The Olympic Games opening ceremony was spectacular, but also a little drawn out. Although we enjoyed the entertainment, nobody in our family managed to pay attention, or even stay in the room for the whole three hours.
The Olympic Games opening ceremony was spectacular, but also a little drawn out. Although we enjoyed the entertainment, nobody in our family managed to pay attention, or even stay in the room for the whole three hours.
The show was great, taking spectators through the ages is not a new idea by any means, but it was certainly well executed. Some parts of the show were a little unusual, for example a substantial chunk featured Britain’s National Health Service – what kind of a strange idea is that?
Sure, the Brits are proud of their NHS, but it is essentially just a government service. Can you imagine selling the concept to the Olympic Committee – “We’ll have a whole lot of nurses…. Yes, real nurses dancing around with children in their pajamas bouncing on trampolines that look like beds.”
Perhaps the next Games will highlight the role of their revenue service, or perhaps the water affairs department? They are important too, you know.
Of course everyone was keen to see the various delegations march into the stadium in their brand new uniforms. The role of the flag bearer immediately caught our attention, because there were a number of sports people who we recognised from non-Olympic events.
We then noticed how there appeared to be different criteria for selecting a representative to lead the team onto the field. One of the criteria, that really amazed us was that of height, it seemed as though quite a few countries thought that the parade was some sort of competition to see who had the tallest athletes.
China, a leader in the tall-is-good category always chooses basketball players to carry in their flag even though basket ball is not such a huge sport in China. Only days before the ceremony a senior member of the Chinese delegation promised that the flag bearer would be tall and handsome. He did not disappoint.
Other criteria employed in selecting the flag bearer clearly included the physical attractiveness (male and female) of the individual athlete, and the international recognition the athlete enjoyed coming into the Games.
Women’s Taekondo champion, Wiam Dislam who is striking and very tall was an obvious choice as the Moroccan flag bearer, but she is not well known outside her home country. It was of course an added bonus if a country had a prominent competitor who was tall and good looking – so no one was surprised when the tall and beautiful Maria Sharapova carried in the flag for Russia.
The flag bearer who was clearly having the most fun was Serbian tennis star, Novak Djokovic. In stark contrast to the many flag bearers who took their jobs very seriously, Djokovic looked relaxed as he joked and laughed with other members of his delegation and the audience.
The Swiss delegation was led by yet another tennis player, Stanislas Wawrinka and not by Roger Federer, the man who led the Swiss in the Beijing Olympics. It was reported that Federer was in fact offered the honour but he declined so that his friend and doubles partner Wawrinka could have an opportunity.
Rafael Nadal, yet another tennis player who was offered the honour of carrying his country’s flag was noticeably absent due to injury. His recurrent tendonitis of the knee is keeping him out of the games this year.
The Namibians chose someone who might be the shortest flag bearer of the whole parade, five foot two inch Gaby Ahrens who is a competitor in the shooting events.
