I remember the first time I saw the Olympics - as far as I know, it was the first time anyway - 1980. I remember the theme song and the opening ceremony being spectacular (though I don’t remember specifics now).
I don’t know if it was that my (new) step-mom always watched them, and my dad didn’t watch them before (when it was just him & me together), or if he watched them previously, but I wasn’t aware of what he watched on TV, or what.
I remember seeing the opening ceremony in 1984, and thinking, “I know what this is!” I remembered it. I remembered the ice skaters and how much I loved watching the ice skating. It was probably the only sport I watched. It’s the only one I remember, anyway, from that era of my life.
I feel like I have definitely watched the Opening Ceremony to the Olympics ever since. It meant something to me, when the Olympics changed from twice a year (summer and winter games - 2 locations, different seasons, same year) to every 2 years, and how that affected the athletes who had to suddenly change training because the Olympics weren’t 4 years down the road, but rather 2 or 6 years down the road.
I remember when the Olympics were in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and my mum lived there. And then they were in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and my mum lived there. I thought that was pretty cool. She sent me the coolest red mittens with the Olympics logo on them (I still have 1 of them - I still hope to find the other one, one of these days) from Vancouver, and a royal blue winter coat from the Olympic Games in Calgary. I guess it eventually got donated. Probably to a used coat drive for kids at my sons’ school.
The Vancouver Olympics in 2010, had the finest moment, in my opinion, of all the Opening Ceremonies I’ve ever seen for the Olympics.
Joni Mitchell’s sang, “Both Sides Now,” and a dancer interacted with enormous, stadium-wide projections, along with the story of the song. The dancer didn’t just dance on the floor, either, but performed other kinds of kinetic performance art, all over the stadium. It was art, expressed, beyond anything that anyone in that time period had ever seen. The crazy idea of projecting images like they did on the floor of that stadium, and changing them - that blew my mind. And then adding in the dancer / kinetic performer and their movement, along with the projected images - the whole thing sticks in my mind, to this day, as one of the greatest performances of Olympic Ceremony Art. I also love, by the way, that Joni Mitchell is Canadian, and it was her singing the song - for the Canadian Olympics.
Here is the video of the performance to which I am referring:
[a clickable YouTube link to see and hear Joni Mitchell’s song, “Both Sides Now” with the dancer who performed to it, at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games.]
I was trying to watch the Opening Ceremonies this past weekend, and got a bit frustrated that I don’t have cable TV. So I spent the $8 (or so) to buy Peacock for the month. (I live on an extremely fixed income and I work very hard not to have recurring monthly payments. They add up!) I have no regrets about spending this money, either.
I was surprised by my partner’s reaction to watching the Opening Ceremonies. My partner wasn’t very interested. I am not sure I have ever encountered anyone who wasn’t particularly interested in the Olympic Opening Ceremony. To me, it’s even more rare than a Super Bowl Half Time Show, and much more spectacular. (I am chuckling a little right now, and I don’t know how to type that up - so there ya go.)
I was startled to learn that not everyone is as enamored with the Olympics Opening Ceremony that I am. It’s interesting to learn these things about people - that they think differently than we do, isn’t it?
Near the end of this year’s Olympics Opening Ceremony, there was an amazing silver horse - a beautiful work of engineering. A horse running on the Seine River in Paris, France. Wow. It was spectacular to watch this gorgeous metal horse canter (I think it was a canter, but I’m not a horse aficionado like some people are, and I haven’t asked anyone else if it was a canter) up the river.
I rewound the show and told my partner they would love it. So they did. And - it was spectacular the second time around - too! I could tell, that second time, that an actual person was riding the horse, and the rider wasn’t also mechanical or a statue or something. The rider was steering the horse up the Seine. Wow.
And I just wanted to share that in my opinion, the Olympic athletes are about as close as we can get, in real life, to the physique of super heros. They aren’t drawn comics. They are real people, who train beyond all measure of training. They are the best of the best, selected from years of competitions. And I find the whole experience of watching the Olympics (now every 2 years, and this year - with more sports! I can’t wait to see the new events!) to be breath-taking and wondrous.
Are you watching the Olympics? I watched the Women’s Basketball game today (Monday) against Japan. What a game! I also watched some of the archery and the amazing kayaking. Those white water rapids, made as a course was amazing too! Wow!
[a Bitmoji cartoon of Jodi in a row boat. She is wearing a white shirt and a dark blue jacket.]
I love white water rafting - the last time I did that was in Jasper, Alberta, Canada, with my mum. It’s one of my favorite memories - and it’s the town, Jasper, that I named my dog. So here is a picture of my Jasper - because he is so cute, and I just realized I haven’t shared my dogs in a few of the recent issues. 😆
[Photo of my black, American Cocker Spaniel, Jasper, with his white tuft of fur on his chest. He is sitting on a laminate floor that is cream colored, speckled with browns and blues.]
So that’s it for today’s issue - I just wanted to share that I love the Olympics and I wonder if you do, too? Are you watching them?
I would say more about the Opening Ceremonies in Paris, but it appears to be so controversial. But I, personally, loved all of it. The color, the inclusivity, the large-ness of the whole thing - their creativity couldn’t be captured in a stadium. I loved the art, the music, the quirky fashion, the man in the ballet pointe shoes (wow!) and everything else I can’t even put into words just yet.
[a cartoon Bitmoji image of Jodi, wearing a pink dress, sitting on a stool. She is holding a painter’s palette & paintbrush, and painting on an easle. While we see cartoon-Jodi’s face, we only see the back of the easel.]
And who knows how many of us will ever be able to go to actual France and see the lit up Eiffel Tower - whose night image is is copyrighted, so it’s not okay to take photos of it at night. I loved seeing the Eiffel Tower all lit up!
What a gift, from the people of Paris, to take us in to their beautiful city, and let all of us, around the world, get to see their city on our TV screens, and imagine, even if just for a few hours, what it would be like to walk those streets and ride on a boat up the Seine River.
That's so crazy to think you can't take photos of the Eifel tower at night. I think I did back in the 80s. 🤣 Who knew?
I'm loving some of the side-by-side video that has been put online of then vs now events - swimming, gymnastics, etc. amazing
Ooh! Side by side events?? Where are you seeing stuff like that?
Did you see the bronze medal Womens rugby game?