USA Vice President JD Vance watched on as the US Winter Olympic team suffered boos at the opening ceremony of the Games in Milan and Cortina. When Team USA walked out, boos and jeers could be heard radiating around the vicinity alongside cheers as the athletes got a rather mixed reception.
But that rather unpleasant welcome became particularly hostile when Vance and his wife Usha appeared on the big screen inside the San Siro stadium. When attention turned back to many of the USA’s athletes, there were some warmer cheers, which will provide some relief for their winter Olympians – but it was a clear indication of political issues currently going on away from the world of sport.
Viewers of the opening ceremony were neither surprised nor sympathetic for Vance. One wrote: “Opening of the Olympics in Italy and JD Vance and his wife are booed in an unmerciful manner. Donald Trump has made the USA the most disrespected nation on Earth….and rightfully so.”
Another commented: “I don’t like the booing of the USA athletes at the olympics. However you look at it, though, it’s an accurate temperature as how people view that country around the world. Athletes shouldn’t be booed full stop,” before a third said: “USA just got booed at the OS. When Vance was shown on the big screen. Only country booed.”
It’s not the first time Vance has shown his face at this year’s Games. The Ohio politician, who could possibly be the Republican candidate for the 2028 US elections, was also in Milan to watch an ice hockey match. He was accompanied by current secretary of state – and another potential candidate for the 2028 Republican nomination – Marco Rubio. Organisers were braced for protests at the game.
He and Rubio were at the match alongside Olympic gold medal-winning hockey sisters Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando and a large delegate of US secret service agents. There was huge concern about the potential of political demonstrations against the US administration.
In Italy, there were even reports claiming US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were potentially going to carry out activities in Milan and Cortina throughout the Games. Italy’s interior minister Matteo Piantedosi rubbished these reports, telling the Chamber of Deputies: “ICE does not and will never be able to carry out operational police activities on our national territory.
“During the Milan-Cortina Games, the members of this agency will be engaged only in analysis and information exchange with the Italian authorities,” while also saying any presence is “not a sudden and unilateral initiative,” which threatens to undermine Italian sovereignty.
He added: “We will not see anything on national territory that can be traced back to what has been seen in the media in the United States. The concern that has inspired the controversy of the last few days, which this information allows me to definitively sweep away, is therefore completely unfounded.”
The USA have sent 232 athletes competing in 16 disciplines to the games in Italy. It’s the largest ever delegate sent by the USA in their Winter Olympic history, while President Donald Trump remains in the States.