Opening Ceremony Reviews: And So, the Games Begin

What do you think of the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony? Spectacular, eh? The parade of nations went on and on and on but I don’t think we can blame anyone for that. I was planning to put up a poll to get your feedback on the opening ceremonies but Blogger went crappy once again and wouldn’t allow me to save the poll. Darn!

But here’s some media reviews on the opening ceremony:

The New York Times: Until now, the most memorable of the ceremonies I have seen was thrown by Sydney, where the Australian irreverent sense of humor and magnificent backdrop of a gorgeous city made it a terrific show.

But this one was mesmerizing on such a grand scale, with the meaning of this event to a huge, formerly closed country obvious in every minute.

And the culminating lighting of the cauldron was jaw-droppingly cool. In a word, wow.

Canadian Broadcasting Company: Well, the potential Greatest Olympics Of All Time are off to a fine start. The opening ceremony clocked in at just over four hours, but went off pretty much without a hitch, with some dazzling theatrics to boot. Here’s hoping we’re in for more of the same over the next 16 days. Let the Games begin!

The Vancouver Sun: But heat and hairy, sweaty men aside, it was an absolutely amazing experience, from the opening performance to the lighting of the torch. I’m thrilled to have seen it.

BBC: The 2008 Olympic Games were launched at a dazzling ceremony in Beijing, as athletes from more than 200 countries gathered in the Bird’s Nest stadium.

Drums, a light show and pyrotechnics began the four-hour ceremony – 29 sets of fireworks, representing each edition of the modern Games, lit up Beijing.

National Post: A pretty close to perfect Opening Ceremony that was remarkably free of bombast. It was probably better that we didn’t have any reminders of the more unsavoury moments in China’s recent history. It was pretty obvious from the start that money was no object to Games Organizers. I wonder how they’ll close off these Games in two weeks time. Also, just how will the London organizers come anywhere close to this is anyone’s guess.

Voice of America: China is known for its fireworks and what a display it was. Among the pyrotechnics interspersed throughout the ceremonies were 29 so-called “footprints” rising into the sky, to represent the 29 times the Olympic games have been held, and a huge finale.

The Edmonton Sun: If any future Olympic Games is ever credited with a more awesome, brilliant, inspired, powerful or original opening ceremonies it might have to be because everybody on the planet developed amnesia.

The spectacular show which China produced to welcome the world to the XXIX Olympic Games and welcome themselves to the world was almost certainly the greatest show in the history of the greatest show in sport.

Photo credit: National Post