MILAN — The twin cauldron flames of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina are lit, the opening ceremony showcased Italy’s rich cultural history, and these Games are officially underway.
This year’s main ceremony was at San Siro Stadium in Milan, a 100-year-old venue and the oldest in Italy. Officials previously announced an inclusive theme featuring a show inside the stadium, and the festivities stretched across the clusters of the Milano Cortina Games, including satellite ceremonies in Livigno and Predazzo. The parade of nations featured athletes from more than 90 countries around the world.
U.S. speed skater Erin Jackson, one of two flag bearers and the defending gold medalist in the women’s 500m, stepped out with a wide smile when the Americans entered the stadium as she waved the stars and stripes, her teammates falling in behind her. The American Olympians who walked in the parade of nations in Milan received cheers from the crowd of nearly 79,000 people. In Livigno, the crowd wasn’t big, but there were some “USA” chants.
USA TODAY Sports is on the ground across Northern Italy to bring you live updates throughout these Games. Here are the highlights from the opening ceremony.
Team USA gets cheers, JD Vance gets boos at opening ceremony
As U.S. Olympians walked into the stadium in matching Ralph Lauren ensembles during the Parade of Nations, choruses of cheers rang out across the crowd of spectators, until U.S. Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, were shown on the stadium’s Jumbotron. At the sight of Vance waving miniature American flags from the San Siro grandstand, the crowd booed loudly. — Cydney Henderson
Who lit Olympic cauldrons at opening ceremony?
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO — Italy turned to some of its greatest Alpine skiers, past and present, to light the two cauldrons for these Winter Games.
Three-time Olympic champions Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni lit the cauldron in Milano while Sofia Goggia, who is seeking her second Olympic gold at these Games, lit the cauldron in Cortina.
Despite the late hour, all three drew cheers and loud applause as they were raised on platforms to put the torches to the sun-like cauldrons, signalling that the Milano Cortina games are officially open.
After a nearly three-hour ceremony at San Siro Stadium in Milano and the streets of Cortina, Livigno and Predazzo, the torch appeared on the streets of Milano. It was carried by Gerda Weissensteiner, a two-time Olympic medalist in luge, and Manuela di Centa, a seven-time medalist in cross-country skiing.
The torch was then handed off, physically to speedskater Enrico Fabris in Milano and virtually to Gustav Thoni, the 1972 Olympic champion in giant slalom. Both carried their torches a short distance before handing off to Tomba, Compagnoni and Goggia.
The cauldrons were designed to emulate Leonardo da Vinci’s knot engravings, according to Olympic officials. da Vinci lived in Milan for 17 years of his renowned life. — Nancy Armour
Order of countries in Olympic opening ceremony
There are 92 countries in the Winter Olympics. Greece is always the first country in the parade of nations, the host country is always last. The second to last country is the next host of the Winter Games — France, in this case. The United States, who hosts the 2034 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, went third to last. The rest of the order was alphabetical based on the Italian spelling of the countries, which is why Saudi Arabia walked fourth; it’s called Arabia Saudita in Italian.
How many US athletes in 2026 Olympics?
The U.S. team for the Milano Cortina Olympics has 232 athletes, its largest-ever for a Winter Olympics.
What Charlize Theron said at opening ceremony
Charlize Theron is at the opening ceremony as a U.N. peace ambassador. She delivered a call for peace: ‘Let these Games be more than just sport … but a resounding call for peace everywhere.’
Who carried Olympics flags?
In Milan, it’s Japanese mathmatician and politician Tadatoshi Akiba; Brazilian gymnast and two-time gold medalist Rebeca Andrade; Nigerian poet and artist Maryam Bukar Hassan; Italian writer Nicolò Govoni; Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi; Kenyan long distance runner Eliud Kipchoge; Cameroonian boxer Cindy Ngamba and the well-known Tongan flag bearer Pita Taufatofua. In Livigno, it’s Italian cross-country skier Franco Nones and Italian short-track speed skater Martina Valcepina.
Erin Jackson, Frank Del Duca as US flagbearers
Olympic speedskating champion Erin Jackson and bobsledder Frank Del Duca were the flag bearers for Team USA’s delegation at the opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Games.
Jackson, who won gold in the women’s 500 meters in Beijing in 2022, will be back to defend her title and compete in the 1,000 meters as well. This marks her third Olympic appearance.
‘It’ll definitely give me a lot of motivation, because just walking out into opening ceremonies even without carrying the flag, it’s this amazing feeling of like, ‘OK, we’re here. We’re at the Olympics. We’re surrounded by all these amazing people who have worked so hard to get to this point,” Jackson said Wednesday. ‘Just even being in the opening ceremonies, that’s just like the start of the games, but it’s always just kind of like a breathtaking feeling. I think carrying the flag is just going to add to that, and I’m really looking forward to it.’
Del Duca – a sergeant in the U.S. Army stationed in Lake Placid, New York – made his Olympic Winter Games debut in Beijing, and has been in the sport for over a decade. He is part of the U.S. Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP).
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IOC president Kirsty Coventry
The president of the International Olympic Committee is Kirsty Coventry. Coventry was elected in March 2025 to succeed Thomas Bach and is the first woman to be IOC president. A swimmer, Coventry represented Zimbabwe at five Olympics and won seven medals, two of them gold. She also swam at Auburn, leading the Tigers to NCAA titles in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Coventry became an IOC athlete member in 2013 and was elected as an individual member in 2021. — Nancy Armour
Andrea Bocelli’s opening ceremony performance
Of course Andrea Bocelli has a role in the opening ceremony. It wouldn’t be a global sporting event without him.
The Italian tenor is singing while the torch relay makes its way through the San Siro Stadium on the way to the cauldron(s) being lit. It’s not known what Bocelli will be singing, but it’s a good bet it will be Nessun Dorma. The aria from Puccini’s opera Turandot was synonymous with the late Luciano Pavarotti, who Bocelli performed with as one of “The Three Tenors.” Since Pavarotti’s death, it’s become a signature of Bocelli’s.
Mongolia’s opening ceremony outfits
Please give me a moment to pick up my jaw off the floor. Mongolia turned heads at the 2024 Paris Olympics with its intricate ceremonial garb and the country has earned flying colors yet again. Goyol Cashmere created a Mongolian deel that effortlessly merges Mongolia’s identity and heritage with traditional garments that still feel modern. The opening ceremony look is inspired by the Great Mongol Empire of the 13th and 15th centuries, “one of the most powerful periods in our nations history,” Goyol Cashmere explains. The outfit incorporates Mongolian cashmere, silk trim and embroidery for an ornate finish that is worthy of applause. — Cydney Henderson
Check out our full style guide to the Winter Olympics opening ceremony.
Team Italy does Federica Brignone a solid
Brignone was one of Italy’s flag bearers, and she led the contingent into Cortina while riding on one of her teammates’ shoulders. Brignone, the reigning overall champion in Alpine skiing, broke her leg in April, and is still recovering.
After completing a downhill training run earlier in the day, Brignone said she was still in pain.
“I’m still not 100%, I mean not even 80%,” she said. “But it is what it is, and I have no excuses. I will try to make my best.” — Nancy Armour
Mariah Carey’s performance at Olympics opening ceremony
The second, Nel blu dipinto di blu, is better known as Volare. C’mon! Sing it with me! “Volare, oh, oh. Contare, oh, oh, oh, oh.” The song, inspired by paintings by Marc Chagall, first came to fame as Italy’s entrant at the 1958 Eurovision contest. While it didn’t win, it was named Billboard’s Song of the Year and won song of the year and record of the year honors at the first-ever Grammys.
Prior to Carey, the song has been covered by Dean Martin, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra, Barry White and the Gipsy Kings. — Nancy Armour
Is Mariah Carey Italian?
Carey’s mother, an opera singer, is of Irish descent and her father African-American and Afro-Venezuelan.
How many athletes at Olympics?
There are 2,900 athletes at these Winter Games from 92 countries.
Laura Pausini’s opening ceremony performance of Italian national anthem
Grammy winner Laura Pausini sung the Italian national anthem at the opening ceremony. Italy’s national anthem is “Il Canto degli Italiani,” which translates to “The Chant of the Italians.” Though Italians often refer to it as “Inno di Memeli,” after the author of its lyrics, or “Fratelli d’Italia,” which is how the anthem beings.
The anthem was written in 1847 and became popular during Italy’s fight for independence. It was adopted as Italy’s national anthem after World War II. — Nancy Armour
Is Russia banned from Olympics?
Officially, Russia is banned from the Olympics because Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. At the Milano Cortina Games, there will be no Russian flags, no Russian anthems and no Russian national colors incoporated in the competition. (The same holds true for Belarus, which has supported Russia in the war.)
But there will be athletes with Russian and Belarussian passports competing as ‘Individual Neutral Athletes,’ or AINs for short, if they meet specific conditions. That contingent will include 13 Russians and seven Belarussians, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Jan. 29.
If any of the AIN athletes were to win gold, a wordless anthem commissioned by the IOC would play. And none of the them will be allowed to participate in the Opening Ceremony Feb. 6. The IOC used the same procedure for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The International Paralympic Committee, on the other hand, lifted its ban of Russia and Belarus in September, clearing both countries to return to the Paralympics wearing their names and colors. But not all sport federations have lifted their bans, while others did not lift them in time for athletes to qualify for Milano Cortina. As a result, the IPC said In October that it didn’t expect any athletes from the two countries at the 2026 Paralympics. — Nancy Armour
Why Shaun White was at Olympics opening ceremony
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White is a part of NBC’s broadcast team for the opening ceremony, particularly the parade of nations portion. He went to five Winter Games — 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 — and won gold in snowboard halfpipe in 2006, 2010 and 2018.
How long was Olympics opening ceremony?
The opening ceremony is expected to last about 2 hours and 45 minutes. The longest part is the parade of athletes, which is scheduled to take just over an hour and 3 minutes. There is also a 30-minute pre-show.
Why does Greece go first in opening ceremony parade of nations?
Greece goes first in the Parade of Nations because it’s the birthplace of the Olympics, ancient and modern.
The Olympics were a regular occurrence for almost 12 centuries in ancient Greece. When Pierre de Coubertin decided to bring them back, he chose Athens as the first site of the modern Olympic Games, in 1896. — Nancy Armour
Who is Eileen Gu?
LIVIGNO, Italy — Eileen Gu’s first Olympics made her one of the most famous and recognizable in China. Not bad for somebody born and raised in the United States.
As Gu continues to sidestep citizenship questions, she enters these Games with three Olympic medals from Beijing 2022 (big air gold, halfpipe gold, slopestyle silver). She’s now the most successful women’s free skier ever, with 20 victories on the World Cup circuit. She also won at the inaugural Snow League event in China in December. Gu studies at Stanford and is also involved in the fashion industry, with modeling credits for Victoria’s Secret and Louis Vuitton. — Chris Bumbaca
Lindsey Vonn fans in Cortina as opening ceremony festivities pick up
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Eager spectators walk past window shops of internationally renowned fashion houses such as Valentino, Dior and Fendi along Corso Italia in Cortina. Base shakes bars and restaurants teeming with locals and those in town from all over the world for the 2026 Winter Olympic Games. They’re passing time with an assortment of wines and beers, reflecting on the day with about half an hour until the opens ceremony begins. Overheard from an American fan with two miniature flags sticking out of her collar musing over Lindsey Vonn’s miraculous downhill training run this afternoon post ACL rupture: “She was a superstar!” And to her naysayers?: “Everyone shut up.”
Just outside the Olympic fan village, young children plant the Italian flag into a mount of hard, muddy snow that’s been cleared from the brick walkway for foot traffic.
Inflatables of Milo and Tina — the dual mascots of these Games representing Milano and Cortina — are set up and a popular photo pop spot for fans. Milo and Tina are brown and white stoats, also known as ermines, which belong to the weasel family.
White neon light doodles of winter sports logos based in the Dolomites line Corso Italia along with flags representing the nations competing at these Games. — Payton Titus
Where are Winter Olympics 2026?
The Winter Olympics always sprawl, because of the need for mountains. But the Milano Cortina Games are the most geographically spread out in Olympic and Paralympic history, with a footprint just slightly smaller than the entire state of New Jersey.
Livigno opening ceremony
LIVIGNO, Italy — There was a host, a DJ playing “Forever Young,” Olympic mascots and a sizable crowd already filing into Livigno Snow Park for this town’s own little satellite opening ceremony, which included skiers and snowboarders from the mountain clusters Livigno and Bormio sites.The ceremony took place in the infield of the venue, which is at the base of the hills for the halfpipe and big air snowboarding and freestyle skiing competitions. — Gentry Estes
What sports are in the Winter Olympics?
The 2026 Milano Cortina Games feature 16 sports.
Alpine skiing: 10 medal events
Biathlon: 11 medal events
Bobsled: four medal events
Cross-country skiing: 12 medal events
Curling: three medal events
Figure skating: five medal events
Freestyle skiing: 15 medal events
Ice hockey: two medal events
Luge: five medal events
Nordic combined: three medal events
Short track speed skating: nine medal events
Skeleton: three medal events
Ski jumping: six medal events
Ski mountaineering: three medal events
Snowboard: 11 medal events
Speed skating: 14 medal events
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