Sports Bulletin Report
ISLAMABAD:-The biggest spectacle of all Olympic Games, Summer or Winter, is the Opening Ceremony. On Friday, Beijing’s National Stadium became the first venue to host the event at both a Summer and Winter Olympics, having previously done the same in 2008.
Designed by Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, the stadium is colloquially known as the Bird’s Nest due to its exterior appearance. It is also just a stone’s throw from the National Indoor Stadium, which is one of two ice hockey venues for these Games and will host the men’s gold medal game on the final Sunday, 16 days from now, just prior to the Closing Ceremony.
As was the case in 2008, the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics was directed by renowned Chinese film director Zhang Yimou. It began with a pre-show titled “Together for a Shared Future”, which is also the slogan for these Games. That was followed by a video message from the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, and then the introductions of Xi Jinping, President of the Peoples’ Republic of China and Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee, the raising of the national flag of the host nation and the playing of its national anthem.
As the name suggests, the Opening Ceremony is the ceremonial opening of the Games, although in practice, many events start before. This year, women’s ice hockey began on Thursday with four games, followed by two more on Friday afternoon.
A staple of the Opening Ceremony is the Parade of Athletes, which were initiated here in Beijing by six hockey players in glowing costumes passing and firing a video-mapped puck at the entrance tunnel, with appropriate hockey-rink sound effects.
A total of 91 countries are participating in these Games, starting as always with Greece, the home of the ancient Olympics, and finishing with the host country, China. Size of national delegations ranged from the 222 athletes from the United States to 18 nations that have each sent only one. Of those 91 nations, 13 contain teams of hockey players – nine both men’s and women’s teams, three with only men’s teams and one – Japan – with just a women’s. Of the 13, one is sending hockey players for the first time and that’s Denmark, whose men’s and women’s teams each qualified for the first time.
All nations were led around the field level of the Bird’s Nest by two flag-bearers, provided they had both male and female athletes present. Amazingly, of the 13 hockey nations involved, a record nine chose hockey players as flag bearers – six men and three women. Among them were Lauris Darzins (Latvia), Valtteri Filppula (Finland), Alena Mills (Czechia), Frans Nielsen (Denmark), Marie-Philip Poulin (Canada), Emma Nordin (Sweden), Andres Ambuhl (Switzerland), Vadim Shipachyov (ROC) and Marek Hrivik (Slovakia).
After the Parade, the athletes took their seats in the stadium and were treated to various artistic presentations with themes of winter, sports and peace. As local time approached 22:00 and the early February temperature dipped lower, President Xi declared the Games open and six Chinese former Olympic and world champions of various winter sports presented the Olympic flag to be raised next to the Chinese one.
Finally, seven more Chinese athletes born in six different decades acted as the final torchbearers, lighting the Olympic cauldron a short distance from the stadium. With the Opening Ceremony finished and the Games officially on, most of the women’s hockey players who were in attendance will be back in action on Saturday, with four games scheduled. (Thanks to Derek O'Brien)
