2010 Vancouver winter Olympics- Opening Ceremony and Day 2

Last night was the opening ceremony for the Vancouver winter games. It was held at BC stadium. The opening ceremony started with a canadian athlete(snowboarder Johnny Lyall) leaping through the olympic rings, then there was the dances of the aboriginal Canadians followed by the parade of nations. There will be 82 countries competing with over 2600 athletes. Its fun to watch how many athletes a country has competing compared to their population. The USA has 304 million people in it with 216 athletes, China had 90 athletes with a 1.3 billion population, Russia had 178 athletes competing with 140 million population.
After the parade of nations a song was sung by Nelly Furtado and Bryan Adams called Bang the Drum. Then there was the cultural section to celebrate the vast geography and people of Canada. There was a polar bear that rose from the floor of the stadium, totem poles rising up from the ground, a song by Sarah McLachlan(Ordinary Miracle), fiddlers dancing tap, a song by Joni Mitchell(Both Sides Now), Snowboarders and skiers going down a mountain and speed skaters circling the area around the mountain. There was narration by actor Donald Sutherland.
KD Lang sang Hallelujah, followed by the carrying of the Olympic flag by eight canadians of all cultures. The Flag carriers were hockey's Bobby Orr, singer Anne Murray, Betty Fox, mother of cancer patient Terry Fox, actor Donald Sutherland, gold medal figure skater Barbara Ann Scott, race car driver Jacques Villeneuve, UNAMIR commander Romeo Dallaire, and Canadian astronaut Julie Payette.
Then there was a moment of silence for the tragic death of a Georgian Luger named Nodar Kumaritashvili who died while in a practice run before the opening ceremony. He flew off the track and onto a steel pole.
Then the Olympic torch was carried into the stadium by Paralympic athlete Rick Hansen who passed it to speedskater Catriona LeMay Doan. She passed it to basketballs Steve Nash. He passed the torch to skier Nancy Greene who then passed the torch to hockey's great one Wayne Gretzky.
All of the athletes waited for the four legs of the cauldron to arise from the floor. Only three legs arose so Gretzky and the others lit the cauldron.
Gretzky also lit the outdoor cauldron as well.


Day 2 - February 13

American Apolo Anton Ohno won the silver medal in the 1500m short track speedskating. Ohno was forth into the final turn when two Korean speed skaters crashed into each other. JR Celski of the USA won the bronze medal. Lee Jung su of Korea won the gold.
Ohno tied American Bonnie Blair for most medals won in an Olympics - six.

Hannah Kearney of the USA won gold in the women's Freestyle Skiing Moguls beating Canadian Jenn Heil. Shannon Bahrke of the USA finished third and won bronze.

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Medal Count after Day 1:

USA 1 gold. 1 silver 2 bronze - 4 total
S. Korea 1 gold, 1 silver 0 bronze - 2 total

Opening Ceremonies(Day 1)

One of the best opening ceremonies I have ever seen!! From the engineering of the Olympic Stadium called the Birds Nest to the creativity of the Chinese to tell their 5,000 year history this was one of the best.

The opening ceremonies had a 300 million dollar budget which exceeded the Athens games by 10 times the cost. The Birds Nest holds 91,000 people. There were 15,000 performers. The size and scope of the opening ceremonies was the largest in Olympic history.

Highlights were 2008 drummers with their precision countdown, dream rings that rose to the top of the stadium, movable printing boxes and Li Ning suspended in mid air flying around the stadium going 360 degrees to light the torch.

The ceremony highlighted the ethnic groups of China and ancient and modern China.

The parade of nations was not in alphabetical order because China has no official alphabet.

The USA came in with 600 athletes dressed in Ralph Lauren made suits with white berets.

Technology was an integral part of the ceremonies from the LCD screens at the top of the stadium, to the fireworks and to the way the stadium was constructed.

I can't wait until the games actually start!!

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