After a very long time I watched an opening ceremony of a major sporting event. The event in question is the Winter Olympics being held at Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. And was it impressive or what. I forget now what the budget was but it was put to bloody good use.
What with some countless projectors, vivid images of the Canadian landscape were created right on the floor. It is just amazing what technology can do and you might be forgiven for thinking that the visuals were straight out of AVATAR 3D. From the icy north and maple leaf laden grounds, to the prairies and rocky mountains, the depictions were so real and breathtakingly beautiful. Also a "bear" completely made of LEDs was lowered from the ceiling that represented the Ursa Major constellation I think. Unbelievable ! Do try to catch the opening carnival on youtube. I assure you, if you appreciate creativity then you will immensely enjoy this ceremony.
However it was a sombre beginning to the Olympics as one athlete from Georgia had fatally crashed in luge practice. After researching what exactly is Luge(see here), I shuddered to think what might have gone wrong. Luge is basically a sled, where the athlete kind of steers with his leg on a specially engineered track having am obvious gravity based gradient. Professional speeds can reach up to a dizzying 100 mph.
On recreational levels though, the tracks are designed so that the speed hardly crosses 30mph. After trying snowboarding 2 weeks ago, trying luge is also beginning to play on my jobless, adventure- starved mind. If I try the sport, I will let you know how it went, although do not discard a 2 week absence, since I might be hanging around a pillar, my body having flown in one direction and the luge sled in another.
Coming back to the Olympics, I was surprised to find that India has three athletes in its contingent(for comparison sake, Pakistan has one). Even by my optimistic standards though, we are going to struggle to compete with the Europeans who live in naturally cold countries and have world class winter sports facilities to match. But Good Luck to India for showing the grit to contend in a world class event. In a country where cricket rules the roost, and other sports are "commercially" avoided like the plague, our athletes are shining examples for showcasing the country's sporting aptitude.
What with some countless projectors, vivid images of the Canadian landscape were created right on the floor. It is just amazing what technology can do and you might be forgiven for thinking that the visuals were straight out of AVATAR 3D. From the icy north and maple leaf laden grounds, to the prairies and rocky mountains, the depictions were so real and breathtakingly beautiful. Also a "bear" completely made of LEDs was lowered from the ceiling that represented the Ursa Major constellation I think. Unbelievable ! Do try to catch the opening carnival on youtube. I assure you, if you appreciate creativity then you will immensely enjoy this ceremony.
However it was a sombre beginning to the Olympics as one athlete from Georgia had fatally crashed in luge practice. After researching what exactly is Luge(see here), I shuddered to think what might have gone wrong. Luge is basically a sled, where the athlete kind of steers with his leg on a specially engineered track having am obvious gravity based gradient. Professional speeds can reach up to a dizzying 100 mph.
On recreational levels though, the tracks are designed so that the speed hardly crosses 30mph. After trying snowboarding 2 weeks ago, trying luge is also beginning to play on my jobless, adventure- starved mind. If I try the sport, I will let you know how it went, although do not discard a 2 week absence, since I might be hanging around a pillar, my body having flown in one direction and the luge sled in another.
Coming back to the Olympics, I was surprised to find that India has three athletes in its contingent(for comparison sake, Pakistan has one). Even by my optimistic standards though, we are going to struggle to compete with the Europeans who live in naturally cold countries and have world class winter sports facilities to match. But Good Luck to India for showing the grit to contend in a world class event. In a country where cricket rules the roost, and other sports are "commercially" avoided like the plague, our athletes are shining examples for showcasing the country's sporting aptitude.
