Let the Games Begin

A few hours ago in London, Queen Elizabeth declared the games of the 30th Olympiad officially open. And I was privileged enough to have a bird's eye view of the ceremonies from the comfort of my living room sofa. (That's unlike Americans who had to wait until prime time to view their edited version of the events. Yet another time I'm grateful to be Canadian!) Though I wasn't enamoured with every single segment, overall I felt it was nicely done and reflected the values and culture of the country fairly well.

The show opened with a video of the Thames, rushing onward from its source to London (if you looked closely enough - and knew the cultural reference - you could see the characters from "The Wind in the Willows" at one point). Then it had a segment of early, pastoral England: green fields and Maypoles, animals, rural agriculture etc. This was interspersed with children's choirs from the four countries that make up the U.K. singing traditional songs and hymns including "Jerusalem" and "Danny Boy". I think that was probably my favourite part of the whole ceremonies, actually; it just seemed so simple and sweet.

Then there was a quote from "The Tempest" read (very well) by Sir Kenneth Branagh and we moved into the industrial revolution where workers "forged" one of the Olympic rings. It was supposed to show the pandemonium of the time ... and it accomplished that quite well too. There was also a good segment lauding the National Health Care service (like our Medicare) and in particular the Great Ormond Street Hospital. J. K. Rowling read an excerpt from Peter Pan, and a host of Mary Poppins swept in to shoo nightmarish characters away from the children.

A couple of lighthearted segments had the Queen and James Bond (well, doubles thereof) parachuting in from a helicopter, and Mr. Bean playing along with the orchestra to the "Chariots of Fire" theme song ... all the while imagining himself as victor of the race.

Then there was a fairly long segment featuring popular music from the past forty or so years. The dancers, particularly the lead girl, were good, but I didn't recognise - or like - much of the music. In fact the Eurhythmics "Sweet Dreams" was about all I knew and even Dan, who's way more into music, didn't know a lot of it either.

Of course there was the lengthy parade of athletes, a few brief speeches, the raising of the flag, the lighting of the torch - cleverly made up of metal "petals" carried in with each country's entry (along with flags "planted" in the green hill, which I thought was a nice touch too) - and the athletes', coaches' and judges' oaths. Paul McCartney's "Hey Jude" and some fireworks capped the evening.

And that was that: a nice ceremony - perhaps not as spectacular as some but well done on a budget and with lots of volunteer heart and spirit. I was a little surprised there weren't more celebrity appearances, and I was sort of disappointed there wasn't a catchy theme song like our "Believe" but it was a fine opening for what I hope are two wonderful weeks of athletic prowess and good times.