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Sydney spectacular Paralympics begin with festive Opening Ceremonies
By Luba Vangelova, Special to CNNSI.com Sydney energetically welcomed 4,000 Paralympians from 121 countries with a "rock opera"-format opening ceremony Wednesday night. The three-and-a-half-hour event featured a motley assortment of Australian and "world music" performers; dancing children in overalls; large inflatable creatures; and a capacity crowd. The evening's message -- "the fire is within" -- was delivered by wheelchair-bound physicist Stephen Hawking via video link. In keeping with Australia's irreverent philosophy of life, the event departed from tradition in several ways. The athletes entered the stadium early on rather than toward the end. And each delegation was led not by a sign-carrier, but by two children carrying a large clear ball bearing the country's name. Each ball was filled with smaller balls painted in the respective flag colors, giving the props the look of giant gumball machines. In the entertainment part of the program, Australian wheelchair athlete Angie Ballard pedaled what was billed as the world's smallest blimp, circling the track about 40 feet in the air, escorted by giant inflated angels. (Both they and the blimp were also guided by people with ropes walking on the ground.) There was symbolism there for those who notice such things; the rest could just enjoy it as spectacle. Later, a high-school student who had just taken an English exam that morning played the Paralympic anthem on an electric guitar. And it seems no Australia-hosted international sporting ceremony is complete without a tongue-in-cheek homage to the mundane. In this case, a giant inflatable blowfly entered the stadium to lead a procession of inflatable fauna. The infield was filled with hundreds of cement sheet-covered tables, which the overall-clad children repainted several times during the evening to form different patterns. Of course, most of the usual elements were also there, including mostly uninspired original songs about inspiration (ironically), striving and other noble themes. Australian pop icon Kylie Minogue sang "Waltzing Matilda." And, of course, there was the parade of nations, which in this case lasted about an hour and a half. The athletes required little urging to slip into the party mood as they made their way around the track and then settled in for front-section views. Some wheelchair-bound athletes spun around and performed wheelies. Others waved, grinned and hammed it up for the cameras. A competitor from Turkmenistan wowed the crowd, first by walking on his hands, then by doing pushups without touching the ground with his feet. For his grand finale, he hopped forward on his hands about half a dozen times while still in the elevated-feet pushup position. More than two hours into the ceremony, the flame was carried into the stadium and relayed around the track by five Australian Paralympians (Katrina Webb, Anthony Clarke, Kevin Coombs, Lisa Llorens and Michael Milton). Finally it was passed to Australian multi-gold-medal-winning wheelchair racer Louise Sauvage, who used it to light a small cauldron in the middle of the stadium. With a small directed fire-burst, it then symbolically shot its flame to the large cauldron high above the northern end of the stadium. That wasn't the only fire in the stadium: after the last set of musical performances, the evening ended with a dramatic explosion of fireworks from the infield.
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