2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

[Jonathan]

At long last the Vancouver Winter Olympics are here! How many besides me are excited about the days to come?

I'll especially look forward to the ice-hockey and alpine skiing. The other skiing events and figure skating will be great to watch as well.

The inauguration was spectacular, one of the best I've seen! Did anyone watch it? It started out good with a cool entrance of a snowboarder jumping through one of the Olympic rings. Then entered the Mounted Police and hoisted the Maple Leaf to the absolutely beautiful tones of Oh Canada! Four giant totem poles of ice were then raised and the indigenous people exhibited themselves and their cool clothes. Even a non-Canadian would have a hard time keeping a dry eye in the midst of this flood of pride and patriotism

The national teams were presented. The Georgian team received a heart-warming applause of sympathy for the luge competitor that died during training the same day. The Canadian team made a grandiose entry, but the best stuff was saved till after the presentations...

Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado performed a lovely duet, after which a huge preternatural "white" black bear emerged from the icy ground. It rose high above the performance artists in the arena, and there were snow and northern lights.
Suddenly the ice sheet cracked open, revealing a sea underneath. The dancers saved themselves upon flakes of ice and floated away. And wow, killer whales appeared swimming in the sea!

Leonard Cohen performed, as did Sarah McLachlan. Later, a violinist descended from the sky, casting a shadow with a life of its own, on a big crimson moon behind him. Maple leaves started to fall from the sky, raining over the dancers in the arena. The very highlight of the inauguration imo, was the jolly good atmosphere created by the wonderful medley of violin music and tap dancing. Kudos to the organisers!

Things calmed down again when a guy came running and flying through fields of rye. Then a huge snow-covered mountain appeared in the middle of the arena, skiers and snowboarders making their way up and down its peak. Red-clad ice skaters (well, rollerbladers actually) circulated the base of the mountain.

Hockey legend Wayne Gretzky was the last to be handed the Olympic torch. There was apparently some mechanical glitch with the actual lighting of the Olympic fire. But well, it lit nicely anyway

Astonishing stuff, Vancouver! * * *