China delegation welcomed in Vancouver Paralympics

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-03-13 14:39

VANCOUVER - China received an ovation from the Vancouver hosts on Friday night as its tiny delegation of seven athletes and five support staff marched out for the parade of athletes during the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games opening ceremony.

With more than 300,000 Chinese living in the Canadian city, the Chinese athletes, all of whom will be competing in the cross-country skiing, proved particularly popular with the 60,000 spectators at the BC Place Stadium.

While China has been a powerhouse in Paralympic Games following summer Olympics - Chinese Paralympians won a record 291 medals at the 2008 Beijing Games - the country is a relative novice in its winter counterpart. Following its winter Paralympic debut at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City, US, and four years ago in Turin, Italy, China has yet to win a medal.

Friday's opening ceremony spectacularly provided an abundance of inspiration for medal aspirations and demonstrated how the Paralympics had matured to the point where it is now one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

The original concept of the Games was developed after World War II in veterans' hospitals with sport used as a rehabilitation tool.

Speaking before the show, Robert Roberge, producer of the opening and closing ceremonies, said the word "inspire" was often used in association with the Paralympics but the goal of the show was to make it more specific.

"One can inspire many, one act can unite a nation, one speech can energizes the world, one spark ignites the flame, one voice, one note, one flag, one story. We'll be taking this theme very literally throughout the performance," said the Vancouver native who created the British Columbia Canada Pavilion that was housed at the Tian'anmen Square during the 2008 Beijing Games.

"We're celebrating our community and our goal is to show the Paralympians that Canada is the most prepared country to welcome them unlike no other country has," he added.

To the video "Heralding in the Games", a lone trumpeter started the show in the center of the floor in the cavernous stadium that usually houses the local football team. He was then joined by 40 others trumpeters followed by 150 young musicians in a warm family-friendly show that quickly set the tone for the evening.

Canadian Governor General Michel Jean, who represents Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state, made the first of two appearances in the show as the former television journalist was joined by 400 children who spread out to form a giant maple leaf.

With the country's iconic symbol depicted on the stadium floor, Terry Kelly, a blind runner who is one of only three people to have run a five-minute mile, sang the national anthem. He was accompanied by Marie Klassen, a deaf basketball player, who recited O Canada in sign language.

Taking a page from Hou Bin's memorable performance at the Paralympic opening ceremony in Beijing when the wheelchair athlete raised himself up a rope to the roof of the Bird's Nest, Vancouver Olympic mascot Sumi delighted the crowd in a flying sequence before the parade of athletes.

After the 600 athletes from 44 nations and regions came into the stadium via a "hero tunnel" made up of 400 children, it was then that the show really started to pick up. Five deejays led the audience in multiple participation activities, while a team of breakdancers hit the floor.

The entire audience was then given an impromptu dance lesson when 600 dancers interspersed through the seating got the crowd going, aided by another 400 on the floor. With the entire audience dancing, the purpose of the exercise was to set a world record for a "flash mob".

Martin Deschamp, a Quebec singer who has carved out a successful career as a rock star despite missing his left arm and right leg, kept up the pace of the highly-charged show as 10 wheelchair "painters" - disabled athletes from rugby and basketball - manipulated a projection on the floor to paint an incredible image on the floor.

Extreme disabled athletes, both in wheelchairs and on skateboard, followed, demonstrating some amazing runs on a skateboard ramp.

After a group of young British Columbians, all with some sort of prosthetic device, carried the flag into the stadium, Governor General Jean returned to declare the Paralympics open.

The performance wound down with a 2,010-voice choir singing the song "We rise again", followed by a video of the late Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson performing his inspirational classic "Hymns of freedom".

Rick Hanson, a famous Canadian wheelchair athlete who starting in 1985 undertook a 26-month trek around the world to raise money for spinal cord research, then made an appearance. He was followed by video footage of amputee Terry Fox, another famous British Columbian, who in 1980 attempted to run across Canada on one leg before cancer spread to his lungs and killed him. Today, Terry Fox runs are held annually in countries worldwide, including China.

The opening ceremony then ended with a procession of five torch bearers lighting the cauldron to mark the start of the Paralympics which runs through March 21.