The opening ceremony was excellent! Of course our favorite parts were seeing Rowan Atkins with the London Symphony and meeting the newest Bond girl, the Queen!
The British media has been speculating for months who is going to light the torch. The Olympic committee and Lord Coe have been completely quiet on the issue. So much so that it was getting annoying!
So, this is the story that is not so known around the world! (our friends heard it on the radio Saturday morning)
About 2-3 weeks before the ceremony, the 7 teen athletes were asked to participate. They were athletes that were nominated by past Olympians as a nod to the future. They were not told what they were doing until they showed up. Many of them had their families with them, except for one of the guys. He canceled going with his family on vacation to Greece to stay and participate. So, his family went to Greece. The other participants that had their families with them were sworn to secrecy on the issue. The kids who's family went to Greece? Well, he could not tell them what he was doing because he was sworn to secrecy, so he told them to be sure to watch.
The family watched the ceremony and had given up, thinking that they missed him and then, they saw him, lighting the torch! Imagine their surprise when they saw him! We heard that there were definitely a lot of tears.
All in all the opening ceremony was truly spectacular and in true British form. I was glad to see the more and lesser known parts of their culture represented. The story of one of the the 7 teen torch lighters, makes the ceremony a bit more amazing.... it was truly the candle on top of the cake, just in a caldron shape.
The British media has been speculating for months who is going to light the torch. The Olympic committee and Lord Coe have been completely quiet on the issue. So much so that it was getting annoying!
So, this is the story that is not so known around the world! (our friends heard it on the radio Saturday morning)
About 2-3 weeks before the ceremony, the 7 teen athletes were asked to participate. They were athletes that were nominated by past Olympians as a nod to the future. They were not told what they were doing until they showed up. Many of them had their families with them, except for one of the guys. He canceled going with his family on vacation to Greece to stay and participate. So, his family went to Greece. The other participants that had their families with them were sworn to secrecy on the issue. The kids who's family went to Greece? Well, he could not tell them what he was doing because he was sworn to secrecy, so he told them to be sure to watch.
The family watched the ceremony and had given up, thinking that they missed him and then, they saw him, lighting the torch! Imagine their surprise when they saw him! We heard that there were definitely a lot of tears.
All in all the opening ceremony was truly spectacular and in true British form. I was glad to see the more and lesser known parts of their culture represented. The story of one of the the 7 teen torch lighters, makes the ceremony a bit more amazing.... it was truly the candle on top of the cake, just in a caldron shape.
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