As it happened: The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony

That’s a wrap on our live blog of the opening ceremony, the first of its kind to end with two cauldrons being lit at a Winter Olympics.

Thanks for joining us. Find more of our coverage throughout the games here.

The Olympic opening ceremony ran 3 1/2 hours, an hour longer than its scheduled run time.

The dress rehearsal Wednesday managed to stay within the announced time — but that was without the actual athletes parading in multiple locations.

Former Olympic champion skiers Alberto Tomba and Deborah Compagnoni have lit the cauldron in Milan, while current skiing star Sofia Goggia lit the one in Cortina.

Tomba is the most decorated Italian skier in Olympic history with five medals: three golds and two silvers. Compagnoni won skiing golds at three straight Olympics starting in 1992.

Goggia is competing at her third Olympics. She won gold in downhill in 2018 and silver four years later, after making a remarkable return from injury.

Instead of the usual one cauldron that is lit and burns throughout the Games, there are two. One in Milan and the other 250 miles (400 kilometers) away in Cortina.

Italy’s first female astronaut, Samantha Cristoforetti, joined a young girl to pay tribute to the planet earth.

Cristoforetti joined the girl at a model of the solar system as the girl said, “This is the only planet where we can actually live, so I want to care and protect it with all my might.’'

Italian mezzosoprano Cecilia Bartoli sang the Olympic anthem as Chinese pianist Lang Lang played.

The Olympic flag was raised in San Siro as Bartoli’s voice soared.

In Saranac Lake, New York, just outside the two-time Olympic host village of Lake Placid, Haley Del Duca said she watched with awe as her husband — bobsledder Frank Del Duca — carried the U.S. flag into Cortina d’Ampezzo and led the American delegation.

“It’s amazing to see him recognized,” she said in a telephone interview. “He may not be a five-time gold medalist, but he works like one.”

She and her family are arriving in Italy in the coming days to watch Del Duca compete in his second Games.

Italian rapper Ghali delivered a message of peace, part of the Olympic protocol calling for the symbolic releasing of doves. Ghali’s lyrics reprised an poem by Gianni Rodari, one of Italy’s most important children’s authors of the 20th century.

The poem titled “La Pace,’’ Italian for “Peace,’’ talks about things we do every day: wash up, study, play, set the table at noon. And the things we should never do, ‘’by day or by night, by land or by sea, for example, war.’’

The routine culminated with dancers laying on the stage in the shape of a dove.

At the end of the dove movement, Charlize Theron, a U.N. Messenger of Peace, walked out and delivered a message of peace. “Today this message seem more relevant than ever. Let these games be ... a resounding call for peace everywhere.’'

Tenor Andrea Bocelli filled the stadium with Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma,’' which culminates with the famous refrain: “Vincerò,” or “I will win,’' the dream of every Olympian.

As he hit the high notes, the Olympic flame was passed among torch bearers for the final leg of the journey to the Milan cauldron at the Arch of Peace some three kilometers (two miles) away.

There is another cauldron in Cortina.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella has declared the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics open.

The declaration was followed by huge sparklers shooting from the stage.

Giovanni Malagò, the president of the Milan Cortina Foundation that organized the 2026 Winter Olympics, told the crowd in San Siro, “Benvenuti,” or “Welcome” in Italian, adding, “We welcome you to a land of history and innovation, of creative culture and passion.’'

Malagò was head of the Italian Olympic Committee when Italy won the bid to stage the Milan Cortina Games.

He was cheered several times, including when he said he loved sports, “and I love the Olympic movement,’' and when he called out all of the territories across northern Italy that are hosting venues.

The 90-minute-long march of athletes was sent bumping right along by the smooth beats of MACE, an Italian DJ.

MACE’s real name is Simone Benussi. He performed behind a turntable that appeared to be set on a table of ice.

The athletes seemed to dig his music, with many bouncing along to the beats as they paraded and waved flags at the different venues.

Italians are famous around the world for their hand gestures, and Milanese comic Brenda Lodigiani acquainted non-Italians in the crowd with their meaning.

The segment was inspired by Bruno Munari’s 1963 “Supplement to the Italian dictionary.’’

She drew a hand across her chest: Perfect. Hands in a prayer mode, rapidly moving up and down: Good Heavens. All fingers pinched together, and moving quickly: “What do you want?” Fingers crossed, the universal sign for, “Wish me luck.”

Lodigiani spoke only to say: “Welcome to Italy.”

Italian actress Sabrina Impacciatore delivered a passionate dance routine with a troupe wearing dressed alternatively as hockey players and in colorful 1980s ski wear, a tribute to 100 years of Winter Olympics, including Cortina in 1956 and Turin in 2006.

Impacciatore is best known for international audiences for her role in the second season of “White Lotus” as the hotel manager in the Sicilian seaside town of Taormina.

During this routine, she acquainted the audience with some Italian classics, including a 1972 hit by Adriano Celentano with a driving beat and tongue-twisting nonsense lyrics meant to imitate English.

The name of the song says it all: “Prisencolinensinainciusol.’’ Try saying that out loud.

Stylish as ever in Emporio Armani, Italy’s athletes have signaled the end of the beloved Parade of Nations. And the home nation walked out to resounding cheers, and the rousing song from the iconic opening aria from the opera The Barber of Seville.

This marks the third time Italy has hosted the Winter Olympics: Cortina previously hosted in 1956, and Turin held the Games in 2006.

Italy has also hosted the Summer Olympics once, in Rome in 1960.

▶ Read more about Italy’s team

Cheers went up for U.S. athletes when they entered San Siro, but an image of U.S. Vice President JD Vance shown on screens was met with boos.

Vance attended the opening ceremony along with his wife, second lady Usha Vance, who was sitting next to former International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

Vance and his wife cheered on the athletes,waving their handheld American flags and clapping. Vance is leading the U.S delegation.

Support for the U.S. among its allies has been eroding as the Trump administration has taken an aggressive posture on foreign policy, including punishing tariffs, military action in Venezuela and threats to invade Greenland.

The Ukrainian delegation was met with deafening applause as athletes and staff entered San Siro.

Feb. 24 will mark four years since Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine.

Despite the ongoing war, athletes from Ukraine are still competing at the Games.

Ukraine’s historic Chernihiv biathlon and cross-country training center, which produced the country’s first Olympic medalist, remains in ruins after Russia’s 2022 invasion.

Despite bombed-out buildings and constant air-raid threats, children and Olympic hopefuls continue to train on its damaged ski tracks.

Athletes like Khrystyna Dmytrenko return sometimes, seeing sport as resilience amid war. Coaches work under dangerous conditions as explosions echo nearby.

▶ Read more about Ukraine’s Olympians

Along the athletes’ parade route in Cortina, there are no signs of the party slowing down as the ceremony enters its third hour.

There are a few bottles of Champagne stuck in snowbanks to keep them cold, and revelers on the patio of a hotel bar are huddling under heat lamps to stay warm as the temperature falls.

The high-five count between fans and athletes has to be in the thousands at this point, as the scene in Cortina allows parade onlookers to be just a few feet from the Olympians.

The pair carrying Slovenia’s flag and sign are siblings who have dominated ski jumping this season and are now top medal contenders in Predazzo.

Domen and Nika Prevc are both world record holders for the longest jumps and are atop World Cup standings. It’s the first Olympics for the two, though their older brothers, Peter and Cene, are five-time Olympic medalists who are now retired.

The two led their nation’s delegation to rousing applause at the ski hill where they hope to make their mark.

Nika goes for the gold Saturday in the women’s normal hill event. Domen competes in the men’s normal hill jump Monday.

The two could team up Tuesday in the mixed event.

The Spanish team was decked out in head-to-toe red with flashes of yellow to mimic their national flag.

Designed by Spanish sportswear brand Joma, the opening ceremony kit featured an anorak and trousers.

Full red is Spain’s go-to color for sports. Its successful national soccer team is called “La Roja.”

One athlete representing Poland was held aloft as if in flight by a teammate as they walked through San Siro.

Chilean skier Henrik Von Appen has marched with the help of crutches after his Olympic dreams were shattered following a crash.

Von Appen injured his right knee and suffered cuts to his face when he crashed a little over a week ago at Crans-Montana in Switzerland. Lindsey Vonn and other skiers also crashed out at that event.

“These Games have been my goal for four years,” he wrote on social media a few days later, saying “it is with enormous sorrow” that he could not participate in them.

But he was able to participate at the opening ceremony in the mountain town of Livigno, where the men’s alpine skiers who will compete in Bormio are marching.

The Czech Republic partnered with ALPINE PRO for its funky opening ceremony outfits.

The red, gold, black and white knit sweaters featured a bold, retro-inspired pattern that, unusually, did not match Czechia’s red, white and blue national flag.

Czech company ALPINE PRO instead opted to channel unconventional Italian design as an homage to the hosts. The knitwear was finished with a long red scarf in the Italian style.

The Mexican delegation, led by figure skater Donovan Carillo, received tremendous cheers when they entered San Siro.

The three athletes in Milan, four in Predazzo and three in Cortina wore winter jackets inspired by traditional indigenous patterns known to the country.

Mongolian brand Goyol Cashmere launched its Olympic looks last month to instant internet acclaim. The designers were inspired by the “warrior spirit” of Mongolians who, for thousands of years, used cashmere to endure the brutal winters of the Central Asian highlands, the company wrote on social media.

The designers leaned heavily on attire dating to the Great Mongol Empire between the 13th and 15th centuries, the brand said.

At the Milan Cortina Games, each Mongolian athlete will wear a cashmere ceremonial deel — traditional tunics or robes — with silk trimmings to honor the past and present.

More casual looks will also feature cashmere, such as knitwear that draws upon the alpine ski sweater style of Western mountain culture and traditional Mongolian motifs.

Norway has more than 400 winter medals according to Olympics.com.

Correction: A previous version of this post erroneously reported Norway had 329 total medals.

The Israeli delegation received a smattering of boos when it entered San Siro.

The four athletes in Milan put on a stoic face, with frozen smiles.

There have been some calls for Israel to be banned from the Games over the war in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of civilians. A ceasefire has attempted to halt the more than 2-year-old war, which began with Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but it has been marred by repeated flare-ups of violence.

In the 2023 attack that started the war, thousands of Hamas-led militants poured into southern Israel after a surprise barrage of rockets, killing 1,200 people, most of them civilians, and abducting 251.

More than 71,800 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between fighters and civilians. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.

Israel’s first bobsled team is set to compete in the Milan Cortina Winter Games. The team includes a diverse group of athletes, such as a pole-vaulter, sprinter and former Olympian in skeleton.

AJ Edelman, the team leader, is believed to be the first Orthodox Jew to compete in a Winter Games. Ward Farwaseh may be the first Druze Olympian.

It’s an odyssey they liken to the hit Disney classic “Cool Runnings,” or, as they put it “Shul Runnings.”

Their participation comes amid international backlash over Israel’s actions in Gaza.

▶ Read more about ‘Shul Runnings’

Haiti’s two-man Olympic team will be sporting gear designed by Italian-Haitian designer Stella Jean and inspired by a Haitian artist’s painting.

The uniforms originally featured Toussaint Louverture, the former slave who led a revolution that created the world’s first Black republic in 1804, astride a red horse. But the IOC ruled that the image violated Olympic rules barring political symbolism, forcing Jean to paint over the nation’s founding father.

That left only Louverture’s charging steed — representing Haiti’s founding moment — against a lush tropical backdrop and azure sky.

The IOC didn’t respond to The Associated Press’ request for comment, but no demonstration of political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic site or venue.

▶ Read more about Team Haiti

A case of norovirus for a Switzerland women’s hockey player meant the entire squad did not take part in the parade of athletes in Milan.

The positive test was detected only after the team beat the Czech Republic on Friday and “shortly before” the opening ceremony, the Swiss Olympic team says. The athlete was not identified by the team, which says the squad is now in isolation.

An outbreak of the stomach virus in the Finland women’s squad forced the postponement of its opening game Thursday against Canada.

In case you’re wondering why the nations aren’t coming into the opening ceremony in alphabetical order, they are.

Sort of.

Greece, per Olympic tradition as the originator of the ancient games, almost always enters the ceremony first and then it shifts to alphabetical order — that is, the Italian alphabet.

And the final three nations to enter the ceremony will have nothing to do with the alphabet.

The U.S. goes third to last because it’ll host the 2034 Utah Games. France goes next to last because it’ll host the 2030 French Alps Games. And host Italy will be the final nation out.

These far-flung Olympics have events in villages across northern Italy, and the opening ceremony had formal events in a few of them.

Bormio, the host site for men’s Alpine skiing and ski mountaineering, was not on the list, but that didn’t keep people from turning out to pack a piazza and watch the ceremony on a large TV screen. Bells in the historic clock tower began ringing precisely at 8 p.m.

The bells once warned citizens of danger or summoned them for meetings. This time, it was to celebrate.

Kids ran around with noise-makers, and several red balls were batted around in the audience as temperatures dipped to around freezing.

Italian luxury brand Moncler designed an over-large white puffer coat for Brazil’s athletes.

But Alpine ski racer Lucas Pinheiro Braathen stunned the crowd in Milan by opening his coat, now functioning similar to a cape, to reveal the blue, green and gold Brazilian flag on the inside lining.

The opening ceremony sold out, with 61,000 people in attendance at San Siro, organizers said Friday. While ticket prices went as high as the symbolic sum of 2,026 euros (over $2,300), volunteers were offered a deal at 26 euros ($31) a piece, and people under 26 years old could buy two for the price of one.

China’s 126 athletes heading to the Milan Cortina Games make up its largest delegation ever for a Winter Olympics.

Athletes are lining up outside the ski jump stadium to take part in the spread-out parade of nations. Competitors from Japan are now entering, followed by teams from Iran, Ireland, and Kazakhstan.

There’s a lively atmosphere at the main entrance, with athletes stopping to take selfies as they wait to go in.