Uneventful ceremony lacks big moment
When the giant electronic map opened on the floor of Fisht Stadium in Sochi, it felt briefly like that moment in an action movie when the evil villain discloses his carefully rehearsed and prop-supported master plan to conquer the world.
It wouldn’t have been a significant departure from the tone of the advent to these Games. While James Bond figured prominently in the last Olympic opening ceremony, Vladimir Putin was the first person introduced at this one; few individuals have cast a bigger shadow over any Olympics since 1936.
Fortunately, Putin kept any plans he had to himself and he avoided the temptation to outdo Queen Elizabeth by parachuting into the stadium shirtless with a leopard in his arms. Instead we were treated to a fairly typical Olympic kickoff: a few Wikipedia facts about each nation, a long speech about the spirit of competition and an extravagant infomercial about the sanitized history of the host nation and its contributions to world culture.
You know you’re watching the Sochi opening ceremonies when Ron MacLean is capsulizing Tolstoy for you. Let’s just say Russian literature doesn’t often come up during Coach’s Corner.
Yes, there were glitches and surprises: one of the five snowflakes that didn’t open into an Olympic ring (I thought it was winking cheekily) and the Olympic cauldron looks frighteningly similar to the leaning tower over the Olympic Stadium in Montreal.
But otherwise the ceremony was rather uneventful. There wasn’t a big moment, like the snowboarder flying through the fiery rings in Vancouver or the archer lighting the flame in Barcelona. You heard inflation was high in Russia? I guess that’s what 1.5 trillion rubles buys you these days.
But no amount of pyrotechnics or theatre can eclipse the faces of the athletes, especially that of Canadian flag-bearer Hayley Wickenheiser. And while there continue to be security and human rights concerns about Russia, now is the time to set them aside.
The opening ceremony is less a blend of politics and sport than a welcome transition from one to the other. For months, even years, it’s been about everything but the athletes. So let Putin and his policies fade into the background and let the competition begin.