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 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.

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.

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.

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

Before the opening ceremony begins at the legendary San Siro Stadium in Italy for the Olympic Games, problems have already arisen.