Women Rewrote the 2026 Olympics
By showing up loud and relentlessly themselves, women changed the rules this year
When a (male) reporter asked the famed freestyle skier Eileen Gu whether her silvers were “two silvers gained or two golds lost,” her response was iconic. After straight-up laughing at his question, the American-born skier, who was competing for China, said:
“I’m the most decorated female freeskier in history. I think that’s an answer in and of itself. How do I say this? Winning a medal at the Olympics is a life-changing experience for every athlete. Doing it five times is exponentially harder because every medal is equally hard for me, but everybody else’s expectations rise, right? The two medals lost situation, to be quite frank with you, I think, is kind of a ridiculous perspective to take.”
Skater Amber Glenn, who took fifth yesterday, is the first openly queer woman to represent USA in Olympic figure skating. In line with the tradition of athletes trading pins at the Village, Glenn spent the Games handing out Pride Flag, heart-shaped pins. “I want to continue to normalize having queer people in these spaces, so that we can be some of the top athletes in the world and be ourselves while doing so, especially on such a global stage when not everywhere accepts people for who they are. I want to continue to move us forward as a community,” she told KSDK, according to Out.
Then there was Lindsey Vonn, who, at 41, at Cortina decided to compete in downhill on a completely ruptured ACL. She placed third in a training run and, sure, ultimately crashed in a dramatic fashion 13 seconds into her run. But from the hospital bed, she posted a ‘gram of no regrets:
“While yesterday did not end the way I had hoped, and despite the intense physical pain it caused, I have no regrets. Standing in the starting gate yesterday was an incredible feeling that I will never forget. Knowing I stood there having a chance to win was a victory in and of itself. I also knew that racing was a risk. It always was and always will be an incredibly dangerous sport.
“And similar to ski racing, we take risks in life. We dream. We love. We jump. And sometimes we fall. Sometimes our hearts are broken. Sometimes we don’t achieve the dreams we know we could have. But that is also the beauty of life; we can try.”
And finally, yesterday, U.S. Alysa Liu took gold in skating by doing things her way. When she was 16, fed up with how she had to dress and skate, she stepped away from the sport. In the 2026 Winter Games, with face piercings, punk hair, and a routine of pure joy, she nailed every jump. “That’s fucking right,” she beamed to the camera as she walked off the ice.
During a time when the Trump administration is trying to make women smaller, these athletes did the opposite. They showed up exactly as they were, tried hard, and did things their way.
What I’m Reading
Therapy, TikTok, and Zero Apologies: Inside the First Truly Gen Z Olympics
Today’s athletes aren’t just chasing medals. They’re prioritizing mental health, training with AI, challenging gender norms, and broadcasting it all from inside the Village.
By Kristy Alpert
But Gen Z athletes have been doing more than just bringing the Olympics into the digital realm—with countless Olympic Village food reviews and room reveals—they’ve been changing the Games themselves. The Olympics are more culturally relevant than ever before, and we have Gen Z Olympians to thank for that. From challenging gender stereotypes and incorporating AI into training to reframing mental health into a competitive advantage, these are the many ways Gen Z is redefining the Olympics.
Echoic Memory
In Idaho’s remote wilderness, CMarie Fuhrman listens to the roll of thunder, the river emptied of salmon, and the howl of wolves to remember the stories of those who once lived close to this land.
By CMarie Fuhrman
I am a person of ground. This is not to say grounded, but of earth, attached to the earth. I cannot even jump far from it. It is as if an invisible tether holds me close, closer to the earth. I am unwinged. I do not fly. I root. So it was, rooted on the ground, the ground of Tukudeka, of Sheepeater, of Nimiipuu and Shoshone-Bannock, of people who, too, knew ground, but also sky, that I stared at the place where ground met sky, the ridgeline, where lightning tapped and rain fell. The thunder was distant. Like a memory, or like the past calling. And the toes of the lightning reminded me of dancing. Of toes touching earth to the drum beat. And though my father’s grandfather was born of thousands of years of this continent, so far as anyone knows, of people who knew a desert earth, it was land that connected us, this land, this island floating on a floating island in a sky that is a river that held the bodies of the dancers whose legs of lightning tapped the earth.
The Trump Administration Keeps Taking Down NPS Signs. Here Are the Ones Removed or Flagged So Far.
In March 2025, President Trump signed an executive order directing federal agencies to review how American history is portrayed at National Park Service sites. Here is the most comprehensive list yet of the signs that have been taken down or flagged for removal since.
By Madison Dapcevich
A coalition of nonprofit scientists, historians, and advocates has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration for removing signs at National Park Service (NPS) sites nationwide. The coalition, represented by the public policy research group Democracy Forward, claims the administration removed signs describing slavery, climate change, and history—among other topics—in an effort “to erase history and censor science in America’s national parks.”
Last But Not Least
