The Olympics is a time of competition where countries and athletes battle for worldwide glory and renown, a time of great spectacle and legendary stories, where every athlete fights tooth and nail to be the best. But what many people forget is that there are actually two Olympics, summer and winter, and which of those is better?
The summer and winter Olympics alternate on a two-year schedule. For example, the most recent summer was hosted in 2024 with the winter being 2026 with the next summer being 2028. This split schedule allows increased viewership and less overshadowing of the smaller events. The summer Olympics were first hosted in 1896 in Greece, while the newer winter Olympics were first hosted in 1924 in France. The summer Olympics’s seniority also reflected in viewership with the summer Olympics typically pulling more than 3 billion in global viewership and the winter Olympics trailing with approximately 1.9 billion. The most recent winter Olympics had the highest viewership in 12 years with an average of 23.5 million daily U.S viewers.
This stark contrast of viewership makes sense considering the most recent summer Olympics had 329 events across 32 sports compared to the winter’s 116 events across 16 disciplines and eight sports. The summer Olympics is much more broad in scope, featuring events involving track and field, swimming, gymnastics, cycling, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and combat sports with the winter Olympics being far more specialized in ice and snow events, which include: alpine skiing, curling, figure skating, ice hockey, ski jumping, snowboarding, speed skating, and ski mountaineering. The winter Olympics also help shine light on unpopular and under-appreciated sports, boosting their popularity and helping their athletes get the recognition they deserve. For example figure skater Alysa Liu, who took home two golds for the U.S. received massive global news coverage about her inspiring life story for her stunning performance on the ice. Alysa Liu’s surge of popularity is best displayed when her Instagram followers jumped from around 300,000 to a staggering 7 million.
But which is better, winter or summer? The summer Olympics appeal to a more general audience, with the Winter Olympics providing very specialized and deep coverage of snow and ice sports. But for the average person, summer is the Olympics for them, with its broad event coverage which almost anyone would be interested in.
The average person who is not that interested in snow and ice sports can still find themselves watching the winter Olympics, not because of their love for the snow and ice but simply because of the grand spectacle and competition of the Olympics, even if they do not entirely know what is going on. And while, yes, the average person will connect far more with the summer Olympics, the winter Olympics is still an extremely enjoyable watch.
Ultimately, one is not better than the other. They both provide different experiences which do not compete against one another but compliment each other and together provide the world with a cinematic spectacle every two years.
