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Canadian Olympic team opens Games with flag-raising ceremony |
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Written by Lori Ewing, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Wednesday, 06 August 2008 |
The Canadian flag is raised at a ceremony at the Olympic Athletes village in Beijing, China Wednesday. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
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BEIJING - With the Olympic rings several storeys high shining brightly as a backdrop and amid the buzzing of cicadas in the trees overhead, the Maple Leaf went up at the Olympic Village on Wednesday.
The traditional flag-raising kicked off Canada's participation in the Olympics, which officially begin Friday with the opening ceremonies. And for the 200-odd Canadian athletes and officials - clad in the Canadian colours of red and white - who attended the ceremony, the Olympic spirit was starting to sink in.
"It's super exciting just walking around the village and seeing the rainbow of nations with every country's colours and the different shapes and sizes of the athletes," said kayaker Adam van Koeverden, who will carry Canada's flag into the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. "It's just really, really cool. It just kind of brings that Olympic spirit to a head."
Canada has over 330 athletes at the Games, which will feature over 10,000 athletes from 200 countries competing in 28 sports.
Soccer actually kicked off the Olympic schedule early, giving Canada its first victory of these Games. The Canadian women beat Argentina 2-1 on Wednesday in their first-ever Olympic match.
Much of the remaining Canadian athletes were at the village on Wednesday, soaking up the Olympic ambience in the team's first opportunity to get together.
"Today was just incredible," said Sylvie Bernier, Canada's chef de mission. "It's the first time where we actually meet - all of us - most of us have been here for two, three, four, five days but it's the first time that we gathered. We're here for the flag-raising so it was very special and you could feel that the whole team is happy to be here. The village is incredible. So we're ready to compete now."
Bernier, a gold medallist in diving at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, presented Beijing organizers with a souvenir glass vase before the Canadian flag was raised ever-so-slowly by Chinese soldiers as O Canada was played.
The heat and pollution has become a theme of these Games, and while the temperature dipped to under 30 C for the ceremony, the sky was a thick grey, and the sun an eerie glowing red.
The moment was a special one for Bernier, coming 24 years to the day since she captured gold.
"It was actually very emotional," Bernier said. "I won exactly on the sixth of August, 1984. So to see the Canadian flag go up like this and now, in the position of chef de mission, it was very special for me."
Pierre Lafontaine, the CEO of Swimming Canada, said the swimmers cut short their practice to rush back to the village for the ceremony.
"For us, it is pretty much the last thing we will do as the Olympic team, until (August) 17th, so it was important for us to be here," Lafontaine said. "We had to rush through the workout, but it was important for us to be here, and the kids really wanted to be here. Good mood, great village, we had a great camp, so people are excited."
The Canadian Olympic Committee has set a goal of winning enough medals to finish among the top-16 countries. Hungary finished 16th at the 2004 Athens Olympics with 17 medals, including eight gold. Canada won 12 medals in Athens (three gold, six silver, three bronze).
The swimmers came home empty-handed from Athens, which led to the hiring of Lafontaine, but the leader of Canadian swimming said hopes are high among the athletes, who are going in with an anything-can-happen approach.
"One coach had a good analogy, he said, 'You know what? Now we're in the playoffs,"' Lafontaine said. "We belong here, we belong in the playoffs. We might not be the Red Wings yet, but we're going to be right in there. Anything can happen, and that's the fun thing."
Edmonton trap shooter Susan Nattrass will compete in her sixth Olympic Games, dating back to 1976, but she said for her, ceremonies like Wednesday's never lose their lustre.
"It's always new and different and always exciting," Nattrass said. "I was thinking that today, I was out on the line and thinking, 'This is just gorgeous.' It never does get old."
The flag-raising was held in the international zone of the Olympic Village, a group of 42 buildings with 9,000 rooms that can accommodate about 17,000 people. The athletes are being housed under tight security. An army helicopter buzzed overhead, and the perimeter is encased with razor-wire fencing and soldiers that stand at attention.
Inside the village, the high-rise apartment buildings are draped in the national flags of dozens of countries.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 06 August 2008 )
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