Olympic Opening Ceremony

[Passion]

My 9 year old was aloo outraged by this oversight. And he decided that his favorite countries are the ones with 9 athletes so was upset that he might be missing out on some countries to root for.

Gen Alpha demands stats! lol

 

[arabiandoublefront]

I was at the Opening Ceremonies and even though I got drenched, I had a great time. I loved being able to point out the cultural references. I was also across from Notre Dame, so that was really awesome. I was teary-eyed at the beginning because it just felt so special.

 

[JaJa]

I was at the Opening Ceremonies and even though I got drenched, I had a great time. I loved being able to point out the cultural references. I was also across from Notre Dame, so that was really awesome. I was teary-eyed at the beginning because it just felt so special.

I am so glad that you are in Paris and having this wonderful experience!!!!!

 

[JDB]

IMO best parade of athletes ever. It must have been great from the athletes' perspective.

The ceremony was as campy as I expected.

 

[brg09]

Instead of cutting sports or number of athletes I suggest they cut out the parade. Just do the flag bearers. Flash a stream of photos of the athletes.

I think this is a FABULOUS idea, minus the stream of photos. Have only the flag bearers march in the parade and have the rest of the athletes in a section of the stands so they can say they were there. And/or, have a central meeting place in the Olympic Village where athletes can watch on a big screen and sort of semi-participate without having to leave the village. It must be SO time consuming and really puts the athletes participating in earlier events at a disadvantage if they want to be in the ceremony.

You think Marta would have allowed the gymnasts to have a croissant?

Also, she needs to put the social media away.

Ha, no. Marta was probably unhappy that there was any food at all at the Olympics.

And agreed about the social media. It's cute and entertaining but I hope she doesn't get distracted by it. And seeing how she still argues with people who don't like her, I'm not sure that's possible.

I spy a Nadia Comaneci. Yes, bring on the legends to carry the torch to the cauldron!

I love it!

Just watched Celine Dion's performance, it's great that she's able to sing, and I mean sing.

I normally find these ceremonies super tedious, but this plein air version around the Eiffel tower seems pretty cool. It captures the feeling of the place in a way that no stadium could. Seems like a real coup for the planners, but that's just based on the five minutes I watched, maybe it was actually a terrible idea, all told...

I love that idea. To be honest not all cities have a landmark that is THAT recognizable, you know? So for them to capitalize on that was really smart.

Fabulous dress too.

Yeeeeeeeesssss.

 

[makam]

If the athletes are parading while the cultural stuff is happening like this one, that was cool, it was all the other long boat rides that really dragged it down (and the Olympic anthem, geez, were they forced to make it longer than the us anthem? A 3 minute anthem that isn't catchy is a tragedy). If they had the horse starting sooner and the Nadal and crew handoff a little sooner or put one of the more interesting music interludes on at the same time...

Look, Barcelona won the torch lighting forever, Beijing won the pageantry, and I will declare Paris the current parade winner, so stop trying to outdo each time. I gotta think even NBC doesn't want a 5 hour opening ceremony for LA unless it is constant action.