A crowd of heads of state and government, sovereigns and leaders of international organizations gathered in Milan for the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. From US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who stood in for President Donald Trumo, to German President Frank Walter Steinmeier, from Polish Head of State Karol Nawrocki to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani. And again, the Swiss president Guy Parmelin, the Spanish royals Felipe and Letizia, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Prince Albert of Monaco and his wife Charlene, Princess Anne of England. However, the absence of French President Emmanuel Macron weighs heavily.
Also present at the ceremony was United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres, together with the President of the General Assembly, Annalena Baerbock. On November 19th the UN General Assembly approved the resolution presented by Italy on the Olympic Truce, in view of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: the resolution was adopted by consensus of all member states, gathering 165 co-sponsorships, a very high number. The resolution called on member countries to observe the Olympic Truce from seven days before the start of the Games until seven days after the end of the Paralympic Games.
Welcoming the world leaders were President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The latter had a conversation in the prefecture with JD Vance and the US delegation – immediately after meeting Polish President Nawrocki -, to confirm, as the note from Palazzo Chigi explains, “the solidity of the strategic relationship between Italy and the United States”, and to discuss the “main international political dossiers, with particular reference to the latest developments in Iran and Venezuela”.
Diplomacy, as always, accompanies the Olympic Games. The great sporting event that spans the world becomes an opportunity for reflection on major international issues, on ongoing conflicts and on peace, still far away in many areas of the world. During the ceremony, a chorus of boos rose from the audience in Vance’s direction as he was framed on the big screen, flanked by his wife Usha, coinciding with the passage of the US team. Disapproval, therefore, not towards the US athletes, who were applauded, but towards the vice president and US politics, after the controversy sparked by the presence at the Games of agents from Ice, the US federal anti-immigration agency which raised a wave of indignation for the brutal actions carried out in Minneapolis, including the killing of two activists.
A real ovation instead welcomed and celebrated the parade of Ukrainian athletes. A sign of closeness and encouragement in a particularly difficult and painful moment for the population of the country which is approaching the fourth anniversary of the large-scale Russian invasion (24 February) and is experiencing the hardest winter since the beginning of the war.
