Olympic opening ceremonies can so often come off as overchoreographed, incomprehensible, or just plain weird. But others just give off a feeling. A good one, even. Especially coming off a quartet of previous ones that had their own set of challenges, from temperatures in South Korea, in 2018, so frigid that the name “PyeongChang” still generates literal chills to a fanless affair Tokyo in 2021, thanks to COVID: Japanese citizens sat outside the barriers of the Olympic Stadium the night of the opening ceremony, just for a glimpse. They would get no closer. Beijing in 2022 was another soulless COVID Games, marked more by frequent testing and isolation protocols than victories on the field. Paris had the fine idea to stage its ceremonies along the Seine. Too bad it rained on that parade.
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So on Olympic opening-ceremonies night, it’s nice to be back in business, full stop. It’s been awhile.
Stamped across the streets and stadium of this Italian hub of history, money, and fashion is an Olympic slogan: “It’s Milano. It’s Your Vibe.” For a night at least, that held. You can start with the weather: the night was clear, dry—it rained on and off all week in Milan—and a crisp 40-ish degrees. The performers paid homage to Italy’s musical traditions, with three great operatic composers, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Giacomo Puccini, appearing on the stage as mascot-like characters. (Near the end, they returned to groove to club music.) Three giant tubes descended from the top of San Siro Stadium: was that toothpaste? No, paint tubes dispensing with primary colors of blue, red, and yellow, in honor of Italy’s art history. Mariah Carey sang “Volare” near the top of the show. Sabrina Impacciatore, the Italian actress who starred as an uptight and comedically direct hotel manager in the second season of The White Lotus, can really dance. Andrea Bocelli, as usual, was brilliant and moving. He shook the place.
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Everyone seemed to enjoy the show. Even having to wait on outlandishly long food and drink lines before the start couldn’t dampen the Olympic enthusiasm. “It’s a good time to bring people together,” said Emily Dusel, a junior at Texas Christian University who is studying abroad in London, and was standing at the very rear of a tortuous queue. “It’s a good reminder that even though there’s so much division, there’s so much unity too.”
That feeling of brotherhood, respect, and community is badly needed now, as the world is fractured by military conflicts, political polemic, and a weakening of the social fabric that knits diverse cultures and views together. It’s a precarious time to be an American abroad, as news about aggressive immigration enforcement and deportations, the removal of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, and new tariffs spreads around the world; days before the Olympics, protesters in Milan criticized the presence of ICE agentstraveling with the U.S. Olympic delegation. But American spectators at San Siro said they were largely welcomed by fellow fans from around the world, as most people accept that not all Americans hold the same views, or even agree with the policies that have been making headlines. “I think the people who go to the Olympics are people who want to come together as an international community, so that’s who you meet when you come here,” said Jenny Farver, who runs a software company in Chicago.
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Still, Rachel Reinker, an American who lives in Milan, says she is asked frequently about the changing policies in the U.S. She finds it easier to just decline getting into political debate. “I just tell them I don’t want to talk about it,” she said.
One couple from Seattle says they have had only one negative experience while in Milan when someone yelled “f-ck Americans” because they wore specially designed coats emblazoned with U.S. logos. For the most part, however, most American spectators said people have been friendly and understand that a country’s leaders don’t speak for every citizen of that country. The U.S. athletes were cheered on their way into San Siro, though Vice President J.D. Vance was jeered a bit when he appeared on the jumbotron.
Ukraine’s athletes were also greeted with a rousing ovation. ”I’m super proud of my country,” says Kateryna Sekker, a Ukrainian who fled her country after the 2022 Russian invasion, now lives in Italy, and attended the ceremonies. She was wrapped in the Ukrainian flag. “I couldn’t wait to wear my flag, because for me, it’s more than just country. It’s people that fight every day for freedom, for our freedom, for us here, and this is impossible even to say with words. It’s just a feeling. You have to be Ukrainian to feel it.”
The Olympics will never be able to shut out the world at large. But after a grand opening, these next 16 days also offer an array of welcome distractions: Lindsey Vonn’s comeback attempt, at 41, and with a ruptured ACL. (“I hope Lindsey Vonn does it,” says Farver.) Ilia Malinin’s jumps, Chloe Kim’s spins, hockeyrivalries all over the ice. These Games may, in fact, be a vibe.
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