Vice President JD Vance, as head of the US delegation to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, tells athletes 'everybody is rooting for you guys.'
WASHINGTON – Vice President JD Vance recognized the sacrifices that U.S. athletes made to participate in the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy and encouraged them to "win as many medals as possible" as the Milano Cortina games open Feb. 6.
“This is one of the few things that unites the entire country,” Vance, the head of the U.S. delegation, told members competing in freestyle skiing aerials and halfpipe events. “Everybody is rooting for you guys. Everybody is cheering for you.”
Vance added that his wife Usha isn’t much of a sports fan but that “every two years, she makes us obsessively watch the Olympics, and that’s been true since the moment I started dating her.”
Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are expected to attend the Opening Ceremony in the San Siro soccer stadium. Vance also plans to meet with the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during the day, according to the vice president’s office.
The Vances attended an International Olympics Committee dinner Feb. 5. Earlier in the day, the Vances brought their children – Ewan, 8; Vivek, 5; and Mirabel, 4 – to watch a preliminary women’s hockey game between the U.S. and Czech Republic teams.
Other spectators from U.S. delegation included Rubio and his wife and Tom Fertitta, the U.S. ambassador to Italy, and his wife.
Vance joined the chants of "USA, USA, USA" with the crowd after Joy Dunne sent the U.S. team up 2-0 on the way to a 5-1 win. Fans in the 5,800-seat Milano Rho arena didn't appear to notice the politicians.
Athletes President Donald Trump named to the delegation include twins who played on the 2018 U.S. women’s hockey team − Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson and Monique Lamoureux-Morando − who won the gold medal in South Korea. That team knocked Canada off its 20-year hold atop the Olympics riser.
Other gold-medal skaters on the delegation are Apolo Ohno, who won in short track speedskating in 2002 and 2006, and Evan Lysacek, who won in figure skating in 2010. Ohno became the most decorated U.S. winter Olympian in 2010, when he added a silver and a couple of bronze medals to his trophy case.
Diplomats in the delegation include Rubio and the U.S. ambassador to Italy, Tilman Fertitta, a billionaire businessman who owns Landry’s restaurants, the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casinos and the Houston Rockets basketball team.
The Vances arrived in Milan about 10 a.m. local time on Feb. 5. Two Carabinieri honor guards flanked the red-carpet welcome that included Fertitta and Salvatore Pasquariello, the prefect of Varese.
At the welcome center, the Vance children got credentials on lanyards and souvenir Ralph Lauren teddy bear Olympics pins.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Vance says Olympics are one thing that 'unites the entire country'
Category: General Sports
