Overview
- Italy launched the Games with a ceremony staged simultaneously at San Siro in Milan and in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Predazzo and Livigno.
- The athletes’ parade was split across the four sites for the first time at a Winter Olympics, with some delegations, including Israel and the United States, booed at San Siro.
- Mariah Carey performed in Italian alongside Andrea Bocelli, Laura Pausini and Lang Lang in a show themed around “harmony” by creative lead Marco Balich.
- Two cauldrons were lit at once, at Milan’s Arco della Pace and Cortina’s Piazza Dibona, by ski greats Alberto Tomba, Deborah Compagnoni and Sofia Goggia.
- The dispersed Games span seven venues over roughly 22,000 km² with a budget cited near €5.2 billion, as protests targeted sponsor Eni and the competition phase and medal events get underway.