It was such a thrill to get to experience my fourth Opening Ceremony last night – Salt Lake, Torino, Beijing, and now Vancouver! Canada did a tremendous job putting on a show that was true to their culture, full of fun, and packed with Canadian pride.
I thought the U.S. Team looked really sharp in their Polo Ralph Lauren uniforms. None of them were too crazy about the white pants when they first tried them on at Team Processing, but as a team united, marching in full of pride and excitement, I think they pulled off the look with gusto. What did you guys think?
I was really impressed that the Canadian organizers were able to incorporate some touching moments of silence and tribute to Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luge athlete who passed away earlier in the day during a training run. I’m not sure if they showed them all in the broadcast, but there were different moments of remembrance scattered throughout, including flying the flags at half mast. The U.S. flag bearer is a luge athlete – five-time Olympian Mark Grimmette – and he wore a Georgian Olympic Team pin in tribute to Nodar.
Backing up to just minutes before the ceremony, I barely made it! The organizing committee (VANOC here), always provides buses for the media, but you have to leave extremely early. So instead, two of my colleagues and I walked the mile to get to the stadium. The problem with this is you never know where there will be barriers or how to get to the appropriate gate entrances.
So we’re walking, and we realize we’ve stumbled across a huge gathering of protesters. They’re all against the Games for different reasons – poverty, taxes, the environment, you name it. Having no one cause seems to dilute their message in my opinion, and the group came across as a hodge-podge of angry, unorganized, unbalanced complainers. I’m sure some of their issues are valid, but this definitely was not an effective way to be heard.
We suddenly got caught up in a mob that was pushing toward a police barrier. I imagine it’s what it feels like to be caught in a stampede, before the rush begins. We were packed tight and being pressed upon by the crowd of bodies every which way, but primarily toward the police line of fences. Seeing this up ahead everyone started to panic a bit, because it was getting tighter and we were running out of space to go. It seemed incredibly unsafe, and just as our eyes started to widen in concern, we found a tiny opening off to the side that we were able to squeeze through and get away. My word, it was unsettling!
We were drama-free after that, and made it to our seats without incident.
The stadium looked beautiful and the seats were packed with an energy and excitement.
Every seat had a hat box that held different interactive elements, and also served as a drum. Inside we had flashlights, drumsticks, fake lit-up candles, and a white poncho to all blend into the winter scene.
The opening snowboarder jumping through the rings was a highlight, although it happened extremely quick and then they never used the fake snow hill again, which would have been cool.
And the maple leaf was present throughout, including tons of red leafs dropping from the ceiling onto our heads.
I loved the nature theme, with the mountains, the whales, the water, the big sycamore tree…
I don’t think that this ceremony measured up to the magic we witnessed in Beijing, but it was special in its own way. It wasn’t in-your-face powerful and awe-inspiring, but it felt more organic and warm. It was also MUCH more athlete-friendly. In Beijing, the athletes had to wait in holding areas for hours before they marched in, and most of the ceremony took place while they waited outside – they didn’t even get to see it! Then, when they did march in, they had to stand throughout. In Vancouver, one of the first things they did was let the athletes march in, which involved them in the rest of the singing performances and theatrics, and they got to sit in actual seats.
The one major hiccup was at the end – the dramatic torch lighting. Rather than having one final torchbearer, Canada had four, and all four were supposed to light these huge beams. Well, one wouldn’t rise up! They held the torchbearers for about 3-4 minutes while they tried to lift it, and finally just went with the three that were working. We weren’t quite sure what was going on in the stadium without commentators, but it did seem a bit awkward.
Overall though, I don’t think it took away from magic of the night. Canada welcomed the world in spectacular fashion. The athletes had a blast; they were all Tweeting about how amazing it was to experience. I certainly felt lucky to be there and am ready for the Games to begin!
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