Opening Ceremony!
Things I learned:
– Brazil has the largest population of Japanese descendants and prominent Lebanese and Syrian population
– The French and Brazilians recognize Brazil’s Alberto Santos-Dumont as the father of flight, having completed the first powered flight. This got a HUGE rise out of the crowd.
– Brazil acknowledges global warming exists as the environment is a recurring theme of the games.
– Greece’s Sofia Bekatorou (Sailing) is the first woman to carry the flag for Greece at an Opening Ceremony.
– Oreo is the official cookie of the games
– You can do some awesome things with lighting! Brazil’s budget for the Opening Ceremony was 20x less than Beijing.
Notable Outfits during the Parade of Nations:
– Aruba
– Volunteers wearing arrows on their shirts to guide athletes
– Belarus’s flag waver – Neil Patrick Harris, anyone?
– South Korea had special garments infused with insect repellent. However, they are wearing navy and I recall hearing that navy attracts mosquitos
– Greased up Tonga flag bearer?
– Brazil – I wish I could rock that hat. Or do I? No one was wearing theirs, which tells me it’s not practical for my thick hair.
Other great things:
– “Let’s look for similarities and celebrate differences.”
– Rosie waved the Canadian flag with major Canadian might
– Kosovo’s inaugural Olympic appearance
– South Sudan’s first time at the Games as a country. Their flag bearer, Guor Marial (marathoner), previously competed with the Independent team under the Olympic flag
– The Refugee Team – 10 athletes walking into the loudest cheers, living a dream, wanting to spread Hope
– Thomas Bach not shying away from the issues Brazil has had in recent times but reiterating that the IOC and the World has faith in them; not shying away from the turmoil the whole world is in, but promoting the spirit of the games, “In this Olympic world, we are all equal.”
– The final leg of the Torch relay, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. After much anticipation after learning it would not be Pele who would light the cauldron, Vanderlei De Lima climbed the final stairs to take the honour. You may remember the Athens games where a marathon runner was tackled by a protesting priest in the final 5km of the race. That was De Lima. He would get up with the help of spectators, finish the race in third place, and was also awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship.
COMPETITION TODAY:
Archery Ranking Round: There was no shooting of apples through a busy room of potential sponsors, but South Korea’s Kim Woo-jin set a World Record (achieving 700 points with 72 arrows, beating the previous record of 699 points). Note: South Korea dominates the sport.
Want to know more of the specifics? http://olympics.cbc.ca/…/rio-olympics-become-instant-expert…
With a world ranking of 20, Toronto’s Crispin Duenas is representing Canada. He’s a UofT grad who credits his success to being a perfectionist, and credits being a perfectionist to his (Asian) parents (late nights practicing piano, being enticed with $20 per perfect test – apparently I missed the memo and never cashed in). He will look for his inner Katniss on Aug 10 during the first knockout round for the Individual Competition (Canada does not have a Team entered, but South Korea will probably take it anyway as they demolished the competition in the team ranking round).
Tomorrow, lots of events start…
For the Canadians:
– Rugby Women’s 7s (p.s. we are awesome)
– Tennis – Bouchard, Pospisil
– Basketball – Women’s team
– Cycling – Men’s Road Race – BC’s Mike Woods (broke three bones in his left hand in April)
– Women’s Soccer – 2pm Canada vs. Zimbabwe
Photo Highlight: Obviously the flame and my attempt at the hypnotic metallic art that shimmers behind (look it up).