Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremonies Recap

The Vancouver 2010 Opening Ceremonies began on Friday, February 12, 2010, at 6 PM Pacific Standard Time in Vancouver, British Columbia. For the most part, the Opening Ceremonies went off nicely. There weren't any major apparent glitches, until the very end when the torch was lit. Although the Opening Ceremonies went off well, the death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili, who died earlier in the day during a training run, cast an aura of sadness over the event. The opening ceremonies were dedicated to him.

The Fantastic Beginning

As the Opening Ceremony began, the audience was directed to a large video screen. We saw scenes of Vancouver, which then panned to beautiful,snow capped mountains. The camera zoomed through these mountains until we came to the top of one peak, where a lone snowboarder stood.

The locations of the earlier Olympic games were announced as the snowboarder came down a mountain: "1924 Chamonix, 1928 San Moritz, 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 1948 San Moritz, 1952 Oslo, 1956 Cortina D'Ampezzo, 1960 Squaw Valley, 1964 Innsbruck, 1968 Grenoble, 1972 Sapporo, 1976 Innsbruck, 1980 Lake Placid, 1984 Sarajevo, 1988 Calgary!" (the announcer yelled with enthusiasm here). As the announcer continued, the snowboarder started skating past people carrying unlit torches, arranged in the shape of a maple leaf. As he snowboarded past them, their torches lit with red flame. "1992 Albertville, 1994 Lillehammer, 1998 Nagano, 2002 Salt Lake City, 2006 Torino, 2010 Vancouver!"

The snowboarder that we had been watching on the screens suddenly snowboarded down a ramp, and then through the middle ring of white version of the Olympic rings. The snowboarder was Canada's Johnny Lyall.

The Vice-Regal Salute was played, then the Canadian flag was carried in by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. "Oh Canada" was then sung by Montreal singer Nikki Yanofsky.

The Parade of Nations

Aboriginal people danced in the center of the stadium to welcome the athletes as the countries entered in the following order:

Greece

Albania, who had one athlete

Algeria, who had one athlete

Andorra

Argentina - no country in South America has never won a medal in the winter Olympics

Armenia - Armenia, as well as several other countries, has never won a winter medal

Australia - the flag bearer was snowboarder Torah Bright

Austria

Azerbaijan

Belarus

Belgium

Bermuda, who had one athlete

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Brazil

Bulgaria

Cayman Islands, who had one athlete, Dow Travers, attends Brown university in the United States

Chile

China

Colombia

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

North Korea

Denmark

Estonia

Ethiopia

Finland

Macedonia (they appeared here because their official name, as far as the Olympics goes, is the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia)

France

Georgia - the people in the delegation greeted them with a standing ovation. The Georgian team was very somber as they marched in. The background music even seemed to have a somber tone to it. The athletes wore black armbands, and the flag had a black ribbon hanging off of it.

Germany

Ghana, who had one athlete, the "Snow Leopard"

Great Britian

Hong Kong, who had one athlete

Hungary

Iceland, which has never won an Olympic winter medal, despite being covered in ice

India - although it is the second most populous country in the world, with more than a billion people living in the country, only three athletes are competing

Iran - flagbearer was Marjan Kalhor, the first woman to ever compete for Iran in a winter Olympics

Ireland

Israel

Italy

Jamaica

Japan

Kazakhstan

South Korea

Kyrgestan

Latvia

Lebanon

Liechtenstein

Lithuania - has never won a medal in the winter games since independence

Mexico - the game's oldest athlete at age 51, Prince Hubertus von Hohenlohe, is their only athlete

Moldova

Monaco

Mongolia

Montenegro

Morocco

Nepal

Netherlands

New Zealand

Norway

Pakistan, who had one athlete, and is competing for the first time

Peru

Poland

Portugal

Romania

Russia

San Marino

Senegal

Serbia

Slovakia

Slovenia

South Africa - has never won a winter Olympic medal

Spain

Sweden

Switzerland

Chinese Taipei

Tajikistan

Turkey - has never won an Olympic medal

Ukraine

United States

Uzbekistan

Canada - Never won a gold medal in a home Olympics. The Canadians are hoping to win a hockey gold.

After the athletes marched in, Nellie Furtado and Brian Adams sang "Bang Your Drum".

Cultural Section

The first segment of the cultural section was called "Hymns of the North". Snow fell indoors, and a man dressed in a white native American costume entered. Other people dressed in white entered, bundled in warm clothes. The man had a staff that he pounded on the floor with; the floor lit up in concentric circles, like rippling waves. Animals appeared in lights in the sky, representing constellations. A very large bear made of lights rose out of the floor. The Northern Lights seemed to be suspended from the ceiling. The audience used flashlights to simulate stars.

The second segment was called the "Spring Section". The simulated floor ice started to break up, and the floor became what looked like a huge Arctic sea. Simulated Orca whales seemed to swim across the floor, spouting up air as they swam. Shapes then conglomerated in the sea, resembling Native American interpretations of the whales. These symbols transformed into salmon, then rose out of the sky in what looked like totem poles. The totem poles then transformed into trees, and what was once Aurora Borealis then looked like tree tops. Sarah McGloughlin then sang "Ordinary Miracle" while dancers danced in what was now a forest.

The next segment was called "Rhythms of the Fall". A blue and white canoe came from the sky. In the canoe was a violin player that seemed to have horns, and his shadow seemed to appear on the moon. The violin player dueled with the shadowy violinist on the moon. Giant autumn leaves appeared on the floor. The violin player then floated up to the sky, and fiddlers appeared on the floor. Tap dancers in what appeared to be Scottish kilts, along with people in other costumes, joined them. A tap dancer, Brock Jellison, took center stage, and he was joined by tap dancers around the perimeter. Some of the tap dancer's feet appeared to be on fire.

The next segment was called "Who Has Seen the Winds". A boy (the actors name was Thomas Saulgrain) was standing in the middle of a small field of prairie grass. The wind started to blow, and the boy started to run; while running, he took off in flight. The Joni Mitchell song, "Both Sides, Now" played, as the boy flew and did cartwheels through the air.

The next segment was "Peaks of Endeavor". The floor became stormy, and what looked like Mountains, resembling the Rockies, seemed to descend to the floor. The peaks rose again, and skiers and snowboarders descended from the ceiling, as if they were sliding down the slopes. The mountains lit up with scenes of winter sports like snowboarding, figure skating, skiing, and bobsled; Sasha Cohen and Apolo Ohno were among the people in the video. Inline skaters started to skate around the mountain. The floor was lit up with streaks that resembled what you might see in time lapse photography of city traffic. The mountains then turned into the skyline of Vancouver. A slam poet, Shane Koyczan, recited a poem about Canada. As he spoke, people joined him on the floor. The floor lit up in red in the shape of a maple leaf.

Formalities

John Furlong, the CEO of VANOC, along with IOC president Jacques Rogge, appeared at the podium to officially start the games. Jaques Rogge spoke first, mentioning Nodar Kumaritashvili. John Furlong spoke next. He called the Olympic athletes the best ever. He introduced Jacques Rogge, who spoke to the people, then introduced Michaelle Jean, governor general of Canada, who officially opened the Olympic games.

The stadium then went dark. A song was called "Hallelujah" was sung by k.d. Lang. The spectators lit up their flashlights, and lights that resembled flashlights appeared on the floor. Towards the end of the song, it looked as if doves were flying off.

The Olympic flag entered the stadium. Some of the people carrying the flag were Donald Sutherland, Olympic figure skater Barbara Ann Scott-King (who won gold in ladies' figure skating in San Moritz in 1948), Anne Murray, astronaut Julie Payette, and Bobby Orr. Canadian Mounties took the flag. A Canadian Opera singer, Measha Brueggergosman, sang the Olympic hymn while the Olympic flag was raised. After the flags were raised, they were lowered to half mast in memory of Nodar Kumaritashvili. One minute of silence was observed in his memory.

Hayley Wickenheiser, a Canadian hockey player, said the Olympic oath. Michael Verrault, a short track speed skating referee, took the official's oath.

Lighting the Flame

It started snowing again, and the Olympic flame arrived. Eight-time medal winning Paralympian Rick Hansen took the flame in first, arriving in a wheelchair. Speed skater Catriona Lamay Doan took the flame next. Basketball player Steve Nash took the flame next, and handed the flame to Nancy Greene, a successful alpine skier from the 1968 Grenoble games. Wayne Gretzky was the final Olympian to receive the flame. There was a malfunction to one of the doors that was supposed to open to release the bases of the Olympic cauldron. Three of the four bases came out of the floor, but the fourth one did not. A center pedestal rose out of the middle containing the cauldron. The final four athletes lit the bases, and the flame rose up the bases to arrive at the center to light the cauldron. Fireworks went off afterwards.

Wayne Gretzky then trotted outside to light the outdoor cauldron, as the indoor flame could not be seen outside. Let the games begin.