photo courtesy of NBC News
Staff Writer
If you tuned in to watch the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, you may have seen NBC’s version of the World Factbook instead. The opening ceremony featured the proud tradition of the athletes as they marched into Fisht Stadium as one country. Some might view this as beautiful pageantry, while others may have found it boring and repetitive. For those of you who found it boring, how about Team USA’s sweaters, right?
The geography lesson started with a place that’s not only landlocked, but Italy-locked as well. San Marino has only 32,448 people and just one Olympian. Buccaneer Archipelago, a group of 800 small islands northwest of Australia, boasts a mere 1.4 million people. Their one Olympian, Yohan Goutt Goncalves chose the one sport his native dialect didn’t have a word for – “Men’s slalom skiing”. Finally came Tonga, an archipelago about halfway in between Hawaii and New Zealand. This is the home to Fuahea Semi also known as Bruno Banani. Why? He is the Chad Ochocinco of Tonga and changed his name in an elaborate marketing ploy.
The Americans came out to mostly cheers, but there were also some boos directed at the sweaters. We got to see the giddy wonderment on the faces of all the athletes, many of whom have already experienced the worldwide notoriety of previous Games. Flag bearer Todd Lodwick will be competing in his sixth Olympics, and even he was immensely excited to be there. Many of America’s most famous winter athletes were featured, including Shaun White and figure skating teenager Gracie Gold. Also spotted was Heidi Kloser, who had a bad fall in a training run yesterday.
The pageantry and interpretive dance are finished for now, thus the athletes can get back to the snow and ice. Saturday’s primetime action features both the Semis and Finals in the Men’s Slopestyle. The US Women’s hockey squad wwill square off with Finland in an early qualifier. Speed skating and Ski Jump get underway as well; both have a high likelihood of spectacular falls and crashes. Several new team skating events will heat up the ice; Ice Dancing, Ladies Short Program, and the Team Free Skate are but three new completions added to the Winter Olympics. These events will be prominently shown in the primetime slot and of course the Americans will try to close the gap to the gold. The first day of major competition should get everyone in the Olympic spirit.
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