The Olympic Opening Ceremony was last night and if you didn’t watch you missed a joyous if a bit somber celebration. The festivities were dedicated to 21-year-old Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili who died during a training run yesterday. His death cast somewhat of a pall over the event but the crowd of over 60,000 did its part to honor the fallen athlete with a moment of silence and roaring ovation for the Georgian delegation, who entered the stadium wearing black arm bands.
But the show had to go on. And it did with Royal Canadian Mounted Police, giant ice sculpture totem polls, some energetic dancing from the First Nations people and an enormous LED-covered spirit bear. O Canada! The whole event built up to the lighting of the Olympic torch and the resolution to the mystery of who the hell would do it. And the winner was…Wayne Gretzky, of course.
