Blundering start as stadium left in darkness<\/a><\/p>\nVance met International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry, who is overseeing her first Games since her election in March, at a dinner for heads of state on Thursday.<\/p>\n
The United States hosts the next Olympics, the 2028 Summer Games, in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
Coventry has said she hopes \u201canything that is distracting from\u201d the Milan-Cortina Olympics will be put aside for the February 6-22 extravaganza.<\/p>\n
She was hinting at anger in Italy after it emerged that agents from the US immigration enforcement agency ICE will have an \u201cadvisory\u201d role at the Games.<\/p>\n
Rome has denied that the agents will have any operational role on its soil. One of the most prominent US athletes, reigning Olympic snowboard champion Chloe Kim, took apparent aim at President Donald Trump\u2019s immigration crackdown as she arrived in Italy.<\/p>\n
Kim said in an Instagram post she was proud to represent a country that is \u201cstrongest when it embraces diversity, dignity, and hope\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy parents left South Korea in search of a better future for their family. They left behind everything they knew so that my sisters and I could have the chance to one day live the American dream,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
Workers next to the San Siro Stadium during rehearsals for the opening ceremony of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Games, at , in Milan, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026. (AP Photo\/Luca Bruno)Source: AP<\/p>\n
– Speculation surrounds torchbearers –<\/p>\n
The Olympic flame reached Milan on Thursday but organisers have tried to keep the identity of the final two torchbearers for the opening ceremony under wraps.<\/p>\n
They will simultaneously light two cauldrons inspired by Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s knots, one suspended under Milan\u2019s Arch of Peace, and the other in Piazza Dibona in Cortina.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, it was reported it would be Alberto Tomba in Milan and Deborah Compagnoni in Cortina, two of Italy\u2019s most decorated alpine skiers.<\/p>\n
The sports programme has already begun with curling and women\u2019s ice hockey, but not without hiccups.<\/p>\n
MILAN, ITALY – FEBRUARY 05: Nicoletta Manni, Italian Ballet Dancer, holds the flame in front of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II during the Olympic Torch Relay on February 05, 2026 in Milan, Italy. The 2026 Winter Olympics opening ceremony is set for February 6, with the close of the games to occur on February 22. (Photo by Andreas Rentz\/Getty Images)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s ice hockey tournament experienced a setback when the match between Canada and Finland had to be postponed due to a virus that sidelined four Finnish players, who were suffering from vomiting and diarrhoea.<\/p>\n
Other women\u2019s games did go ahead, with the USA starting their bid to better their silver medal from the 2022 Beijing Olympics by beating the Czech Republic 5-1.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile the biggest star of these Olympics, American skier Lindsey Vonn, will on Friday get a chance to test her injured knee in training for the women\u2019s downhill in Cortina.<\/p>\n
Vonn\u2019s Olympic comeback at the age of 41 was almost derailed after she ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament in a race last week, but she insists she will compete.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics officially open with a star-studded opening ceremony at the San Siro Stadium on Saturday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[2620,237164,106760,237036,237160,237159,237155,64,63,485,2065,237166,212513,586,237163,2490,6214,49853,237156,237153,589,113591,237167,80144,237168,2328,114304,234684,78076,481,237161,107036,29333,44,195276,237162,237157,5813,237165,237154,237158,2614,21843],"class_list":["post-462055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-agence-france-presse","tag-alberto-tomba","tag-american-dream","tag-american-singer","tag-american-skier","tag-andrea-bocelli","tag-apparent-aim","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-california","tag-canada","tag-chinese-pianist","tag-chloe-kim","tag-czech-republic","tag-deborah-compagnoni","tag-donald-trump","tag-finland","tag-giorgio-armani","tag-harmony-runs","tag-ice-hockey-tournament","tag-ice-hockey","tag-immigration-crackdown","tag-immigration-enforcement-agency","tag-italian-design","tag-italian-tenor","tag-italy","tag-j-d-vance","tag-kirsty-coventry","tag-leonardo-da-vinci","tag-los-angeles","tag-marco-balich","tag-marco-rubio","tag-mariah-carey","tag-news","tag-opening-ceremony","tag-positive-messages","tag-snowboard-champion","tag-south-korea","tag-special-nod","tag-sports-programme","tag-star-studded-opening-ceremony","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-vice-president"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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