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.

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

Friday marked the official start of the 2026 Winter Olympics, which will be the most spread-out Games in history. (AP Photo)

Get the latest information on the Winter Olympics 2026 opening ceremony, including who is set to perform, when it’s taking place, timing, how to watch and more.

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.

The 2026 Winter Olympics opened with stars including Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, in addition to colors, costumes, joy and aspirations of unity.

Featuring planned tributes to da Vinci, Dante and other symbols of Italian culture, plus an appearance by Mariah Carey, a four-site, dual-cauldron opening ceremony kicked off the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics.

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.