Overview
- A multi-city opening across Milan, Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno featured about 2,900 athletes, with San Siro hosting the main ceremony and Germany’s Leon Draisaitl serving as a flag-bearer as NHL stars return to the Games.
- Italian authorities reinforced security for the ceremonies, deploying roughly 6,000 police and 2,000 military, with armored vehicles visible in Milan and protests targeting U.S. ICE personnel accompanying Vice President JD Vance.
- Pope Leo XIV issued an eight-page message urging nations to respect the Olympic truce, echoing a recent United Nations resolution supporting a pause in conflicts during the Games.
- Russia remains excluded as a national team because of the war in Ukraine, while Russian and Belarusian athletes are permitted to compete as neutrals under IOC rules.
- German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil affirmed in a letter that the federal government will back financing for a national Olympic bid, as the DOSB continues its selection among Munich, Hamburg, Berlin and the Rhein-Ruhr region through September.