The head of the International Olympic Committee has warned spectators to be on their best behavior when American athletes and dignitaries are introduced at Friday’s opening ceremony.
“I hope that the opening ceremony is seen by everyone as an opportunity to be respectful of each other,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry told reporters Wednesday when asked about the possibility of jeering.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are leading the American delegation to the opening ceremony of the Games, which will begin at 2 p.m. ET, with the bulk of the festivities taking place in Milan’s famous San Siro soccer stadium.
The Games are getting underway amid the backdrop of European consternation over President Trump’s designs on annexing Greenland, as well as controversy over the killings of two anti-immigration enforcement protesters in Minneapolis last month.
The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that members of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) will be in Milan to help provide security for the Games.
In a bid to quell local outrage, US Ambassador to Italy Tilman Fertita reassured the Italian government the agents will largely work out of a single room in the American consulate, where they will “mostly consult their own databases.”
