XXI Winter Olympic Games: Vancouver, Canada: Closing Ceremony

Well the Winter Olympics have come to an end and the world says farewell to Vancouver and the Canadians and hello to Sochi and the Russians. There were many highlights, numerous stories, records broken, personal bests, Olympic firsts - everything that makes up an Olympics. I have enjoyed the games, even though I was far away from Vancouver. The positive feeling I have for the Olympics is still strong and will continue until the next time the world comes out to play.

Closing Ceremony at BC Place.

The malfunctioning fourth arm of the Olympic Cauldron rises - Ha ha!
Catriona Le May Doan (gold medal speedskater at the Salt Lake games) lights the fourth arm and the whole torch is relighted.

The band Inward Eye performs while "snowboarders" dance and sing "Ohhh Vancouuu...ver" around the lighted cauldron and a countdown to one...voila, confetti!!

The four Chiefs of the First Nations, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and Jacques Rogge of the IOC are introduced.

Singing "O Canada " while the snowboarders form a maple leaf.

Flag bearers enter - Bill Demong US Flag Bearer and Joannie Rochette Canada Flag Bearer.

Introduction of the Olympic Athletes. Athletes enter informally - eventually mingling with each other without regard to country when they sit in the stands.

The athletes tribute song "Let's Have A Party" sung by Nikki Yanofsky, Derek Miller, and Eva Avila.

Presentation of medals for the Men's 50KM Cross-Country Skiing - Norway(Gold), Germany (Silver), Sweden (Bronze)
Norway's National Anthem "Yes, We Love This Country".

In the traditional tribute to Greece, there was the raising of the Greek flag and the singing of the Greek National Anthem by Ariana Chris.

Ben Hepner sings the Olympic Hymn while the Olympic Flag is taken down by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Olympic Flag handed over to the IOC - Jacques Rogge then hands over the flag to the mayor of Sochi, Russia. Then the Russian National Anthem is sung by the Moscow State Academic Chamber Choir while the Russian flag is raised.

Sochi presentation - cultural icons, science, innovation, Red Square, symphony orchestra, ballet dancers, ice dancers, Maria Guleghina on a troika, fireworks! Russian Olympic athletes.

John Furlong speaks and then introduces Jacques Rogge, IOC President, who speaks and declares the XXI Winter Olympic Games closed and requests the athletes to gather in four years in Sochi, Russia for the XXII Winter Olympic Games.

Neil Young sings "Long May You Run" alone on the stadium floor, near the Olympic Cauldron as the flame is extinguished. The arms of the cauldron retract into the stadium floor - all four of them.

Canadians speaks about what Canada means to them - William Shatner, Catherine O'Hara, and Michael J. Fox. Michael Buble sings "The Maple Leaf Forever".

Made in Canada parade - mounted police, hockey as table top hockey, maple leaves, canoes, beaver, moose.

Athletes on the stadium floor.

Nickelback performs "Burn it to the Ground".

Avril Lavigne performs two songs "My Happy Ending" and "Girlfriend".

Alanis Morissette sings "Princes Familiar".

The group from Montreal, Simple Plan sings "Your Love Is A Lie".

Hedley performs "Cha-Ching".

Marie-Mai sings in French.

Fireworks, Fireworks, Fireworks!!!

Farewell and Thank You Canada!!

Olympic Cauldron from the website en.wikipedia.org

O Canada!

It was La Morte Subite/Sudden Death for Canada and the United States in the last medal event of the XXI Winter Olympic Games. The sport of ice hockey means everything to the Canadians and in this very successful Olympics for them, they were not denied. It took three regulation periods and almost eight minutes into overtime for Canada to emerge as the Gold medal winner of Men's Ice Hockey by a score of three to two. A triumphant end for the host of these winter games.

An interesting Note: There was symmetry in the medalists for both Women's and Men's Ice Hockey - the Gold medal winner was Canada, the Silver medal winner was the United States, and the Bronze medal winner was Finland.

From beginning this Olympics without having won a gold medal in the two previous Olympics they hosted, Canada ends up winning the most gold medals, fourteen, in this one, the majority part of their twenty-six medal total. What a change of fortune! The United States ends up with the most total medals, thirty-seven. Out of the eighty-two participating countries, twenty-four end up being Olympic winners. It was a good Olympics Canada.

Canada Flag from the website en.wikipedia.org

Red Sox Nation

Today my Red Sox Nation 2010 membership materials arrived - wallet-sized card, blue Red Sox hat, Red Sox Nation decal, and Boston Red Sox 2010 regular season schedule. Happiness is presents in the mailbox. Baseball season approaches and it's time to prepare! The Red Sox pitchers and catchers are in Fort Myers, Florida for Spring Training camp, with the other players to arrive over the next week. And I will resume Red Sox Box in two weeks, in time for the Spring Training games. Hope to revise and add some elements to the blog this season. Everything in evolution. Evolution is everything. I am excited for baseball to begin and for the Boston Red Sox to evolve into World Champions in 2010. Yes, Spring is on the horizon and with its arrival baseball is not far behind.


Image is of my membership Red Sox Nation 2010 decal.

Happy Valentine's Day Canada! GOLD!!!

The perfect Valentine's gift was given to the nation of Canada today by Alexandre Bilodeau. In the previous two times that Canada has hosted the Olympics - 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary - no gold medals were won by the Canadian athletes. However today Canadian Freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau won the Men's Moguls and ended Canada's Olympic hosting anguish. Congratulations Canada!

Alexandre Bilodeau photo from Vancouver2010 website.

XXI Winter Olympic Games: Vancouver, Canada: Opening Ceremony

Unfortunately, I am not in attendance at the Winter Olympics and so will enjoy the Opening Ceremony from the comfort of my home. Of course being in Vancouver would be better, but attending an Olympics will still need to remain a goal. As usual, I am excited for the games to begin and the unexpected stories to emerge. And surely my Olympic spirit was reinforced earlier today when I received an Olympic Commemorative pin, courtesy of Vons. Nice surprise!

"Tonight's Ceremony is dedicated to the memory of Georgian Olympic athlete Nodar Kumaritashvili"

Opening Ceremony begins with the film of a snowboarder starting down a mountain with the simultaneous "countdown" of the previous Winter Olympic Games leading to Vancouver 2010 and the actual snowboarder ends his ride in BC Place.

Singing of Canadian national anthem, "O Canada".

Welcome by the four Chiefs of the First Nations, who are from the surrounding Vancouver area, while ice sculpture totems rise up from the stadium floor. Presentation of all aboriginal groups from the Northwest, prairies, and Eastern areas of Canada. The Aborigines welcome the Olympic athletes in the name of all Canadians.

Parade of Nations - eighty-two participating countries. Indigenous people dance during the parade.

Snowing inside the covered stadium! Song of welcome for the athletes, "Bang Your Drum", sung by Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado.

Hymn to the North. Aboriginal constellations light up around the stadium. Ice sculpture of the Great Bear constellation rises from the floor. Then the "ice" floor breaks up. The "ocean" and "whales" appear and then "salmon" ascends and transforms into totem poles which then transform into trees. Sarah McLachlan sings "Ordinary Miracle". Dancers among the trees.

Rhythms of the Fall. Tribute to Quebec whose colors are blue and white. Fiddler in a witched canoe. Then many fiddlers and tap dancers. Maple leaves falling to the floor. Then a single male tap dancer becomes many more tap dancers and return of the fiddlers.

Who has seen the Wind? Tribute to the Canadian prairies. Joni Mitchell's song "Both Sides Now". Man on "prairie" lifted up on wires, flies and acrobatically tumbles above the stadium.

Peaks of Endeavor. Tribute to Western Canada and the Rockies. Mountain and snowboarders and skiers and ice skaters below. Transforms into a tribute to Vancouver.

Slam Poetry by Shane Koyczen on defining Canada.

Official Speakers - John Furlong. Jacques Rogge, Michaëlle Jean - she officially opened the games.

k.d. lang sang "Hallelujah", written by Leonard Cohen.

Olympic Flag enters stadium carried by Donald Sutherland, Betty Fox, Jacques Villeneuve, Barbara Ann Scott, Anne Murray, Roméo Dallaire, Bobby Orr (I didn't realize he's Canadian!), and Julie Payette.

Olympic Hymn sung by opera singer Measha Brueggergosman.

One minute of silence in remembrance of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.

Olympic Oaths - sworn by Hayley Wickenheiser for the athletes (in English) and by Michel Verrault for the officials (in French)

Rick Hansen enters stadium with Olympic torch and lights the torch of Catriona Le May Doan, and she lights Steve Nash, and he lights Nancy Greene, and she lights Wayne Gretzky.

Although only three of the four chutes to light the Olympic cauldron rose up from the stadium floor, the Olympic cauldron is lit, the Opening Ceremony is over, and the games can begin!

The first story of these Olympics is a tragic one. This morning, on a practice run, twenty-one year old luger Nodar Kumaritashvili lost his life after crashing his sled and being thrown into a steel pole. He was part of the Georgia delegation. Despite their sorrow, the Georgian delegation marched in the Opening Ceremony and received a standing ovation from the spectators. They will continue to participate in the Games. May this be the only tragedy of the Winter Olympics.

XXI Winter Olympics logo from Wikipedia.