benvenuto a turin!

i opened the telly as soon as i woke up to watch the opening of the 2006 winter olympics being held at turin, italy. i remember from last night's news that it was to start at 5:30am sydney time.


we were able to catch a group of women (with susan sarandon and sophia loren in it) carrying the olympic flag, to the singing of the national anthem of the olympics and italy, to yoko ono opening the performance of genesis founder singing "imagine", to the acrobats, to the lighting of the olympic torch, to the athlethes and judges taking their oath, to pavarotti singing and catching the "sparks of passion" (choreographed exhibition on skates, in which eight ice hockey athletes will race at 50 km an hour inside the stadio olimpico. the uniqueness of this exhibition is also guaranteed due to the sparks of passion, generating red flames 2 metres long).


it was amazing.

how we wish we could be there. how we wish we were already here in sydney during the 2000 olympics.

some facts:

the olympic ceremonies will be followed by 35 thousand spectators at the stadio olimpico and by approximately 2 billion television spectators the world wide.

some of the logistics for the ceremonies:

6,100 volunteers and 240 professionals
15,000 days of work
100,000 meals
6,100 scene costumes during the two shows (opening and closing ceremonies)
500 pairs of skates
32 television cameras present at the stadio
4,000 m² of stage purposely designed
10,000 m² of back stage
more than 150 lorries to transport the stage, structures, lights, audio, and special effects
more than 100 km of cables

more pics of the opening ceremony here.