What to watch for in the Olympics Opening Ceremony

By VGP Blogger, Rachel B

I can’t wait to cuddle up with a bowl of popcorn and a glass of red wine for the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony at 7:30 eastern time on Friday night. The ceremony from Fisht Olympic Stadium at Sochi Olympic Park will be on eight and a half hours after it happens in Sochi. There will be no live stream on the Internet of this year’s ceremony.

Fisht Olympic Stadium has a capacity of 40,000 spectators and cost $780 million. When watching, looking for the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains to the North and the Black Sea to the South. Event organizers have been tight-lipped about the fanfare, but below are some details on what has leaked amongst the gossip and rumor mill.

The Performers: The theme song of the 2014 Winter Olympics is “My Day” and will be performed by Danielle Bradbery. A few performers linked to the Opening Ceremony are viola player Yuri Bashmet, conductor Valery Gergiev and pianist Denis Matsuev.  St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theater ballerina Ulyana Lopatkina will also perform. There will be a chorus of over one thousand Russian children. I am anxious to see if these efforts will outdo the last winter games ceremony in China in 2008.

The Parade of Athletes: I must have too much Hunger Games on the mind because I can’t help but envision the unveiling of each district in the film when I hear “Parade of Athletes”. Not quite the Hunger Games, each nation will enter alphabetically (with the exception of Greece first since the Olympics originated there and Russia last since they are the host country). Each nation sends a flag bearer along with other Olympic athletes into the stadium.  The United States Olympic Committee announced its decision on Wednesday that the U.S. flag bearer would be Nordic combined skier Todd Lodwick, a 37-year-old Colorado native. He will become the first six-time American Winter Olympian in Sochi.  That’s right. Six times.

The Speeches: Two speeches will be given. The first will be from President of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko. The second will be from President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach. Then Vladimir Putin will declare the Games open.

The Olympic Flame: I remember the passing of the flame during China bringing tears to my eyes. This will be the last event and the flame will be passed from one athlete to another until it reaches the end of the line. The last person will light the Cauldron, indicating the Games have begun. The Olympic Flame burn for the Games’ entirety until the closing ceremony on February 23rd.

If you can’t wait until Friday, three preliminary events kick off on Thursday, Feb. 6 – figure skating, freestyle skiing and snowboarding.

What are you looking forward to most?