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The Winter Olympics leave Italy with a debt of 7.8 million dollars. Not to organize them, to win them

February 24, 2026 by usatoday24

Italy can be satisfied with the Winter Olympic Games, held in its own home. It has gone well. Very good, in fact. Thirty medals in total: 10 gold, six silver and 14 bronze. If we talk about metals in general only there are three nations with a better balance, the powerful Norway (41) and the United States (33). The most curious thing is that this balance is so damn good that now Italy will have to assume a debt of almost eight million of dollars. Success also pays. What has happened? That Italy will have to face a debt of 7.8 million dollars for the Winter Olympics that it just hosted. So far nothing extraordinary if we take into account the large investment carried out by the country to host the Olympics and that a large part of these funds were financed by the Executive itself. The curious thing is that those almost eight million have nothing to do with its status as host or the infrastructure necessary for the tests. The debt has another reason: the sporting successes achieved by Italy. Country Golds Silver Bronze Total Norway 18 12 11 41 USA 12 12 9 33 Italy 10 6 14 30 Germany 8 10 8 26 Japan 5 7 12 24 Debts to earn? Yes. The news (and the calculations that support it) has revealed them Forbeswhich on Sunday echoed the peculiar scenario that Italy faces. In his day the Italian National Olympic Committee He decided to encourage his athletes by promising them huge bonuses if they made it onto the podium. To be more precise, he offered 213,000 dollars in exchange for gold, 106,000 for silver and 71,000 for bronze. What has happened? That incentive seems to have worked and has now generated a million-dollar commitment. Its status as host nation opened the doors to automatic qualification for Italy, but its sports teams have demonstrated a more than notable performance: they achieved 30 medals (10 gold, six silver and 14 bronze), ten more than those achieved in 1994which had been his best winter Olympics until now. In fact, in the global ranking it is only surpassed by Norway, with 41 medals, and the USA, with 33. It is also one of the best positioned in gold medals. It occupies third place in the ranking, shared with the Netherlands. Does it only happen to Italy? No. Although it is true that your case is peculiar. For your report Forbes He contacted 37 delegations who confirm having offered incentives to those athletes who reached the podium. Among those groups, Italy was one of the most generous. Only Singapore, Hong Kong, Poland and Kazakhstan surpassed it, which motivated their sports teams with bigger prizes. For reference, Singapore ‘tempted’ its athletes with $787,000 in exchange for gold in individual sports. Hong Kong paid it at $768,000. What happened in Italy? That the claim worked as well for none of those delegations as it did for Italy. According to the calculations of Forbesthe host country is the one that will have to pay the most now: 7.8 million dollars, well above the second on the list, the United States, with just over three million. Third on the list is Switzerland (1.5 million) and fourth is Poland, whose incentives total 1.24 million. In general, the incentive system varies greatly from one country to another. Not only for its rewards. There may also be differences in how these bonuses are financed (with public funds or with sponsors), in the maximum number of bonuses or if the prizes extend beyond the podium, also rewarding athletes who return home with Olympic diplomas. Italy has also decided to offer bonuses to its para-athletes, so the amount it owes to its most successful athletes could increase not much. In this case, the bonus amounts to $118,000 for those who win the gold, 65,000 for those who win the silver and 41,000 for the bronze. Is it the only relevant figure? At all. The bonus debt is curious, but it is by no means the only relevant figure associated with the Winter Olympic Games that Italy has just organized, with distributed headquarters through Milan, Cortina d´Ampezzo, Verona, Valtellina and Val di Fiemme. Another key data is the investment mobilized by the competition. S&P estimates that the total cost of the Winter Games comfortably exceeded 5,000 million euros. A good part of this spending (about 63%) was public and was dedicated mainly to investments in infrastructure. The other fundamental data is the economic return for the country: some estimates speak of the generation of some 5.3 billion eurosa good part of them thanks to tourism boost. Images | Eric Salard (Flickr) and Simone Ferraro/CONI Via | Forbes In Xataka | The Winter Olympics are facing the most unexpected technological doping: penis punctures

The Winter Olympics are facing the most unexpected technological doping: penis punctures

February 6, 2026 by usatoday24

Human beings have always had a special relationship with flight. They say that Icarus flew so high to leave Crete that his wings ended up melting due to the action of the sun. Many years later, in 1903, the Wright brothers took flight for 12 seconds. Since then, all types of aircraft and flying accessories have been developed: from the commercial airplanes to the military, passing through the zeppelins and all kinds of gadgets for extreme sports. What we never imagined is that one of those gadgets was going to take on an unexpected name: penis. What has happened? Something as simple as it is complex: the ski jumpers’ penis is in the spotlight. Coinciding with the Winter Olympic Games which begin on Friday, February 6, 2026 in northern Italy, a rumor has spread that athletes are using their penises as part of technological doping that would make them fly further. The information that pointed to possible (and more than peculiar) doping among ski jumpers has its origin in information from the German newspaper Bild last January. It noted that athletes were injecting hyaluronic acid into their penises to increase their size. The goal, fly further. Literally. Because? Ski jumpers cannot use the suit that best suits them. Before the competitions, the responsible federation carries out 3D studies of the athletes’ bodies so that they use the suits that best fit their bodies. If the jumper reached these measurements with a swollen penis, he could use a larger size in his suit. This would create a larger surface area and, therefore, help keep it in the air longer, performing functions similar to those of a parachute. Unlike a boxer, who lose weight before going on the scale often dehydrating, in this case it is about increasing the size of the penis so that when it jumps it is smaller and than on fabric. Click on the image to go to the original tweet 5.8 meters. Winter sports, like any other elite sport, have become a race for marginal gains that can make all the difference when it comes to seconds, meters and, in this case, centimeters. According to The Timesincreasing the crotch area by two centimeters can represent a benefit of up to 5.8 meters. That, in terms of scoring, can make the difference between winning or not a medal and its color. In ski jumping, distance and technique are measured in two separate scoresincluding a wind correction. Is it doping? It’s the big question here. For now, WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) seems to be washing its hands, pointing out that injecting hyaluronic acid into the penis does not seem to increase performance of athletes. In this case we would talk about technological doping. That is, use the material used to your advantage to achieve marginal advantages that make a difference. In The New York Times They highlight that it would not be the first case of technological doping that would be studied in these Winter Olympic Games. England has been prohibited from participating with new helmets in the Skeleton test that improved the aerodynamics of its athletes. From England they defend themselves ensuring that these new helmets are safer than the old ones. Looking for the loophole in the regulations. Since the professionalization of the sport, efforts have been made to look for loopholes in the regulations to use them for their own benefit. The clearest example is in Formula 1 that has been seen since cars with six wheels to single-seaters that use turbines. Moto GP now lives in a constant obsession with aerodynamics. But playing on the margins is something that has also been used in sports where the athlete’s physique is decisive. Athletics has put the brakes on to the use of new foams and carbon plates in shoes that have broken records. In cycling too he has looked at his socks with a magnifying glass and it has been banned the use of the transistor on the chest for improve aerodynamics of the body. Although, probably, the case most similar to Penisgate It is that of the full-body swimsuits made entirely of polyurethane that caused a before and after in the history of swimming. Its use was prohibited because it increased the swimmer’s buoyancy.. But, above all, after 14 international records were broken at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and, already popularized, up to 43 world records were broken at the World Swimming Championships the following year in Rome. Photo | Todd Trapani In Xataka | This Dutch team has given its cyclists enormous “Darth Vader” helmets. And he has good reasons

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