It’s here again! Every four years, ever since I was a child, I have eagerly awaited this event.
It was awesome! It was sheer bliss to be at the Bird’s Nest stadium right here in my living room. I was mesmerised by the opening ceremony of the 29th Olympic Games which commenced at 8.08 08sec on 08.08.08. Malaysia shared the momentous timing being in the same time zone. With its theme ‘harmony’ breathtaking performances depicting events from across the centuries of rich Chinese history and civilisation ‘unscrolled’ on to the centre stage and was so captivating!
The performances were interspersed with dazzling displays of fireworks. One of China’s four major inventions is gunpowder which is also used to make fireworks. The other inventions – the art of paper making, printing and the compass were also artistically woven into the stage choreography.
It was reported that eighty world leaders including US President George Bush, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, Nikolas Sarcozy and HRH the Yang di Pertuan Agong of Malaysia were among the 91,000 people in the audience, while another 3 billion from around the world viewed from their homes.
The march past by athletes was led by Greece, honoured for being the birthplace of the modern Olympics. I was excited on seeing the Malaysian contingent led by Azizul Hasni Awang entering the Stadium. The Swiss contingent’s flagbearer was my favourite tennis star Roger Federer.
Few are aware that an athlete who is a disabled person is taking part in this Olympics. Natalie du Toit, a 24-year old swimmer from South Africa who is an amputee will be competing with able-bodied athletes in the 10km open water event. She was given the honour to be the flag bearer for her country. She will later participate in six events in the Paralympics too, from 6-17th September.
The Olympic Flag was carried by eight retired Chinese athletes and coaches, four of them women, of whom one was of Tibetan descent.
Eight torchbearers, all Olympic champions from China took turns during the last leg, after torch had travelled some 137,000 km through six continents over 129 days passing through 21 cities (including Kuala Lumpur). The climax of the ceremony, was ingeniously executed as the last torchbearer, ex-gymnast Li Ning was airlifted to ‘fly’ half-way around the stadium, with visuals of all other torchbearers trailing, to finally set ablaze the cauldron.
For the next 16 days I will feast with the Olympics.
But on a sad note, I dearly miss my neighbour Maraiah Naidu this time around. He was a noted Malaysian sportsman in the 1970s who had represented the country in the 400 metres in the Asian Games (1978),SEAP Games (1975) and SEA Games (1977). He then went on to mountain climbing, and did the Kala Pattar in the Himalayas in 1984. He made it a point to attend the 1988 Seoul and 2000 Sydney Olympics. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2002, but although still under treatment, he managed to attend the Athens Olympics in 2004. He told me “I cannot miss this one, it is just too special”. He came back feeling satisfied having achieved his dream. He passed away in June 2006.
