Opening Ceremonies

A quick blog – only a few hours after the opening ceremonies have concluded and the competition has begun. What an interesting night, if only a bit unsettling at times.

First the unsettling part. It is clearly not a god time to be a politician in Brazil. Those of you who watched the ceremonies will know that the Brazilian President was loudly booed and that any reference to a politician – such as Sir Philip Craven’s thank you to the Mayor of Rio – was immediately drowned in boos. the unsettling part was that a large number of people tried to “counter-attack” with loud cheers. Thank God tempers did not flare up further, but it was a bit uncomfortable and I was in a secure area, not in the general admission stands where our Canadians friends and family would have been – right in the middle of the cheers/boos battle.

The other point of debate will and has already been the focus of the show. There is always tension (nothing like the aforementioned political controversy) between high performance sport and accessibility for all as a focal point. The concept of independence and universal design also come into play. I for one was somewhat uncomfortable with the children “marching in” carrying the flag strapped to an adult. There is nothing wrong with these children using a motorized wheelchair from my perspective. That would be a great debate – a bit beyond the purpose of the blog however.