As the applause from the Milano‑Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games fades, Canada is left with a message it cannot ignore. Our Olympians brought home 21 medals and our Paralympians 15—inspiring but also worrisome results. What mattered even more than the medal count was what followed: a rare, public reckoning led by athletes who spoke plainly about the daily pressures and structural weaknesses of the system. Their honesty exposes gaps that performance statistics cannot, and it challenges policymakers to look beyond podiums to the foundations that sustain Canadian excellence.