China stamp cultural mark on the opening ceremony...its all in the details!
Fri 8th August, 2008
By Matt Moore
Okay so I wasn't actually in the Birds Nest, but I was in the Olympic Green at 8 minutes past 8 on the 08-08-08! The number 8 represents prosperity and confidence in Chinese culture so an auspiscious date & time!...the waiting is over and the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games are officially open.There's so much to say about the Ceremony but again I love the way the "Chinese brand" has been portrayed and how they are rewriting Olympic history...it's all been so beautifully thought through...Who will forget the legion of drummers, the outfits, that scroll, the lighting effects....or when the moment the torch was lit...Something that is always a tightly guarded secret and a highlight of any Opening show. They always said that the Barcelona lighting would be tough to match. However Li Ning, famed for winning 6 medals in gymnastics at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games, effortly running the length & breadth of the Nest will remain ingrained in my mind. So suprising that Li Ning - also owner of the "chinese Nike - Li Ning brand" and ultimate competitor to adidas was allowed to take center stage... was this ultimate ambush?It's all in the detail as I said previously...in a change to traditon the countries enter not in alphabetical order but by stroke count of the Simplified Chinese characters for each nation. For example, this will place Australia (澳大利亚) in 203rd position, just ahead of Zambia (赞比亚) because the character 澳 is written in 15 strokes and 赞 is in 16 strokes. The Olympic traditions of Greece entering first and the the host nation (China) entering last were still observed though... How will London and Vancouver make their mark?
The Olympic torch is lit by Li Ning, famed for winning 6 medals in gymnastics at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympic Games. Li Ning is also the founder of the Li-Ning company which sells footwear and sporting apparel in China - a chance for some profile against the other "big two" footwear and sporting apparel giants (adidas and Nike)competeting for recognition at the Games - more to come on this battle later.
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