As the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics begin, all eyes are 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 Olympic Games have officially begun after an opening ceremony spread across four different venues in northern Italy. Two Italian skiing legends lit the cauldron in Milan to set the Games in motion,

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.

It wasn't a surprise, but it was still quite something to hear.

There will be two broadcasts of the 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony this Friday. You can tune in live from 2PM - 5PM ET on Friday afternoon, or catch the encore broadcast from 8PM - 11PM ET that night. Both broadcasts will air on NBC, which is available with DirecTV, Hulu + Live TV, and more.

What it was like to be in San Siro Stadium to kick off the Winter Games

The 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics officially started Friday afternoon with the opening ceremony.

The unprecedented four-site, dual-cauldron Milan Cortina Winter Games opening ceremony replete with references to Italian icons and culture has started.

There are few opportunities to mount an event of this scale, but the Olympics host country showed what it was made of through performances by Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli and Sabrina Impacciatore.