In heightened times, the Milan-Cortina opening ceremony played it safe

A monochromatic start bleeding into a technicolour swirl. Large headed figurines representing Rossini, Puccini, and Verdi. The appearance of Mariah Carey, suitably feathered, singing ‘Nel Blu, dipinto di Blu’. Anyone who could hear her highest-pitched notes can relax that they remain suitably young still.

The Milan-Cortina opening ceremony, officially held at the San Siro but dispersed across four different venues, ticked a lot of boxes when it comes to the unspoken rules of hosting large scale sporting events. Emotionally charged interpretive dancing? Check. Surprise fireworks? Check. VT showing small children taking in the wonders of the city? Check check check.

Crucially, there was meant to be none of the uproar that plagued the Paris 2024 Opening Ceremony after they featured drag queens, which by virtue of the growth in regressive politics across the world has become controversial.

“It is important where we stress that this is a platform to convey good messages and not messages that divide,” said Marco Balich, the Opening Ceremony’s Creative Director. “I don’t like to make divisive statements.”

As the Winter Olympics officially got underway – the first events actually started on Wednesday – the theme for the night was ‘harmony’. Beyond the lofty conceptual hopes for sport, it also represents the geographical reality of this Olympics, with venues further apart than they have been at any previous Games. That did lead to the bizarre experience of puffer-jacketed women walking round without any athletes for countries that only had competitors outside Milan.

The irony of the theme could be seen in the streets of the city as protests took place about the presence of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. ICE, it is said, are in Italy to support local authorities in dealing with any threats from transnational criminal organisations. It is not a new initiative but it has become particularly controversial in light of the killings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by the agency on the streets of Minnesota.

“We will not see anything on national territory that resembles what has been seen in the media in the United States,” said interior minister Matteo Piantedosi in the week. Team GB freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, who medalled for the USA in 2014, decided to make it even clearer by posting a picture to Instagram which had ‘fuck ICE’ written in the snow. It is not just policing organisations that have taken the opportunity to cosy up with each other, however, with US Vice-President JD Vance meeting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the day of the Opening Ceremony. Her views on immigration and women’s rights are similar to those of President Donald Trump.

Speaking during her meeting with Vance, Meloni talked about how sport and religion were “values that keep together Italy and the US, Europe and the US, western civilization.” It served to show that sports’ unifying impact is not an inherently progressive one. The apparent desire to rehabilitate Russia into the wider sporting world demonstrates that. International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry said on Tuesday that: “We know we don’t operate in a vacuum. But our game is sport. That means keeping sport a neutral ground.”

That neutrality apparently even extends to decisions that threaten the very concept of these Games. ICE was not the only organisation being protested this week, as Greenpeace drew attention to the sponsorship of the games by Eni, an Italian oil company. In 2023, the IOC released a report itself that only ten countries would be able to host the Winter Olympics by 2040 as a result of climate change. Coventry admitted when asked about the sponsorship that the IOC was having conversations “to be better” but it “takes time”.

The Opening Ceremony was a reminder that even if governing body presidents will toe the tiniest tightrope to avoid giving an ounce of an opinion, audiences can vote with their feet, or mouths. Israel’s contingent of athletes was met with boos, while Ukraine were greeted by the loudest cheer of the night until the arrival of the hosts. The United States delegation was met with a mixture of boos and cheers, influenced by the large American contingent watching in the stadium. In the mountains, boos could be heard over the broadcast.

There are always those who say that sport should not be political but sport is inexorably shaped by politics. And sport is good at using its loftier ambitions as cover: everything can just be wrapped in a saccharine bow for the next couple of weeks.

Photograph by VCG/Getty Images