Are you a fan of the Olympics and Paralympics, but you can’t head to Italy to take in the action in person over the next couple of months?

No problem.

You can visit one of Colorado’s most spectacular museums to learn about Olympic and Paralympic athletes and soak up the atmosphere and excitement of the Games. Colorado Springs is home to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum.

The museum will host many events in the coming months, putting you at the center of the action.

For instance, there’s a watch party for the Opening Ceremony on Feb. 6 at 12:30 p.m. Learn more about upcoming events.

Enjoy the world’s greatest waiting room

The Museum’s atrium isn’t just a place to kill time before your tour begins. It’s a world-class attraction in its own right.

At the entrance is a 400-pound bronze sculpture – Olympus Within – which depicts a discus thrower in motion. Like the Museum’s taut aluminum façade, which has a dynamic pinwheel design, the sculpture epitomizes the grace and energy of Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

Created in 1984 by Olympic fencer Peter Schifrin, the sculpture includes the handprint of Nathan Perkins, a 1986 Paralympic discus thrower.

Inside the atrium, visitors awaiting the start of their tour can peruse the permanent new home of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Hall of Fame. It features four interactive digital pylons where you can learn the life stories of famous Olympians, including 1930s swimmer (and future Tarzan star) Johnny Weissmuller, boxer Muhammad Ali, and figure skater Peggy Fleming.

Although the colorful 40-foot LED video sail will definitely catch your eye, don’t forget to look up at the four observation platforms, which extend into the atrium space. The highest one is the same distance from the floor as Bob Beamon’s Olympic record-setting long jump at the 1968 Summer Games: an incredible 29 feet and 2 ½ inches.

After craning your neck to see the platform from the ground level, you’ll get an added perspective when you look down from the top of the platform.

Race against Jesse Owens … and lose

The formal tour starts on the third floor at the Introduction to Olympism gallery, where you can see a complete collection of Olympic torches.

The collection goes back to the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, Germany, the site of the first Olympic Torch relay and the scene where a young African American named Jesse Owens made history by becoming the first American track and field athlete to win four gold medals at a single Olympics.

Speaking of Owens, you can pit your running skills against his – virtually – during an interactive 30-meter dash at the Athlete Training gallery.

Don’t expect to win, though, unless you cheat.

The gallery’s other interactive sports demonstrations include alpine skiing, archery, goalball, skeleton and sled hockey, all of which are Olympic and Paralympic events.

Join the Parade of Nations

Even if you’re only a casual fan of the Olympics, the Opening Ceremony and Parade of Nations is must-see TV.

At the Museum, a 360-degree multi-media simulation allows you to experience the thrill of entering an Olympic or Paralympic stadium alongside members of Team USA during the Parade of Nations.

For non-Olympians, the Parade of Nations display is as close as possible to the real thing,

Experience a ‘tunnel vision’ between these two galleries

The Summer Games and Winter Games galleries each contain a vast number of priceless artifacts and an interactive wall that provides detailed information on each Olympic and Paralympic sport.

A tunnel connects the two galleries.

Relive the ‘Miracle on Ice’

If you ask people to name their all-time favorite Olympic moment, the 1980 “Miracle on Ice,” in which the U.S. hockey team beat the highly favored USSR hockey team, is a likely answer.

After exiting the tunnel connecting the Summer Games and Winter Games galleries, make a quick left turn into the Chapman Events Space, a hall often used for conferences and other events.

If the hall is open, you’ll see a significant “Miracle on Ice” memento: one of the original 850-pound black scoreboards from the Lake Placid Winter Games, where the Americans beat the Soviets.

The scoreboard is set to the precise moment when Team USA took a winning 4-3 lead with three seconds left on the clock, the moment when sportscaster Al Michaels made the comment which will probably be engraved on his tombstone: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

Converse with two artificially intelligent Olympians

In The World Watches gallery, the Museum documents the connection between the Olympics and world events.

Much of the content focuses on serious events. These include the protest by Black sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos, who raised their black-gloved fists on the podium of the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City during the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” They also include the Munich massacre, during which 11 Israeli athletes and coaches and one German policeman were murdered by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September during the 1972 Summer Olympics

But the gallery also features lighter moments, such as the Wheaties Wall, which displays cereal boxes honoring 17 Olympians, including triathlete Bruce Jenner (now Caitlyn Jenner), skier Lindsey Vonn, and swimmer Michael Phelps.

An entertaining, interactive exhibit lets visitors converse with Paralympic gold medalist Matt Scott (wheelchair basketball) and Olympic gold medalist Kikkan Randall (cross-country skiing). Through the magic of Artificial Intelligence, both athletes give thoughtful, detailed, and believable answers to any question.

It’s like you’re talking to them in your living room.

For the record, Scott’s favorite food is sushi.

Writer Rick Ansorge contributed to this story.