Live updates from the Olympic opening ceremony as the 2026 Winter Games begin in Milan Cortina

Team Italy took part in the celebrations at the opening ceremony, led by flag bearers Arianna Fontana and Federico Pellegrino in Milan and Amos Mosaner and Federica Brignone in Cortina. The Italians played an amplified version of “Largo al factotum.”

Team USA has arrived!

The Americans, with Vice President JD Vance watched in Milan, entered to raucous applause as standard bearers Erin Jackson and Frank Del Duca waved the American flag.

Team USA has 232 athletes in these Olympic Games, representing more than 30 states.

Olympic fans hoping to see their favorite athletes at the opening ceremony at San Siro may have been disappointed on Friday night.

While the television broadcast of the ceremony captures all the athletes wherever they are, it wasn’t until the sixth country came out to Milan that fans were able to see an athlete on stage.

Greece, Albania, Andorra, Saudi Arabia and Argentina do not have athletes competing in Milan. The country sign bearers, on the other hand, walked down the catwalk wearing a long silver quilted jacket.

Armenia was the first country to come out with four athletes at San Siro to great applause. The names of all countries were read, regardless of whether they had athletes in Milan.

Benin is not the only nation making its debut at the Winter Olympics. The United Arab Emirates, with two skiers, hope to make their mark at the Milan Cortina Games.

The country will be represented by Alexander Astridge, 19, and Piera Hudson, 29, both alpine skiers.

The Olympic opening ceremony was sold out, with some 61,000 people attending the San Siro stadium in Milan, organizers said Friday.

While ticket prices reached the symbolic sum of 2,026 euros (more than $2,300), volunteers were offered a deal of 26 euros ($31) each, and those under 26 could buy two for the price of one.

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Benin has its first Winter Olympian this year: alpine skier Nathan Tchibozo. He was the standard bearer of the West African nation in Livigno.

Fashion is its own competitor at the Winter Olympics, from team uniforms at the opening and closing ceremonies to individual looks in the stadiums and on the slopes.

These are some of the outfits from today’s opening ceremony:

Read more about the suits. here.

A key moment was the formation of the five Olympic rings.

Two aerial acrobats were lifted into the San Siro stadium in the center of two golden rings and dropped dramatically in a rotating formation from the highest point.

Three more golden rings arrived, and the final position of the five rings was marked by flares.

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Speed ​​skating champion Erin Jackson and Olympic bobsled athlete Frank Del Duca, who were selected to carry the American flag for Team USA at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Milan, said they were honored to have been chosen for the position.

“It’s a moment that reflects much more than one individual: it represents my family, my teammates, my hometown and everyone across the country who believes in the power of sport,” Jackson said earlier this week, according to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. “The Olympic Games remind us of the power of sport to connect and inspire, and I am proud to carry that forward on the Olympic stage.”

“Being the flag bearer for Team USA is an incredible honor,” Del Duca said. “Having the Olympics held in Italy means even more. Almost everyone in my family is of Italian descent. There is no greater honor than leading Team USA in the opening ceremony in Italy. It feels like a bridge between my family’s heritage and the country I am so proud to serve.”

While the 2026 Winter Olympics officially begin after the opening ceremony, some sports have already started.

Team USA is off to a good start.

In mixed doubles curling on Friday, the Americans came out strong with an 8-1 win over the Czech Republic and a 7-5 win over Canada in the preliminaries. These wins follow strong performances on Thursday against Switzerland and Norway.

In figure skating, Alysa Liu marked her return to Olympic competition with a solid 74.90 in the women’s individual short program. She ranks second behind Japan’s Kaori Sakamoto. In the team event, Team USA leads the pack with Madison Chock and Evan Bates recording a world-best 91.06 points in the rhythm dance.

On Thursday, the United States women’s hockey team beat the Czech Republic 5-1 in a preliminary match.

Team USA will have its first two medal chances in women’s skiathlon and men’s alpine skiing on Saturday.

The long-awaited Parade of Nations began with the Greek team.

The birthplace of the Games always appears first, followed by the countries in alphabetical order according to the language of the host country.

In addition to the San Siro stadium in Milan, athletes will parade in three other locations: Cortina d’Ampezzo in the heart of the Dolomites, Livigno in the Alps and Predazzo in the autonomous province of Trento.

Here are more photos of countries at the Parade of Nations:

The Olympic Games paid tribute to the late Italian fashion designer Armaniwho died in September.

The models wore their signature loose-fitting suits in red, white and green to form the Italian flag.

Armani had long designed the Italian team’s Olympic uniforms and his legacy as one of the founders of Italian ready-to-wear fashion is closely linked to Milan.

Italian singer Laura Pausini sang a moving rendition of the Italian national anthem, “Fratelli d’Italia”. 9659114] 14:33

Mariah Carey takes center stage at opening ceremony

Mariah Carey helped open the Winter Olympics in Milan as one of the headliners of the opening ceremony.

The American singer sang a version of the classic “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, better known in the world as “Volare”. It also included part of their hit “Nothing Is Impossible.”

Before the performance, ceremony director Marco Balich told News themezone’ Kelly O’Grady that Carey would perform for free.

Although it is typical for artists to waive a fee to appear at the opening ceremony, Balich said he was grateful that someone as beloved as Carey was happy to participate and sing in Italian.

A colorful show came to life with an ode to Gioachino Rossini and his most famous and recognizable overture, the William Tell Overture.”

The reverence for Italian opera continued with actors dressed as the great masters Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini.

Athletes and fans from around the world gather in Milan to celebrate the official opening of the Winter Olympics against the backdrop of a host of geopolitical tensions, including President Trump’s recent comments about his desire to take control of Greenland.

At a news conference Thursday, Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, was asked about possible hostility directed toward American athletes.

“We don’t anticipate a lot of negative energy on the field, but we have done a lot of preparation for the Games with the athletes to make sure they feel comfortable and don’t enter an uncertain environment,” Hirshland said. “They know the resources available if an uncomfortable situation arises.”

Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, athletes with Russian and Belarusian passports cannot compete in the Games as representatives of their own countries, but only as so-called individual neutral athletes, too. known by the French acronym AIN. There are a number of AINs that have been approved to compete in at least eight events.

“You care about your country and you cheer for your country, but… nobody is against another country,” one American fan told News themezone before the start of the opening ceremony in Milan.

“It’s a global community. Politics don’t matter,” said another American fan. “It’s about everyone being proud of their home country and letting the spirit of competition win.”

One California sports fan said he was looking forward to seeing “how the world comes together to celebrate sports.”

Another fan, also from California, said, “I think they showed the excitement, the national pride, but at the same time you see how everyone is happy to see each other and proud of their countries and just coming together to celebrate the whole experience.”

One fan from Texas said he was excited because the Olympics would “unite the world.”

“I love the walk of all the teams and seeing the unity of all the athletes,” said another Pennsylvania fan. “The opening and closing are really the only time where everyone can see each other, meet and greet and just enjoy the spirit of the Olympic Games together and really encourage each other. So it’s a beautiful moment.”

The opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games has begun.

The Olympic Games were returning to a nation that last hosted the sporting spectacle 20 years ago. They are the largest Winter Games in history, with competition venues spread over an area of ​​approximately 8,500 square miles (more than 22,000 square kilometers), roughly the size of the entire state of New Jersey.

Italy has beefed up security ahead of tonight’s opening ceremony with thousands of officers protecting athletes, spectators and world leaders from Milan to the Dolomites.

Around 6,000 security personnel will be deployed at Olympic sites during the Games, including bomb disposal experts, snipers and counter-terrorism units, Italian authorities said.

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Friday, expressing their discontent, particularly over the alleged presence in Italy of American immigration agents and the closure of streets ahead of the opening ceremony.

Dozens of students gathered Friday morning in Milan’s Leonardo da Vinci Square to protest, blowing whistles and shouting “We don’t want ICE in our city!” as they marched under clouds of pink smoke.

“It’s not just that I don’t like what they’re doing to the immigrants, I don’t like what they’re doing to the protesters,” said Andrea Cucuzza, 18. “That’s why we’re protesting. Don’t you like demonstrations, protests? Then we’re going to have one.”

A small group of protesters also gathered in the same square with Palestinian flags and a large white banner that read: “From Milan to Minneapolis, students and workers united against war, repression and exploitation.” The protest, organized by Amazon unionist Chris Smalls, was aimed at Israel’s participation in the Olympic Games.

Homeland Security Investigations, a unit within ICE that focuses on cross-border crimes, frequently sends its officers to overseas events like the Olympics to help with security. HSI officers are separate from the ICE arm leading the immigration crackdown known as Enforcement and Removal Operations, and there was no indication that ERO officers were being sent to Italy.

The United States will have the largest presence at the Winter Olympics with 235 athletes (including three alternate athletes), followed by Canada (211 athletes) and host nation Italy (195 athletes).

They are part of the approximately 2,916 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committees.

Read more about the Olympic Games in figures.

The opening ceremony will be led by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, American singer Mariah Carey and Chinese pianist Lang Lang.

Other performances will include Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli, singer-songwriter Laura Pausini and rapper Ghali.

They will be joined by Italian actors Pierfrancesco Favino, Sabrina Impacciatore and Matilde De Angelis.

The Parade of Nations is one of the highlights of the opening ceremony, with athletes from 92 national Olympic committees participating.

The order of the countries in the Parade of Nations changes from year to year, with only one constant: Greece always enters first as it is the birthplace of the Games.

After Greece, countries enter in alphabetical order according to the language of the Games host country. In Italian, Japan is written “Giappone” and Hungary is “Ungheria”, which means that Japan will enter before Hungary, although Hungary comes before Japan in the English alphabet.

There are some exceptions to alphabetical order. The last country to participate is the host country, and the second to last is the host country of the next Games.

Read more about the Parade of Nations here.

All eyes are on the teams from around the world who proudly wear their countries’ uniforms for the opening ceremony.

Team USA wears uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren, Team Canada wears Lululemon, and Team Mongolia wears ceremonial outfits designed by Goyol Cashmere, to name a few.

See More of the best outfits from the opening ceremony here..

The 2026 Winter Olympics will bring thousands of athletes from all over the world gathered for more than two weeks of competition on snow and ice. From athletes and events to records and costs, the Games are a gold mine for statistics.

Here’s a look at the 2026 Winter Olympics in numbers:

2: Number of times Italy has hosted the Winter Olympic Games

Italy first hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, followed by the 2006 Games in Turin. The country also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

8,494: Square miles that will cover the venues of the Winter Olympic Games

The 2026 Games will be the first Olympic Games jointly organized by two cities, with competitions taking place across 13 venues in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo.

The two host cities mean they will become the most sprawling Games in Olympic history, according to the International Olympic Committee, spanning nearly 8,500 square miles of northern Italy. Milan and Cortina are about 400 kilometers apart by road, almost a five-hour trip.

Read other statistics here.

Peter Taufatofuathe multi-sport athlete who gained fame for proudly carrying the Tongan national flag at multiple opening ceremonies in a shirtless traditional outfit, returns after sitting out the last two Olympic Games.

Earlier this week, Olympic organizers announced that Taufatofua was chosen as one of 10 Olympic flag bearers at tonight’s opening ceremony.

Taufatofua first came to international attention when she bared her breast in what s 2026 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro. She then braved the frigid temperatures in PyeongChang two years later at the 2018 Winter Games, wearing sandals and a ta’ovala (a Tongan mat wrapped around her waist). He returned to carry his nation’s flag at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.

Taufatofua, who did not qualify for the Beijing 2022 Games or the Paris 2024 Games, said in a comment on an Instagram post announcing the Milano Cortina Games flag bearers that he “feels honored to walk alongside these true legends.”

Other Olympic flag bearers include: Rebeca Andrade (Brazil), Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) and Franco Nones (Italy).

The theme of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games opening ceremony is “Harmony,” an especially powerful message with many populations exposed to violence.

The creative director of the opening ceremony, Marco Balich, recently told the News that the concept of the Olympic truce, which originated in ancient Greece and was revived in the 1990s, is even more urgent this year.

The truce aims to promote peace and dialogue through sport by ceasing hostilities for a week before the Olympic Games and a week after the Paralympic Games, which end on March 15.

Some 1,200 volunteers have been rehearsing since November for today’s show.

The ceremony will also include a tribute to the late Italian fashion designer. Armaniwho died in September. Armani had long designed the Italian team’s Olympic uniforms and his legacy as one of the founders of Italian ready-to-wear is closely linked to Milan.

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There will be two cauldrons (an Olympic first) inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s geometric studies: one in Milan, at the Arco della Pace, about 4 and a half kilometers from the San Siro stadium, and the other in Piazza Dibona in Cortina, about 400 kilometers away. The cauldrons will light simultaneously.

However, the identities of the latest torchbearers will not be revealed to the world until they come to light later today.

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Blink and you might miss it. Luge is the fastest sport on ice, where milliseconds matter. Therefore, every push, every paddle and every turn is essential.

Athletes like it united states team Jonathan Gustafson races down an icy track at speeds that can exceed 90 miles per hour, without seat belts or brakes. The fastest time wins.

“I would describe sledding as just extreme sledding. Like anything any kid does when they’re younger, take that plastic tube and go down a hill. We’re pretty similar to that, just a lot more advanced,” Gustafson told “News Mornings.”

Gustafson will compete in the men’s individual bobsled at the Winter Olympic Games Milan Cortina 2026 on Saturday, his second time competing in the winter games. He last competed in winter 2022. Olympics in Beijing.

Read more from his “News Mornings” interview here.

News themezone’ Kelly O’Grady is in a Milan department store looking for Olympic mascots Tina and Milo, as well as some of the most popular Olympic products.

From purple jackets to stuffed animals, Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games loot is being snapped up quickly.

Pope Leo XIV, An avid sports fan, he marked the start of the Winter Games on Friday by extolling the positive values ​​of sport and fair play, while warning that the pursuit of profit and performance risked corrupting the sport entirely.

In a message titled “Life Abundantly,” León traced the history of Christian philosophers and popes who identified sports and leisure activities as beneficial for physical and spiritual development.

He called for sport to be accessible to both the poor and women in particular, and for fans to refrain from turning sport into a fanatical religion. Athletes, too, he said, must refrain from narcissism and obsessing over their image and success.

“The cult of image and performance, amplified by the media and digital platforms, runs the risk of fragmenting the person, separating the body from the mind and spirit,” he warned.

True sport, he said, requires a “shared ethical agreement” among competitors, where the rules of the game are accepted and the integrity of the competition is respected.

“Accepting the limits of the body, the limits of time and fatigue, and respecting established rules means recognizing that success comes from discipline, perseverance and loyalty,” he said.

Leo, 70, plays tennis and swims religiously and is a Long time Chicago White Sox fan.

The pontiff drew on his experience as a tennis player in his message, highlighting the cultural and spiritual benefits of the so-called “flow experience” – of being challenged beyond one’s own level – that both fans and players can experience in a prolonged tennis rally.

“The reason this is one of the most fun parts of a match is that each player pushes the other to the limit of their skill level,” Leo wrote. “The experience is exciting and the two players challenge each other to improve – this applies to two ten-year-olds as well as two professional champions.”

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Lindsey Vonn. Alex Ferreira. Alyssa Liu. Brittany Bowe. Maxim Naumov.

These are just a few of the more than 230 American athletes who will represent Team USA at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.

Team USA Olympians have won a total of 330 Winter Olympic medals through Beijing 2022, second only to winter sports powerhouse Norway.

Take a look at some of the Team USA athletes to watch during the next few weeks in Italy.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates rocked their way to a world-best score of 91.06 in rhythm dancing on Friday to open the team competition at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games.

Cheered on by a crowd that included the vice president. J.D. Vancehis family and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chocks and bats They were able to secure their team the maximum 10 points for their Lenny Kravitz-inspired dance while also making a big early statement.

Three-time world champions Chock and Bates are favorites to win individual Olympic gold later in the year. winter games.

Read more here.

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like him Winter Olympics 2026 kick offat least a dozen athletes will represent the AIN.

The three-letter acronym is not an abbreviation of a country’s delegation: its athletes are linked to Russia, whose national flag will not be present following a series of doping scandals and current Russian politics. war in ukraine.

Neutral Individual Athletes”, that is “Individual neutral athletes.” French is one of the two official languages ​​of the Olympic Games, along with English.

Among the AIN athletes there will also be competitors from Belarus, which was banned as a country in Paris 2024 for his participation in the war.

Read more here.

The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee sends its greatest Winter Olympic Games team ever to the 2026 Games in Italy – 232 olympic athletes representing 32 states of origin.

The News themezone data team mapped the athletes’ home states to identify which states had the most representation.

Colorado leads with 30 athletes, followed by Minnesota, which hosts 24, and California, with 19.

States with the fewest competitors include Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, North Dakota and Washington, D.C., each with just one, while 18 states have no athletes on the team.

Read more here.

The Olympic torch arrived in Milan on Thursday evening ahead of today’s opening ceremony to officially kick off the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Games.

The torch, which was lit in Olympia, Greece, on November 26, 2025, arrived in Italy on December 5 and has since traveled to all regions of the country, generating anticipation for the Winter Games.

Today, the torch travels through Milan before arriving at the San Siro stadium for the lighting of the Olympic flame.

Speed ​​skater Erin Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca were chosen as the U.S. flag bearers for today’s opening ceremony, and they could be the perfect pair to lead Team USA into the competition. Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

Jackson is the first black woman to win an individual gold medal at a Winter Olympics and Del Duca is an Army sergeant with deep Italian roots. They were selected by a group of their fellow Olympians as flag bearers for the United States.

Jackson will become the eighth American speed skater to carry the flag at an Olympic Games, the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee said, while Del Duca will be the first bobsledder to carry the flag at an inauguration in 70 years.

Read more here.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Games athletic events began on February 4 with training sessions and first rounds for multiple disciplines, including curling, ice hockey and snowboarding.

The first medals of the Games will be awarded on Saturday, February 7:

• Alpine skiing (men’s downhill)
• Cross-country skiing (women’s 10k + 10k skiathlon)
• Ski jumping (NH women’s individual)
• Snowboard (masculine big air)
• Speed ​​skating (women’s 3000 m)

For more details on the Olympic calendar, Click here.

American star Lindsay Vonn participated in an official Olympic training event for women’s alpine skiing on Friday, stepping onto the slopes of the Winter Games for the first time. after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament when he crashed in a World Cup race in the Swiss Alps a week ago.

Friday’s race was the first official downhill training to take place before the Games, after an event scheduled for Thursday was canceled due to weather.

Vonn completed the race without any apparent problems. Her first competitive Olympic event, the women’s downhill, is programmed for Sunday.

Read more about Vonn’s first race in Milan here.

An animal that most people have never heard of: the stoat, is the mascot of the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The drawings of Tina the stoat, the Olympic mascot, and her brother Milo, the Paralympic mascot, were designed by students from the Taverna Comprehensive Institute, according to the Olympic Games. The adorable pets embody “the Italian spirit that inspires them.”

Tina and Milo are joined by six snowdrop flowers that the Olympics named “The Flo.”

Read More about Tina and Milo here.

The 2026 Winter Olympics, officially the XXV Olympic Winter Games, will be jointly hosted by Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy. This is the first Olympic Games officially organized jointly by two cities.

Milan will mainly host the ice events, while the remaining events will be held in clusters around Cortina and the Valtellina and Fiemme valleys. Milan and Cortina are about 400 kilometers apart by road, almost a five-hour trip.

Italy first hosted the Winter Olympic Games in 1956 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, followed by the 2006 Games in Turin. The country also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

The first Winter Olympic Games were held in 1924 in Chamonix, France.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games will take place from February 6 to 22, although some events will take place before the official opening day.

The Games will show 116 events on ice and snow, in eight sports and 16 disciplines, including alpine skiing, figure skating, ice hockey and the debut of mountain skiing, known as skimo.

The Paralympic Games will take place next month, from March 6 to 15.

The opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics will be broadcast in the United States on NBC. It will air on Peacock and NBCOlympics.com at 2 pm ET. It will last about three hours.

The network says an enhanced presentation of the opening ceremony will air on NBC at 8 pm ET.

Read more here.