The Olympic Committee has released a statement following the incident where athletes from the United States and Israel were booed during the opening ceremony of the 2026 Winter Olympics on Friday (February 6).
The iconic San Siro stadium in Italy was the venue for the opening ceremony, even though the games had officially started on Wednesday (February 4).
Mariah Carey led the performance, and the ceremony included the traditional parade of nations, introducing fans to the countries participating in the Games.
When the US and Israeli teams entered, they were met with boos. The American team, in particular, seemed to receive jeers directed at the vice president, as heard when cameras panned to JD Vance and his wife, Usha, who were seen waving American flags during the ceremony.
CBC’s coverage captured the moment, with a commentator noting: “There is the vice-president JD Vance and his wife Usha – oops, those are not … uh … those are a lot of boos for him. Whistling, jeering, some applause.”
Similarly, the four athletes representing Israel faced boos as they made their entrance into the stadium.
In response to the situation, the Olympic Committee addressed the booing directed at Vance in a statement.
IOC spokesperson Mark Adams, speaking at a press conference on Saturday (February 8), remarked: “What I would say from the IOC point of view is with the next Games coming up in Los Angeles, we are super happy that the US administration is so engaged with the Games here and going forward. That’s a great thing for the Olympic movement.
“We are largely a sports organisation and seeing the US team cheered as they were by the audience, fair play, that was fantastic, so very happy.
“In general at sporting events we like to see fair play, but in terms of having a good relationship with the administration, that’s good news for us.”
The spokesperson added: “The whole idea, or one of the ideas of the Olympic Movement, is that the athletes shouldn’t be punished for whatever their governments have done, and I think that’s really important, that we see the athletes and athletic performance for what that says about humanity.
“I know the Italian supporters love their sport. I think when they start seeing amazing performances, whatever nationality, they will cheer those performances.”
Leading up to the Winter Olympics, IOC president Kirsty Coventry had appealed to fans to show ‘respect’ towards all participating nations.