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By GERRY CARPIO
The Philippine Star
BEIJING – Heads of nations and the living legends of every sport from 205 countries gather in a night of history Friday to witness what is chronicled as the grandest opening rites of the greatest show on earth at the national stadium here.
President Arroyo will be among dignitaries at the VIP section of the 91,000 seat futuristic Bird’s Nest, along with US President George Bush, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and a host of world leaders who are setting aside political debates and intrigues in the spirit of the Olympic Truce to join China’s worldwide invitation to its theme “One World, One Dream”.
The Chief Executive arrived Thursday night from her trip in the Chengdu City of Sichuan, a province devastated and virtually leveled to the ground by a killer earthquake three months before the Games.
The ceremony will start at 8 p.m. as scheduled and weather forecasters say it will go on uninterrupted for three and a half hours, as they don’t see heavy rainfall Friday evening.
The one-hour main performance, billed as the greatest Olympic presentation ever, is divided in two parts, intervened by a Chinese scroll painting.
Using creative concepts blending Oriental Art, an awesome display of Chinese aerial acrobatics and pyrotechnics from a country that invented the fireworks will present the long and proud history of a nation that has risen into a world power from the time the Yellow Emperor united the warring tribes of China 5,000 years ago.
The countdown to the Games will be heard from the droll of giant Chinese drums of antiquity – called fou – dying down as Chinese president Hu Jintao officially declares “Let the Games Begin”amid an expected explosion of fireworks unseen in past Olympics.
A Korean TV crew almost succeeded in spoiling Friday’s party by making public in advance two weeks ago what has been a tightly-guarded secret since the concept was hatched by world-renowned director Zhang Heping three years back. But organizers say the leaked segment of the presentation by a cast of 15,000 was only a part of the spectacle.
West End star Sarah Brightman and Liu Huan, China’s most versatile singer, will regale the audience and four billion TV viewers worldwide toward the end of the opening ceremony.
The three-and-a-half hour gala will begin with the beating of the ancient Chinese drum and will be followed with the display of the Olympic rings and the Chinese national flag.
The parade will see a Chinese twist in the order of the teams. Countries will be arranged according to the number of strokes it takes to write their names in Chinese, and it will be in ascending order, unlike in past Olympics where nations’ marchpast was in alphabetical sequence.
The Philippines will be represented by a 40-man delegation led by boxing champion Manny Pacquiao, who was expected to arrive Thursday night from Manila. In front of them, as they march and turn their heads to the grandstand, their President will be waving her hands in a final expression of encouragement: “Good luck play well and play to win.”
I think this is a very exciting thing to watch for the days to come, with all the disaster and problems we're having in the world, just for one day, the whole world can be at peace and develop friendships with other countries with a competitive but friendly exhibition games in the Olympics. The Olympics was made to bring the world together by a common goal. It's what we all work hard for.
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5 comments:
I'm very excited as to how things will go. I'm not rooting for anybody here. Well, maybe a bit for the motherland but who cares who wins? It's fun among nations.
let's hope that nothing bad would happen on the very day. Tibets, fighting for their right. People agains china. cause Its a little bit complicated nowadays.
the beijing olympics is rather exciting knowing the fact that it is happenning on a very special day. since there are a lot of wealthy and powerful people coming to China, it is very important for the Chinese authorities to be on their highest alert because there have been reports wherein the Tibet tribes are protesting. this may affect the peacefulness of the Olympics since the government of China are having their own internal conflict. let's just hope it would all turn out smoothly and have a peaceful Olympic '08.
Since the Olympics happens once every four years, it is e\very evindent that a remarkable celebration will proceed in the opening ceremony.
Hopefully, the ending ceremony will be just as elegant and peaceful as the opening. It would be a great relief if all nations are at peace with one another.
finally! something to look forward to!
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