The Winter Games of Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo formally kicked off on Friday with exuberant opening ceremonies, where pledges of sportsmanship and peaceful international competition came against the backdrop of a fraying world order.
At the cermonies’ climax, Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni, two Italian skiing legends, lit the Olympic cauldron in Milan, while the skier Sofia Goggia, who will be competing at these Games, lit the cauldron in Cortina.
At the main ceremony in Milan, athletes entered behind their national flags in the lengthy Parade of Nations. And there were three other athlete parades, too, in the far-flung host sites for these Games: Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno, all in the Italian Alps.
Greece, as the founder of the Games, entered first, and Italy, as the current host, was last, with each country’s name-card carrier outfitted in an elegant, expansive silver puffer coat and dark eyeglasses. Hosts of the coming Olympics entered just before Italy — meaning the large American team marched right after Venezuela, the country whose leader the Trump administration seized in a recent military operation. The U.S. team received a mixed reception, and when Vice President JD Vance showed up on the jumbo screen in the stadium, some jeers were heard.
The American singer Mariah Carey had helped get the show started at San Siro stadium, a century-old landmark in Milan, singing in Italian “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu,” better known as “Volare.” Andrea Bocelli performed the ceremonial standard “Nessun Dorma,” which Luciano Pavarotti sang at the 2006 Turin Games. The Italian rapper Ghali also took to the stage, and Cecilia Bartoli and Lang Lang combined on the Olympic anthem.
The ceremonies formed an up-tempo celebration of Italian culture and history. Giant-head versions of Verdi, Puccini and Rossini made an early entrance, and Italian opera arias accompanied the parade. There was a lot of dance, and plenty of green, white and red for the Italian flag.
Scattered protests took place in Milan, including one opposing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, whose personnel are in Italy to advise its security forces during the Games. Another was outside the San Siro, in one of Milan’s poorest neighborhoods, over high prices and a lack of affordable housing.
The Olympic flag was carried in with even more pomp than the flags in the athletes’ parade. Its bearers were an international crew, including the marathon champ Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya; Tadatoshi Akiba, a former mayor of Hiroshima, Japan; the Brazilian gymnast Rebeca Andrade; and Pita Taufatofua, the oiled-up, bare-chested athlete from Tonga who created a stir at the opening ceremony in 2016, 2018 and 2021. He was wearing a black shirt and coat on Friday.
- Credits: The New York Times
- Authors: Victor Mather and Motoko Rich
