Chicago PassionsSport News and Entertainment Updates
Olympic torch malfunction causes a few tense moments
Despite some of the things I’ve previously said that could be construed as impugning the Winter Olympics, the human part of me took over during last night’s Opening Ceremonies.
The gigantic coming together of people from all corners of the globe in a peaceful celebration of sport is a phenomenon that knocks loudly on the heart.
Tremendous television and spectacle all-around.
Everything went off with a hitch until that fateful moment when the time to light the Olympic cauldron came.
Then things got weird.
The problem?
One of the four totems of the structure failed to rise from the floor. Gretzky & Co. nervously waited as the world watched before the call to make the best of it was made.
The man in charge of the ceremony said that his staff were investigating the cause of the malfunction.
“It’s a very complex piece of equipment. As you saw, it literally had to dance its place into its final position,” artistic director David Atkins told reporters.
“Unfortunately, the trap that revealed it from the floor of the stadium, which worked perfectly well at the beginning of the ceremony … with the totems rising from the floor, had some mechanical failure.”
He put on a brave face, however, lauding his team for quickly finding a solution.
“It was an example of the fact that we’re all human, and the ceremony celebrated that fact in all sorts of ways, by virtue of the cauldron and the hand of God coming in to remind us that we have some sort of fallibility there,” he said.
You have to admit that’s a pretty good save right there.
Related posts:
- Watch Lindsay Lohan’s Last Moments of Freedom We knew it was coming, you knew it was coming. And we'd like to believe that somewhere, deep down,...
- Our final list of Super Bowl moments Thanks to everyone who offered up their favorite NFC North Super Bowl moments . As you recall, I offered up...
- US Olympic Figure Skater Nancy Kerrigan U.S. Olympic figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan, was born Oct. 13, 1969, in Woburn, Mass., to Daniel and Brenda Kerrigan....
- Kerri Strug, former Olympic gymnastics hero, gets married Kerri Strug became America’s sweetheart in 1996 when she nailed a vault at the Atlanta Olympics, landing on one foot...
- Olympic Luger Dies After Training Crash Olympic luger Nodar Kumaritashvili of Georgia has died after losing control of his sled and crashing on the second of...
Top incoming search terms for this post
