Team Rainbow Wrap-Up — A Successful Olympics
With the Winter Olympics wrapped up for 2026, Ethan Hammerman finishes out his series covering queer athletes competing in Italy. How did Team Rainbow do?
This is another story in our continued coverage of the upcoming Olympics. You can read the introduction to this series here; the first part of the preview is here, and the second part is here. The first “What to Watch” is here. The first part of the preview and the intro are provided without charge; the rest of the pieces were behind the Wide Left paywall, with proceeds going to Minnesota Direct Relief. This one is also provided free of charge. Nevertheless, consider subscribing to support Minnesota Direct Relief and Wide Left.
After 16 days of fierce competition, the 2026 Winter Olympics have come to an end. Team Rainbow earned at least 10 total medals, good for a tie for 13th place with South Korea and surpassing the likes of Great Britain, Australia, and Finland, among other countries.
Team Rainbow’s athletes wrapped up their activities with a couple of additional medals in the waning days of the games. Sandra Naeslund admirably defended her 2022 ski cross championship with a bronze this year, coming up just short against German victor Daniela Maier.
Bruce Mouat concluded his marathon Olympic run, having competed in almost every single day of the Games’ action, with a silver medal in Men’s Curling. His 7th end toss against Switzerland to earn a spot in the championship match is what will stick with me the most; I linked it last week, but I will share the post again because god damn, was it cool.
Gus Kenworthy pulled off a great attempt in the Men’s Freeski Halfpipe finals, earning sixth place and potentially concluding his multi-national, two-decade Olympic career with a sterling performance. Brittany Bowe just missed the podium in the Women’s 1500m, ending her final Olympic Games with her third fourth-place finish in a race. Bowe has had an incredible career, and ended this Olympic Games as an engaged woman, so she has nothing to be upset about. Nikola Zdrahalova finished 14th for Czechia.
Overall, Team Rainbow accrued one additional medal compared to their 2022 performance, a good showing given the size of their contingent. South Korea, for instance, had 71 total athletes on their squad; Team Rainbow only had 49. I’m hopeful that in the 2028 Summer Olympics, Team Rainbow will see even more potential victory opportunities. I also cannot wait to follow this cohort of winter athletes beyond the games as well.
I hope that reading this little series was fun for you and gave you a different vantage point through which to watch the Winter Olympics. I’m so happy that Arif gave me the opportunity and we worked together to raise money for Minnesota Direct Relief. I can’t wait to continue building on this going forward and potentially add a similar feature to Los Angeles 2028. For now, though, I’ll be keeping an eye on Paralympic athletes as they contend starting March 3, and if any of them are on Team Rainbow, I’ll be sure to shout them out on my Bluesky.
Until next time — keep that Olympic spirit going and always root for Team Rainbow!
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