The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
The Winter Olympics opened last night with a spectacular ceremony in the Russian city of Sochi. There were 40,000 spectators in the stadium to welcome athletes from 87 nations. Our correspondent Norman Watson was there to witness it all.
SOCHI STEPPED confidently into the spotlight and welcomed the world last night as Russia launched its first Winter Olympics with a spectacular opening ceremony in the Fisht Stadium.
The Black Sea resort city took 40,000 spectators and an estimated global audience of three billion on a fantastic journey in time, through Russia’s past and into the future.
This trek across A rctic tundra, deserts and mountains, heat and cold, war and peace, nine time zones and 150 ethnicities, was taken by a little girl, Lubov, Russian for love, who represented the feminine soul of the country.
The girl’s dream world was supported not just by cables and harnesses, but by rock bands, indoor fireworks, an A -to-Z film of Russian achievements and probably the most outrageous show the world has ever witnessed.
Representations of galloping troika carriages, historical figures, a gigantic whale, an even bigger smoke-belching train, ships with cannons firing, and the magical appearance of a vast columned ballet set — it was ‘wow’all the way.
The music, including Borodin’s haunting Prince Igor, Khachaturian’s Sabre Dance, and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, was also on a grand scale, and demonstrated Russia’s cultural brilliance, but the most surreal moment was the appearance of the Ministry of Internal A ffairs’choir in full military uniform singing Daft Punk’s Get Lucky.
There was also an audible gasp when the lighting of the historic Olympic rings misfired, leaving only four instead of five shining brightly above the stadium.
President Putin and IOC dignitaries entered to the Russian national anthem, paving the way for the near-3000 athletes to emerge into the stadium from sunken ramps — with the British flag carried by speed skater and triple Olympian Jon Eley.
Games exist for these athletes and, by tomorrow, the focus will have switched from concerns over security, human rights and last-minute hitches to a celebration of action, with 98 medals to be won across seven sports and 15 disciplines.
A great cheer greeted Vladimir Putin’s declaration that Sochi’s Olympic Games were open. He had sold the vision to the IOC in 2007 — and had pulled it off. The Olympic flag was solemnly carried into the stadium by famous Russians from all walks of life, including Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
The Olympic hymn was sung by celebrated soprano A nna Netrebko, the Oaths taken. A fter visiting the North Pole and the International Space Station, the Olympic torch was carried in by Olympians, including tennis star Maria Sharapova, pole vaulter Elena Isinbaeva and all-timegreat figure skater Irina Rodnina.
To Stravinsky’s Firebirds Suite, the cauldron outside the stadium was lit by Rodnina and former ice hockey goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.
A leksandr Pakhomov, mayor of Sochi, said he was overcome with pride and excitement. He should be. He got a new city out of these Games.
His town moved mountains to stage the costliest Olympics in history.