MILAN (AP) — The performance by pop star Mariah Carey at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics opening ceremony was the talk of the town — but it also raised a few questions.
The rendition by the American singer of Italian classic “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu” — better known as “Volare" — was a showstopping highlight in the 3½-hour spectacle that kicked off the Games.
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Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
“Such a dream come true to perform (in Italian!) at the Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games Opening Ceremony,” she later wrote in an Instagram post.
She received rave reviews from many, who called her marvelous and touted her high notes.
But her performance Friday also prompted a good deal of criticism online, where commenters were confused why an Italian singer wasn't given the honor. Some noted a large teleprompter with a phonetic breakdown of the song's Italian lyrics, while others wondered if she was lip-syncing.
Three reporters — including The Associated Press — asked the International Olympic Committee and local organizers about her during their daily news conference Saturday to address the teleprompter and doubts about lip-syncing.
Carey was born in New York to an Irish American mother, who was an opera singer, and a Black father with Venezuelan roots.
Despite her non-Italian background, the local organizing committee asked her to perform at Friday's opening ceremony and touted her for months as a big get to open the Winter Games.
“We believe that Mariah Carey’s performance was exceptional," Milan Cortina’s director of ceremonies Maria Laura Iascone said Saturday. “She was capable of creating a magic moment.”
It’s unclear whether Carey chose to sing “Volare,” but she told Vogue after the ceremony that the song has long been a favorite of hers.
The show did feature the Italian voices of tenor Andrea Bocelli, singer-songwriter Laura Pausini and mezzosoprano Cecilia Bartoli.
While armchair analysts mused online that the “All I Want for Christmas is You” singer appeared stiff, especially while singing in Italian, the crowd inside the San Siro stadium cheered and applauded when they realized she was performing in the local language.
She later stunned the audience with her own “Nothing is Impossible.”
Asked Saturday if Carey was lip-syncing, Iascone dodged the question and instead praised her as “really extraordinary.”
She said that “in order to be on the safe side,” they always record performances ahead of time for internationally broadcast events.
She didn't directly address if Carey was lip-syncing and said the singer wasn't paid for her performance.
“We were all satisfied with the result we had," she said.
A large teleprompter was visible inside the stadium, spelling out phonetically how Carey should sing the Italian words.
“Voh-lah-reh,” it read for “Volare." And “Nell blue Dee-peen-toe D blue” for “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu.”
Posts of the scrolling lyrics on social media, including from Italian high jumper Gianmarco Tamberi, racked up hundreds of thousands of views online.
When the AP asked Iascone about it, she said “of course” there was a teleprompter.
“Especially for those artists who sang in a different language than their own native language,” she said. "And they needed some support, especially regarding the pronunciation.”
Iascone added: “This is part of the show. It is a way to support the talents on the stage.”
Graham Dunbar and Andrea Rosa contributed to this report.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko)
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Singer Mariah Carey performs during the Olympic opening ceremony at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Milan, Italy, Friday, Feb. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
TENERIFE, Spain (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization sought Saturday to reassure residents of the Spanish island where passengers of a hantavirus-stricken cruise ship are expected to be evacuated, issuing them a direct message that the virus was “not another COVID.”
The Dutch-flagged MV Hondius, with more than 140 passengers and crew on board, is headed to Spain's Canary Islands, off the coast of West Africa, and is expected to arrive at the island of Tenerife early Sunday.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, along with Spain’s Health Minister Monica Garcia and Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, were due on the island Saturday to coordinate the disembarkation of passengers and some crew.
“I know you are worried. I know that when you hear the word ‘outbreak’ and watch a ship sail toward your shores, memories surface that none of us have fully put to rest. The pain of 2020 is still real, and I do not dismiss it for a single moment,” Tedros said in a message to the people of Tenerife.
“But I need you to hear me clearly: This is not another COVID. The current public health risk from hantavirus remains low. My colleagues and I have said this unequivocally, and I will say it again to you now,” Tedros added.
The WHO, Spanish authorities and cruise company Oceanwide Expeditions said nobody on the Hondius is currently showing symptoms of the virus.
Hantavirus can cause life-threatening illness. It usually spreads when people inhale contaminated residue of rodent droppings and isn’t easily transmitted between people. But the Andes virus detected in the cruise ship outbreak may be able to spread between people in rare cases. Symptoms usually show between one and eight weeks after exposure.
Three people have died since the outbreak, and five passengers who left the ship are infected with hantavirus.
Some on Tenerife say they are worried. On board the cruise ship, some Spanish passengers have voiced concern about being stigmatized.
“I tell you, I don’t like this very much,” said 69-year-old resident Simon Vidal. “Anyone can say what they want. Why did they have to bring a boat from another country here? Why not anywhere else, why bring it to the Canary Islands?”
Others said they empathized with the boat's passengers, but were still concerned.
“The truth is that it is very worrying,” said 27-year-old Venezuelan immigrant Samantha Aguero. She added: “We feel a bit unsafe, we don’t feel as there are 100% security measures in place to welcome it. This is a virus after all and we have lived this during the pandemic. But we also need to have empathy.”
Spanish Health Minister Monica Garcia said passengers and some crew would disembark in Tenerife “under maximum safety conditions.”
The ship will not dock but will remain at anchor. Everyone disembarking will be checked for symptoms and won't be taken off the ship until a flight is already in Tenerife waiting to fly them off the island, Garcia said during a news conference in Madrid. There are currently people of more than 20 different nationalities on board.
Both the U.S. and the U.K. have agreed to send planes to evacuate their citizens. Americans are to be quarantined at a medical center in Nebraska.
All Spanish passengers will be transferred to a medical facility and quarantined, Garcia said. Oceanwide has listed 13 Spanish passengers and one Spanish crew member on board.
Those disembarking will leave behind their luggage, Garcia said, and will be allowed to take only a small bag with essential items, a cellphone, charger and documentation.
Some crew, as well as the body of a passenger who died on board, will remain on the ship, which will sail on to the Netherlands, where it will undergo disinfection, the minister added.
According to a letter sent by the Dutch foreign and health ministers to parliament late Friday, Spain has activated the EU civil protection mechanism for a medical evacuation plane equipped for infections diseases to be on standby in case anyone on the ship becomes ill. That person would then be transported by air to the European mainland.
The Dutch government will work with Spanish authorities and the ship company to arrange repatriation of Dutch passengers and crew as soon as possible after arrival in Tenerife, subject to medical conditions and advice from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the letter said. Those without symptoms will go into home quarantine for six weeks and be monitored by local health services.
As the ship is Dutch-flagged, the Netherlands may also temporarily accommodate people of other nationalities and monitor them in quarantine, it said.
Health authorities across four continents were tracking down and monitoring more than two dozen passengers who disembarked before the deadly outbreak was detected. They were also scrambling to trace others who may have come into contact with them.
On April 24, nearly two weeks after the first passenger had died on board, more than two dozen people from at least 12 different countries left the ship without contact tracing, Dutch officials and the ship’s operator have said.
It wasn’t until May 2 that health authorities first confirmed hantavirus in a passenger.
Dutch public health authorities have been monitoring people who were on a flight that was briefly boarded by a Dutch ship passenger who later died and was confirmed to have hantavirus. Three people who were on the flight and had symptoms have all tested negative for hantavirus, Dutch National Institute for Public Health spokesperson Harald Wychgel told The Associated Press on Saturday.
Becatoros reported from Sparta, Greece. Associated Press reporters Angela Charlton in Paris and Helena Alves in Tenerife contributed to this report.
A Spanish Civil Guard officer inspects the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Media crew members stand in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Workers set up temporary shelters in the area where passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship are expected to arrive at the port of Granadilla in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Passengers on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, scan the horizon with binoculars during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Passengers on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, watch epidemiologists board the boat in Praia, during their voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger checks his camera inside his cabin on the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
Crew members of the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, wait their turns for a first interview with epidemiologists, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
A passenger on the the hantavirus-stricken cruise ship, MV Hondius, takes a photo of the ship's weighing anchor in Praia, during the voyage to Spain's port of Tenerife, May 6, 2026. (AP Photo)
