28 July 2012
Last updated at 01:17 GMT
Athletes light up Olympic Games
- 'Britain as never seen before'
- Queen's Olympic date with Bond
- In pictures: Opening ceremony
- Hyde Park show kicks off Olympics
- Securing the heads of state
- Arrests made near Olympic stadium
Opening ceremony: 'A Britain as never seen before'
Whispers had hinted that the start of the London Olympics might be a
little eccentric, a touch more tongue-in-cheek than others we have
witnessed.
What no-one expected was that it would be quite so
gloriously daft, so cynicism-squashingly charming and - well, so much
pinch-yourself fun.
From the moment the Red Arrows roared overhead to paint the town red, white and blue at 20:12 to Bradley Wiggins's unheralded yellow-shirted parade and the appearance of dancing NHS nurses - actual, real nurses - this was a constant swooping rollercoaster of noise, searing colour and what on earth was that?
Save the surprise? They barely stopped coming.
There was Mr Bean playing Chariots of Fire, on a keyboard, with one finger. There were skipping suffragettes and an army of Isambard Kingdom Brunels. There was a 60ft Voldemort, flying half-bird-half-bikes, flash-mob house parties and David Beckham driving a speedboat through a firework waterfall on Tower Bridge.
In the first three minutes alone we had Radio Four's shipping forecast, The Wind in the Willows's Mole and Ratty, Pink Floyd's flying pig and the EastEnders drum intro.
Did the rest of the world understand it? You barely had time to worry before another cultural reference hit you. Hold on - that's the Child-Catcher! There's 40 Sergeant Peppers! Was that a two-second clip from Kes I just spotted?
Opening ceremonies, traditionally big on pretension and po-faced, usually require a little mickey-taking to be endured. This one did it for you.
Four years ago Beijing had produced a night aiming to shock and awe the watching world with an unforgettable display of pyrotechnics and ostentatious expense.
London could never hope to match it, and so was set free to do something entirely original.
Watching it as a native was a strange and, for many, an increasingly emotional experience.
Unfurling in front of us was a whirlwind series of collective historical, cultural and social memories - the NHS, ska and rave, the Industrial Revolution, the Windrush, Great Ormond Street, the invention of the internet - which had Britons looking at each other and saying, hold on - that was us too, wasn't it?
It should have been jingoistic, or clichéd, or obvious. Maybe to foreign eyes it was. But to those lucky 80,000 in the stadium and millions watching on television, there was something else, something not always felt: genuine pride in the little pieces of all of us that were being shown to the world.
It can feel too grandiose when people claim that sport can help shape new national identities. It's only a sideshow to the real stuff, no?
Not always. The multicultural France team that won the World Cup they hosted in 1998 changed that country's self-image for good. Beijing was China announcing that it was not only the present but the future.
We may have to wait a while longer to see if the London Olympics do the same for this host nation. But this was a Britain as never seen before - no simple Merchant Ivory fantasy, but a 21st century land of status updates, soap operas and a suburban red brick house with a single sulphur street light outside.
At one point Frankie Goes To Hollywood's 'Relax' was booming out. Banned from national radio within memory, here it was at the heart of a global showcase.
If you wanted to leave all that big stuff alone and just enjoy the party, the kaleidoscopic soundtrack carried you there. The Pistols and the Who, Dizzee Rascal, Born Slippy, the Specials and the Jam, New Order and then Macca. Get your ears round that, alternative-world Paris opening ceremony.
There were neat, sensitive little touches - Stephen Lawrence's mother Doreen helping to carry the Olympic flag into the arena; Muhammad Ali, held upright by his wife Lonnie, being there to receive it; 500 workers who had helped build the stadium forming a guard of honour as Sir Steve Redgrave jogged in with the flaming torch.
And the big stuff?
The cauldron, hidden all evening, constructed from 200 copper petals brought in by the world's parading flag-bearers, was a thing of genuine beauty. That it was lit by seven young athletes nominated by Britain's seven greatest Olympic medallists was both the biggest revelation on a night of surprises and perfectly in keeping with the ethos of the bid.
Inspire a generation, London 2012 chairman Seb Coe had told the International Olympic Committee seven years ago. Here he was, delivering both on that promise and several more.
"This is our time," Coe declared to the cheering stadium. IOC president Jacques Rogge, judging his audience with an expert hand, followed suit: "In a sense, the Olympic Games are coming home tonight."
London, of course, has done Olympic opening ceremonies before, but never like this.
The highlight of 1908 was a display by gymnasts from the London Polytechnic. In 1948, Wembley heard Army bands play, the Royal Horse Artillery fire a 21-gun salute and 2,500 pigeons squawk off into cloudless skies, to pester Londoners with their offspring for decades to come.
Last six Team GB flagbearers
- 2012 London: Cyclist Sir Chris Hoy
- 2008 Beijing: Swimmer Mark Foster
- 2004 Athens: Judoka Kate Howey
- 2000 Sydney: Rower Matthew Pinsent
- 1996 Atlanta: Rower Sir Steve Redgrave
- 1992 Barcelona: Rower Sir Steve Redgrave
If that was a different London, so is this little patch in Stratford unrecognisable from the rest of the modern city.
Walking round Olympic Park in the past few days has
felt gloriously unreal - towering new stadia where once were fly-tips
and blight, wildflowers and green riverbanks rather than jam-packed city
streets, perfect blue skies in a summer of filthy grey and flood.
Friday night was the moment it all began to make sense, even as the ceremony left those watching giddy: it's here, it's actually here.
The sense of the unknown now stretches into the 16 days ahead. Superstars like Usain Bolt, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant and Sir Chris Hoy will once again strive to show us the impossible, but so too will new heroes. Fresh tales of triumph and disaster will emerge that we can as yet only guess at, new memories and legends be made.
"We're a warm-up act for the real show coming up," ceremony director Danny Boyle had said to the crowd, minutes before his surreal, splendid shebang blasted into life.
He's right. But if the spectacular that lies ahead matches the support act, these Olympics will leave an impression that no-one who witnesses them is likely to forget. It was when the Queen sky-dived out of a helicopter with James Bond in her slipstream that you thought: hang on, this opening ceremony isn't quite like the other ones I remember.
Young athletes light London 2012 Olympic flame
The
Queen has declared the London Olympics officially open, before seven
young athletes were given the honour of lighting the ceremonial flame.
The show featured British celebrities and sportspeople,
including David Beck ham and Bradley Wiggins, and screen characters Mr
Bean and James Bond.In a speech watched around the world, Games chief Jacques Rogge said: "The Olympic Games are coming home tonight."
Flag-bearer Sir Chris Hoy earlier led out Team GB to cheers and applause.
The identity of who was to light the symbolic flame was shrouded in secrecy ahead of the ceremony.
The group of seven, chosen by British Olympic champions, each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 205 petals, one for each competing nation or territory.
Continue reading the main story
He says he aims to be modest about our place in the world, while celebrating these wondrous isles. With grace and humour.
But really, can anyone else conjure up a parachuting Jubilee Queen?
The crowd here have gasped and whooped with joy at the goosebump moments. Gargantuan industrial towers appearing from the floor like a hat stand from Mary Poppin's carpetbag. Molten rings burnishing in the sky. A bright-lit giant baby in the field of play.
Bringing a movie director to a live show has created a filmic experience for the crowd here. When 7/7 victims - killed the day after London won this bid - were honoured, people were spellbound by the light.
Some parts have felt slower, the early house sequence and the bizarre but inspired GOSH NHS scene.
Who knows what the wider world make of this tea and biscuit selection?
Twitter is alive with Boyle cast as a hero.
We know the Queen is game enough to join in with Bond, Beckham is on his way. And this, is only the beginning.
Ceremony in pictures
Analysis
So, Danny Boyle aimed to show the globe what is so unique about our country?He says he aims to be modest about our place in the world, while celebrating these wondrous isles. With grace and humour.
But really, can anyone else conjure up a parachuting Jubilee Queen?
The crowd here have gasped and whooped with joy at the goosebump moments. Gargantuan industrial towers appearing from the floor like a hat stand from Mary Poppin's carpetbag. Molten rings burnishing in the sky. A bright-lit giant baby in the field of play.
Bringing a movie director to a live show has created a filmic experience for the crowd here. When 7/7 victims - killed the day after London won this bid - were honoured, people were spellbound by the light.
Some parts have felt slower, the early house sequence and the bizarre but inspired GOSH NHS scene.
Who knows what the wider world make of this tea and biscuit selection?
Twitter is alive with Boyle cast as a hero.
We know the Queen is game enough to join in with Bond, Beckham is on his way. And this, is only the beginning.
Ceremony in pictures
Long stems then rose towards each other to form a cauldron, signifying unity.
The flame made a dramatic arrival via the Thames on a speedboat carrying Beck ham, who handed the torch to Sir Steve Redgrave.The show, billed as a quirky take on UK life, started with iconic images of London and Britain being beamed to the world, and all four countries of the UK being represented in song.
The field at the stadium in Stratford, east London, was turned into a green meadow, with sheep, horses, chickens, ducks and geese, among the cast.
The show took the watching world through "great revolutions in British society", from an agricultural setting through to the Industrial Revolution itself.
Steelworkers began forging material that transformed into golden Olympic rings, which appeared to float into the air to be suspended above the performers.
'Evening Mr Bond' There were cheers too as the crowd saw a film featuring an unlikely meeting between the Queen and 007 agent James Bond.
"Good evening Mr Bond," the Queen said in the clip, before they left together, apparently heading towards the Olympic Stadium in a helicopter.
A helicopter then flew over the stadium to the sound of the Bond theme tune, as two figures parachuted down, one dressed as the monarch.
As if by magic, the Queen appeared in the stands - part of a crowd of about 80,000 - amid cheers.
Mr Bond was not the only much-loved British character to take part. Mr Bean prompted laughter when he stepped up to command an orchestra playing the iconic Chariots of Fire theme.
All the action was played out to a soundtrack of some of Britain's most iconic bands - including the Clash, the Rolling Stones, Queen, the Sex Pistols and David Bowie - with Sir Paul McCartney performing live at the close of the show.
The athletes taking part in the Games - led, as tradition dictates, by the Olympics' spiritual home Greece - made laps of the stadium bearing their nations' flags.
A Red Arrows fly-past marked the start of the pre-show at the symbolic time of 20:12 BST (19:12 GMT).
Continue reading the main story
Olympics coverage online
- From the BBC:
- London 2012: All Olympics news
- Sport: Reports, reaction, news
- Weather: UK five-day forecast
- Official Olympic travel links:
- Traffic and travel in London
- Travel info for other Games locations
- Traffic updates via Twitter @GAOTG
And Wiggins, wearing a yellow jersey, rang the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world to launch the opening ceremony.
As the show, named the Isles of Wonder, began, its artistic
director Danny Boyle pledged a ceremony with a theme of "this is for
everyone". The Oscar-winning film director later tweeted: "Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! Means the world to me."
Earlier, crowds of people, many of them dressed in their nation's colours, streamed into the Olympic Park for the show.
The BBC's Claire Heald, at the stadium, says transport ran smoothly and the crowds moved quickly through security.
The day of celebration began at 08:12 BST (07:12 GMT) with a mass bell ringing. Big Ben rang for three minutes for the first time since King George VI's funeral in 1952.
In other developments:
- A number of cyclists were arrested during scuffles with police close to the Olympic Stadium as the opening ceremony got under way
- A celebratory concert featuring Paolo Nutini, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics and Duran Duran was held in Hyde Park
- Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt narrowly avoided hitting a group of women with a bell after it flew off its handle on HMS Belfast during the co-ordinated ringing - he called the moment a "classic"
And 12,956 props were used, with the event also boasting a million-watt PA system using more than 500 speakers.
Thousands of fans also gathered at other outdoor locations across the capital to watch the show on big screens.
Coverage of the opening ceremony is on BBC One and Radio 5 live now. UK users can also watch it via the BBC News website. copy http://www.bbc.co.uk
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário