralympics, see the disabilities entry in the AP Stylebook, which encourages specific descriptions and gives guidance on some terms and descriptions.

Winter Olympics

Capitalized.

Symbols and culture

Olympic rings: five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green and red) symbolizing five areas of the world involved in the Olympic movement (Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and Oceania).

Olympic motto: Citius, Altius, Fortius – Communiter (faster, higher, stronger – together).

Olympic Charter: code of rules and principles governing the International Olympic Committee and Olympic movement.

Olympism: IOC term for the philosophy of sport, culture and education behind the Olympic movement.

Olympic hymn or anthem: music by Greek composer Spyridon Samaras and lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas. Played at opening and closing ceremony.

Olympic oath: a solemn promise to abide by the rules in the spirit of sportsmanship. Recited by one athlete and one judge or referee at the opening ceremony on behalf of all the athletes and all officials.

Cultural Olympiad: the program of cultural, musical and artistic events organized in the host city around the games.

euro: Italy uses the euro. Plural is euros. Write euro amounts in the form 100 euros. Do not use the "€" sign. Use currency conversions the first time the currency is mentioned to make clear for readers how a number translates to U.S. dollars, euros, etc. Do not convert amounts that are not current because exchange rates change over time. If necessary for clarity in the story, specify that the conversion is at current exchange rates.

Sport Identification Codes

BIA – Biathlon
BOB – Bobsled
CUR – Curling
FIG – Figure Skating
FRE – Freestyle skiing
HKO – (Ice) Hockey-Men's
HKW – (Ice) Hockey-Women's
JUM – Ski Jumping
LUG – Luge
NOR – Nordic combined
OLY – Olympics (with a specific sport code added where applicable)
SKE – Skeleton
SKI – Alpine Skiing
SMO – Ski Mountaineering
SPD – Speedskating and Short Track Speedskating
SBD – Snowboarding
XXC – Cross-Country Skiing

Sport identification codes are preceded in slugs by OLY, for example, OLY—SKI-Women's Downhill.