Today in Sochi, the Olympics finally opened their arms and let the world in, substandard accommodations(at least for the media) and all. The Opening Ceremony, which took place on the second day of NBC's telecast, started off with a video of an 11-year old girl reciting the Russian Alphabet, with each letter representing a famous part of Russian history. Some of the more renowned mentions were:
- Lake Baikal
- Yuri Gagarin
- Sputnik
- Gleb Kotelnikov(more well-known as the inventor of the knapsack parachute)
- Television
- The Russian Empire
- Space Stations
- And many more
After that, we were treated to a performance of the Russian National Anthem. Then came the Parade of Nations, where all 88 participating bodies marched into the stadium to capture their moment in the Olympic limelight. After all 2,800 athletes were in the stadium, the theatrics picked up again, this time going into a dream sequence depicting various events in the history of Russia, such as building St. Basil's Cathedral, the rise of Peter the Great, the twilight of the Russian Empire, and then the dawn of the Revolutionary era.
Soon afterwards, Vladimir Putin officially declared the Sochi games open, which set off more fireworks. After a performance of Swan Lake, the Olympic Cauldron was lit using the Torch, which has been going all throughout Russia for the past several months. Maria Sharapova brought the torch into the stadium, at which point she handed it off to several different Russian athletes, all doing their own part in igniting the cauldron. Once the cauldron was lit, the Opening Ceremony was finished, and the Sochi games were officially underway. Stay tuned everybody, we're just getting started here...
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