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 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games kicked off to a solid ratings start with its opening ceremony reaching seeing a 34% uptick from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. The opening ceremony, which kicked off at 11 a.

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.

Get the latest news on the Milan Cortina Olympics. The opening ceremony kicked off the 2026 Winter Games on Friday, Feb. 6.

Luciano Pavarotti, the Italian opera singer, previously sang the song during his final public performance at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin. Because of his health issues, the song was pre-recorded and lip-synced.

NBCUniversal’s coverage of the Milan Cortina Olympics’ flashy opening ceremony averaged 21.4 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, a jump of 34% from the opening for the 2022 winter games in Beijing, per preliminary data from Nielsen and digital data from Adobe Analytics.

The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics kicked off on Friday with an unprecedentedly widespread opening ceremony that was certainly more somber that the Paris 2024 opener but still delivered a classy spectacle and projected an overall elegance that reflects its Italian spirit.

Featuring planned tributes to da Vinci, Dante and other symbols of Italian culture, plus an appearance by Mariah Carey, a four-site, dual-cauldron opening ceremony kicked off the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

The 2026 Winter Olympics opened with stars including Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, in addition to colors, costumes, joy and aspirations of unity.