Despite luge death, opening ceremony goes on

Vancouver: In time-honored tradition, the show went on.

Despite the training-run death earlier in the day of a luger from the country of Georgia, the Vancouver Olympics` opening ceremonies were launched last night with a jubilant countdown by the crowd filling BC Place Stadium. The festive mood, and the opening rain of confetti, contrasted sharply with the grief that befell the games earlier in the day when luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died in a horrific crash on the sliding track at Whistler. "This is a very sad day," said a visibly shaken Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee. "The IOC is in deep mourning." While protesters and rain clouds gathered outside, more than 50,000 ticketholders packed into the stadium for the evening extravaganza, the first Olympic opening or closing ceremony ever held indoors. Rain was forecast through the weekend in the city. The ceremony was dedicated to Kumaritashvili - a somber addition to a show that was to feature big-name talent and an exultant roar for the Canadian team, whose not-so-impossible dream is to win the medals race. According to program, the show was to climax with the Olympic cauldron being lit jointly by four Canadian sports heroes - all-time hockey great Wayne Gretzky, skier Nancy Greene, speedskater Katrina LeMay Doan, and basketball All-Star Steve Nash. About 2,500 athletes from a record 82 countries are participating in the games, vying for medals in 86 events - including the newly added ski-cross competition. First-time Winter Olympic participants include the Cayman Islands, Columbia, Ghana, Montenegro, Pakistan, Peru and Serbia. The overall favorites include Germany and the United States - which finished first and second four years ago in Turin - and also Canada, a best-ever third in 2006 and now brashly proclaiming its intention to finish atop the medals table on its home turf. "We`re still going to be nice, but we`re going to be nice in winning," said Michael Chambers, president of the Canadian Olympic Committee. The Canadian team was scheduled to be the last contingent in the parade of nations at Friday`s ceremony, marching behind flagbearer Clara Hughes, defending gold medalist in the 5,000-meter speedskating race. Just ahead in the parade will be the Americans. Their flagbearer is Mark Grimmette, 39, of Muskegon, Michigan, competing in his fifth Olympics as a doubles luge competitor. US team officials said Grimmette was expected to wear a Georgian pin in honor of Kumaritashvili, who would have been his Olympic rival. The cultural segment of ceremony featured many of Canada`s best-known musical stars - including Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, Sarah McLachlan and k.d. lang. It also highlighted performers and traditions from Canada`s aboriginal communities. And the highest-ranking official delegation at the ceremony - amid dignitaries from around the world - was to include the four chiefs of the First Nations whose traditional native territory overlaps the Olympic region. Several well-known Canadians received the honor of carrying the Olympic flag at a high-profile moment near the end of the ceremony. Among them were hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr, singer Anne Murray, race car driver Jacques Villeneuve and Betty Fox, mother of national hero Terry Fox. Terry Fox lost a leg to bone cancer as a youngster, then set off in 1980 on a fundraising trek across Canada. He had to give up after covering more than 3,000 miles, and died in 1981 at age 22, but remains revered by his compatriots as a symbol of courage and perseverance. The flame reached the stadium after a 106-day torch relay across Canada, passing through more than 1,000 communities in every province and territory. The relay was the occasional target for protesters, and yesterday was no exception. Activists espousing a variety of causes prompted the relay to change course twice as it passed near Vancouver`s skid-row neighborhood, the Downtown Eastside. "The Olympics have done more damage than good," protest leader Lauren Gill said. "But one positive is the world getting to see what Vancouver really is. Downtown Eastside is an international model of disaster." PTI