Overview
- The IPC said Iran’s lone qualified athlete, Aboulfazl Khatibi Mianaei, withdrew over travel safety concerns related to the Middle East conflict, and Iran’s flag was removed from the parade.
- Ukraine led a boycott of the opening ceremony joined by Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, while Canada, Great Britain, Germany and France stayed away for performance reasons.
- Organizers used volunteer flag bearers, inserted prerecorded team videos and expected roughly 30 delegations to appear in person, according to IPC communications chief Craig Spence.
- Competition runs March 6–15 across Milan, Cortina d’Ampezzo and Val di Fiemme with 79 medal events in six sports, including the debut of wheelchair curling mixed doubles; the field now stands at about 611 athletes from 55 nations after Iran’s withdrawal.
- Peacock is streaming every event in the U.S. with additional coverage on NBC networks, the EBU is delivering expansive free-to-air coverage in Europe, and some broadcasters such as Lithuania’s LRT and Poland’s TVP restricted opening-ceremony images of Russian and Belarusian athletes.