Rest In Peace, young man.

First, I want to convey how horrified I was to watch the tragic death of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili.  The sound made when he hit that metal pillar is chilling, and there can be no doubt that the incident cast a shadow on a day otherwise filled with joy, magnificence and anticipation.  My thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his teammates and his country.

I’ll let the pontifications on the safety of the track design and the risk profile of the sport be offered by experts that are far more informed about such things than I.  I will offer this question though, which has burdened me since I saw the footage of the accident:  how can metal posts like that be left uncovered with a sport that sends an athlete down an ice track at over 150 kilometres per hour?

But alas, the sombre mood from Kumaritashvili’s untimely passing was met in the evening with an outpouring of emotion on the other end of the spectrum for the most anticipated event that this city has ever seen.

BC Place was truly transformed last night.

As readers of this website are aware, I have been down on the opening ceremonies for many months now based on my deep skepticism of BC Place as an appropriate venue.

Well, the to the producers, the performers, and all of the technical people behind last night’s spectacle, let me offer a mea culpa.

I was wrong – these were one of the most touching and charming opening ceremonies I can remember in my decade and a half of watching the Winter Olympics.  I will, however, not offer any such admission about the stadium, which is well past its best before date…with or without a new roof.

They were Canadian in so many ways.

Understated…inclusive…beautiful…friendly…colourful…and full of substance.

The entrance of the Canadian team was a moment that I will not soon forget.  I was inspired, I was happy, and I was so proud.  Their enthusiasm, and the love of the crowd, made the presence final country to come out of the athletes’ parade the definition of glory.

In spite of Pete McMartin’s disdain for the way Nikki Yanofsky sang the national anthem, I thought that it was a beautiful and elegant, although never as hair-raising as this version, which will always be my favourite rendition of all time and consistently brings tears to my eyes.

The aboriginal inclusion and prominence was absolutely amazing…it was a fitting tribute to the four host nations, and I was proud of the fact that no other country has ever included their indigenous peoples so holistically.  I hearken back to the Sydney Opening ceremonies, and note that even with Austrailia being a country with such a rich aboriginal tradition, their segment entitled “Awakening” which recognized their founding population couldn’t hold a candle to last night.

The way they turned the stadium floor into a screen that displayed our majestic killer whales, our once abundant (yet now floundering) salmon, or our golden Prairie wheat was breathtaking on camera.

The totem poles – however phallic – were stunning.

Donald Sutherland’s voice was haunting, and the stillness of his delivery of the words of such monumental figures in Canadian history gave the ceremony a tranquility like few others could have pulled off (that is why his voice has now become the most marketable since the likes of James Earl Jones).

I loved the Brian Adams and Nelly Furtado song…catchy, uplifting, and their voices meshed so very well.

The fiddlers showed off the Eastern and the Atlantic provinces off well, although the Western influence was missing.

I would have liked to have shown off a little more of our Fracophone heritage and some more multicultural aspects of our country, but you can only do so much.

But the most impactful moment for me by far was the delivery of the “We Are More” speech by spoken word artist Shane Koyczan.  Unlike McMartin, I didn’t get the press release from his publicist beforehand, making his words magical to me.

I am desperately going to try and track down the text and post it on this website, but here is an excerpt that I loved:

“”What defines Canadians is something as simple as ‘please and thank you.’ We’re an experiment that’s gone right for a change. And yes, we say zed, not zee. The true north strong and free. The thing is, we didn’t just say it. We made it be.”

And with that final closing, the event organizers made it be…and it was grand.

I was pleased, I am proud, and I am ready to see us kick some serious ass in the competitions to come over the next 16 days.

Oh, and one last note – I think that Gretzky was a truly fitting torch bearer, although the long and drawn out drive to the outdoor cauldron, while exciting for those on the streets, was a little too long for my liking from a television viewer’s perspective.

And now, it is off to a downtown full of sunshine and international visitors to experience the city for everything that it has to offer (with the exception of snow or anything close to approaching the typical aspects of “winter”).

Back on Monday, folks, with hopefully some medal victories to report on.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.