I love the Olympics!

Winter or Summer, it makes no difference to me. Watching all the young, and sometimes not so young, athletes from all over the world come together in competition excites me and fills me with hope for the future.

There are many events in these 2018 Winter Olympic Games that I like to watch – from snowboarding and luge to the increasingly popular curling that I fell in love with at the 2006 Turin games.  But the most beautiful event, I think, is ice skating.

I have watched as much skating as I can, either live or recorded. Last Friday evening I turned on the men’s skating short program that had already begun and that I was recording. I stepped out of the room for a moment but I could still hear the music. All of a sudden I hear the familiar strains of L’Immensita and immediately knew who was singing it……our guys of IL VOLO! An Israeli skater named Daniel Samohin had chosen this powerful song for his short program.

So I thought I had better watch the competition from the beginning and was so surprised to find that another skater, Matteo Rizzo, from Italy had skated to Torna A Surriento by IL VOLO.

After scouring the Olympic.org website (thanks for the link, Jana!), I found program lists for all the skaters including what music they skated to during their performances. There were a few songs that our guys have sung in the past but not in these particular ice skating performances. They are Historia De Un Amor chosen by a Korean pairs team for their short program. A Chinese pairs team performed to Turandot by Giacomo Puccini and an Italian ice dance team performed to La Vita e Bella (Smile) by Piovani.

I am happy to know that the music of IL VOLO is getting out there and being heard by an international audience who may have not previously been aware of them. You just never know where their incredible voices will pop up next!

Credit is given to owners of photos and to the Olympic Games 2018 logo.