2014 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony, Sochi, Russia

People from around the world have been watching the news about the Olympic games in Sochi, Russia.

One of the rings failed to light up at the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony

 I am already a news junkie without the Olympic games. With CBC and CTV nightly reporting from Sochi for the past week, I have been watching the evening reports on CBC's National  by Peter Mansbridge every night at 10p.m. and again the reports on CTV's 11p.m. new report by Lisa Laflamme.

Interesting head piece worn by the Russian hosts

Last night I learned that the Americans channel will not be broadcasting the opening ceremony live so immediately, I wanted to find out what CBC was going to do.

Thank goodness, Canadians do our thing and we can watch the opening ceremony live on our own CBC!! Very proud of it. We got something that the Americans don't have. How about that?

Team  Kazakhstan

During the Parade of the Nations, it was fun watching it and learning about some of these interesting fact:

- 88 countries participating in this winter game
- Russian's alphabet has 33 letters so Canada would not appear until the middle of the parade.

- Small countries such as Philippine, Tajikistan, both send only 1 athlete


- Ireland has five athletes, but none of them live in Ireland; they are from Canada

Indian athletes marching in with their IOC falg

- India, its athletes paraded under not its country flag, but the flag of the IOC due to some internal conflict

- San Marino -a tiny country, taking part for the first time in the winter games

Team China

- Jamaica - a tropical country, with few winter training facility , sends 3 athletes to the winter games







China - first time for its Chinese leader attending a major overseas sports event

Colourful uniforms worn by Germany's athletes  

 Germany - I like the colorful uniforms for their athletes. Is this a coincidence or some kind of a statement?

Cheers went up at the Canada House as Team Canada appeared

- Canada has over 200 athletes, the biggest Canada has sent out

Team Canada enters the Sochi Stadium

I was very proud to see the Canadisn team representing our country.

They are full of energy and brimming with confidence! These athletes will represent Canada well in this winter games!

When watching the CBC coverage, I really appreciated the stats that appeared on the bottom of the screen given about the country on population, number of athletes and  number of  medal won in the last Winter Olympics.

Team U.S.A.

The Parade of Nations did not take long at all.
I was glad to find out that students in Canada gathered together to watched the opening ceremony and learned about the countries.

Team Russia

There was a huge roar and applause and lots of enthusiasm when team Russia - the host country and the last team entered the stadium.

The performances were beautiful!
It started with a Russian girl who took the audiences through the history and many changes in Russia.

It depicts the history, culture, arts, music, and technological changes in Russia.

A whale formed by the performers and different structures

It was a quick and remarkable history lesson from the discovery of Russia to the modern building in the 20th century.

The lights, sounds, and atmosphere must be incredible at the Sochi Stadium!













The show was spectacular!

A spectacular dance performance!

I was glued in front of the TV,  reluctant to get up from my seat throughout the performance.















The two hours flew by fast than anything.

Though I do not have the privilege of attending the 2014 Winter Olympic Game opening ceremony in person, The CBC does a darn good job at bringing it to Canadians and the world!

Sochi Stadium with the Olympic flame burning bright

R.T.
Toronto - gluing myself in front of the CBC reporting of the Winter Games
Source: CBC TV