Maybe you didn’t hear the boos, but the Winter Olympics opening ceremony became an outlet for rage

For a largely sedate and elegant spectacle, the Winter Olympics opening ceremony still became an outlet for rage in Milan.

Pleas from International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Kirsty Coventry to be respectful were ignored when four Israelis entered the San Siro in the athlete parade.

You had to listen carefully, but boos could be heard over the music in the vast stadium.

Simultaneous parades were held at Games clusters across northern Italy – while jeering was reported in Predazzo, there were cheers when Israelis marched in the mountain resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo.

Israel has endured more harrowing days at the Olympics, with 11 of their athletes murdered by Palestinian terrorists in a massacre at Munich in 1972.

For these Olympics, the IOC faced pressure to ban Israel from competing over the thousands killed in the post-7 October war in Gaza, but rejected those calls.

The jeering demonstrated the animosity of some in the crowd towards the Jewish state, with hostility over conflict and geopolitical tensions hard to escape in the ceremony.

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Fractures between Europe and the United States were also evident.

While American athletes entered to cheers, the brief appearance of vice president JD Vance, waving Stars and Stripes flags with wife, Usha, did prompt more booing and whistling.

Anger against the Trump administration has been evident in the buildup to the Games, with protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents being here to protect the US delegation, weeks after their personnel killed two American citizens.

But if you were watching on television, you probably didn’t hear the booing – drowned out by music or commentators.

Italians will have revelled in hearing Mariah Carey paying homage to the hosts by singing iconic 1950s hit Volare in Italian.

Maybe you did hear the cheers for Ukraine, a show of solidarity four years into the full-scale invasion by Russia, whose team remains banned.

There were enthusiastic roars, too, for Venezuela following Trump’s military interventions.

The IOC wanted to show a world uniting through sport, hoping these Games are a platform for compassion to shine rather than conflict.

“You’ll show us that strength isn’t just about winning,” Ms Coventry told athletes in her address. “It’s about courage, empathy and heart.”

It is about a vast Olympics. For the next two weeks, five sporting clusters across northern Italy will be in the sporting spotlight.

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An Olympic Games has never been as sprawling across such a large footprint. It is an even wider platform-to-platform.

But Ms Coventry told her first opening ceremony leading the Olympics that “when we see rivals embrace at the finish line, we are reminded that we can choose respect”.

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