The Albany Gazette - Curling quietly kicks off sports programme at 2026 Winter Olympics

In the chic resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo, away from the glamour of the alpine skiing and the media circus surrounding injured American ski star Lindsey Vonn, eight teams entered the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium and quietly unpacked their equipment in front of several hundred spectators.

The games had barely begun when a brief power cut blacked out the scoreboards for the matchups between Sweden and South Korea, Great Britain and Norway, Canada and the Czech Republic and Estonia and Switzerland.

British pair Bruce Mouat and Jen Dodds, who were runners-up at last year's world championships and considered medal hopefuls here, began their quest with an 8-6 win against the Norwegians.

There were also victories for Sweden, Canada and Estonia.

Italy, the reigning Olympic champions in the mixed doubles, will begin their bid for gold against South Korea on Thursday.

The opening ceremony on Friday will be primarily held at the San Siro football stadium in Milan, with three other venues hosting the traditional athletes parade, reflecting the sprawling nature of this year's Olympics.

The Games are using a host of existing venues, meaning they stretch for 350 kilometres (217 miles) across northern Italy from Cortina -- one of the world's iconic skiing locations -- to Milan, with other "clusters" spread through the Alps.

US singer Mariah Carey and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli are among the performers for the ceremony.

(F.Allen--TAG)