JD Vance and USA booed at Winter Olympics opening ceremony | Other | Sport
US Vice President J.D. Vance watched as the US Winter Olympic team was booed at the opening ceremony of the Games in Milan and Cortina. When Team USA left the arena, the athletes received a very mixed reaction, with cheers as well as boos and jeers from the surrounding area.
But this rather unpleasant reception took a particularly hostile turn when Vance and his wife Usha appeared on the big screen at the San Siro stadium. As attention turned back to the majority of U.S. athletes, warmer cheers were heard; This would provide some relief for the winter Olympians; but it was a clear indication of the political issues currently going on outside the world of sports.
Those who watched the inauguration were neither surprised nor sympathetic to Vance. One wrote: “It’s the opening of the Olympics in Italy and JD Vance and his wife are being booed mercilessly. Donald Trump has made the USA the most disrespected nation in the world… and rightly so.”
Another commented: “I don’t like US athletes being booed at the Olympics. But no matter how you look at it, it’s the right temperature for how people around the world view that country. Athletes shouldn’t exactly be booed.” Then a third said: “The USA was booed on the OS. When Vance was featured on the big screen. Only the country was booed.”
This isn’t the first time Vance has shown his face at this year’s Games. The politician from Ohio, who is likely to be the Republican candidate in the 2028 US elections, was also in Milan to watch an ice hockey match. He was accompanied by Marco Rubio, the current secretary of state and another potential candidate for the 2028 Republican nomination. Organizers prepared for protests at the match.
She and Rubio were at the game along with Olympic gold medal-winning hockey sisters Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando and a large delegation of U.S. secret service agents. There was great concern about the potential for political demonstrations against the US administration.
There were even reports in Italy claiming that US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents would potentially conduct activities in Milan and Cortina throughout the Games. Italian interior minister Matteo Piantedosi rubbished these reports, telling the House of Representatives: “ICE does not and never will carry out operational police activities on our national territory.
“During the Milan-Cortina Games, members of this agency will not only exchange analysis and information with the Italian authorities,” but also says that any presence “is not a sudden and unilateral initiative” and threatens to undermine Italian sovereignty.
He added: “We will not see anything on national soil that can be traced back to what has been seen in the United States media. The concern that has inspired the discussions of the last few days, and which this information enables me to dispel once and for all, is therefore completely unfounded.”
The USA sent 232 athletes competing in 16 disciplines to the matches in Italy. This is the largest number of delegates sent by the United States in the history of the Winter Olympics, while President Donald Trump remains in the United States.
