As the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics begin, all eyes were on teams from around the globe proudly donning their countries' uniforms for the opening ceremony, including Team USA in outfits designed by Ralph Lauren.

The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics kicked off with an opening ceremony on Friday that averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

The Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony is Friday, along with mixed doubles curling, figure skating and training for Alpine skiing, luge and ski jumping.

A rousing Opening Ceremony that included everything from dancing musical notes to massive paint tubes to massive flying Olympic rings to Mariah Carey ended with a dramatic reveal as Italian legends Sofia Goggia, Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni lit the two torches that will burn for the length of the Winter Olympics.

The Olympic Winter Games in Milan kicked off with a stunning slate of performances.

Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance were spotted at the 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony on Friday night in Milan, Italy.

Milan's San Siro Stadium played the role of primary host. But, in the spirit of these unusually widespread Games, simultaneous celebrations were also held in the clusters of Livigno, Predazzo and Cortina d'Ampezzo, which — for the first time ever — lit a second Olympic cauldron.

Pianist Lang Lang spoke to NBC News ahead of his performance at the Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony in Milan.