Paralympic Opening

I as randomly searching through channels and saw that the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony was going on (well it was being broadcast hours after the fact.) I DVRed it, but missed the first 15 minutes - so I can't talk about that first part.

It is annoying that the Paralympic Games aren't getting the same promotion or air-time as the Olympic Games did. The Olympic Opening Ceremony was nearly three times longer than the Paralympic Opening. Also, they only had English and Russian (the same creepy, old Russian guy as the Olympics) and not French. Considering that the Soviets refused to host the Paralympic Games in 1980 when they hosted the Olympic Games (because they claimed to have no disabled/handicapped in their country) it was nice to see that the Russian Federation hosted it this time.

They didn't have the same cool floor map for the Parade of Nations as they did before - which was one of the best parts of the Olympic Opening. They had very slow and boring music as the countries came out.

I didn't see if the Canadian team walked out (since I missed the first part.) I did see the US team, which had a lot of athletes (they wore the same uniforms as the Olympic Games.) The Russian team came last (as is tradition.) The part I thought was the best out of the whole Opening Ceremony was when the lone Ukrainian, Mykhaylo Tkachenko, (the other 22 Ukrainian athletes boycotted the Opening) wheeled himself out carrying the Ukrainian flag and the stadium went wild with excitement. The camera showed Putin at that moment and he didn't look please - as though he was upset that here he was trying to invade and occupy the Ukraine and yet people still strongly supported the Ukrainian people. That symbolic picture did more to bring the world closer to the Ukraine than anything else could.

The President of the IPC (International Paralympic Committee) spoke and mentioned the 1980 Soviet refusal to host the Games and ended with saying he hoped these Games would give people "barrier-free minds." That could be taken two ways: one way is to support barrier-free living for the disabled around the world and the other way is to not impose your will on those around you (ie the Ukraine) and blockade  - make barriers keeping them in.

Putin then officially opened the Games. He looked very worn, tired and upset. That was followed by some cool fireworks.

They had a short presentation of an "ice breaking dance" where an ice-breaking ship called "Mir"  - which in Russian means both "World" and "Peace"  - went across the stadium.

The show ended with the Paralympic flame lit.

I'm glad that I got to see the Opening for myself since you don't get the same experience as when you simply read about the event. Like I already said, the main picture that will stick with me from this Opening is the lone Ukrainian flag bearer.