It’s a week late in posting, but better late than never.
DC managed to get free tickets to a very special event taking place in Singapore this month – the opening ceremony of the inaugural summer Youth Olympic Games. After seeing the fantastic opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, we knew it would be a tough act for Singapore to follow. However, we knew that the ceremony would still feature plenty fireworks, dancing and hopefully a great party atmosphere.
It was held at the floating platform at Marina Bay. Knowing that there would be a huge crowd of spectators, we decided to go to there early and have dinner there first. We were lucky enough to find a parking lot right next to the main entrance to the grandstands at Marina Square, and after having a quick dinner, we walked over to the entrance to find a large crowd already forming. We queued up dutifully, but after a while we started to wonder why the queue was moving so slowly. At first we thought it was because of the stringent security checks, but when we finally got to the ticketing entrance, we found to our dismay that the reason why we had queued for so long was because the ticket sensor wasn’t working properly! For the event, the organisers had very proudly announced that the ticket would be a newfangled swipe card that also doubled as a Visa pre-paid card. It was all very good except that the ticket sensors were having trouble reading the swipes, so every ticket required several tries before they could finally be read. This delay caused the logjam of people at the entry point. It wasn’t a great start to the night, and we wondered what the international community would be thinking of Singapore’s much-vaunted efficiency.
Things got worse when we finally got to the grandstands. The tickets are priced in accordance with the different zones in the grandstand, with Yellow being the closest to the action (short of Red, for the VIPs). We had the Yellow tickets, but we soon realised that this didn’t mean anything as no one was checking to see if people really did hold Yellow tickets or tickets of some other colour. As a result, I think a lot of people were sitting in the Yellow zone without actually holding Yellow tickets. Moreover, we were unable to find a seat for some time as the ushers seemed to be confused about where the empty seats were. But this wasn’t the worst thing – what really annoyed us was that some people were reserving empty seats and claiming that they were waiting for their friends, but as the night wore on it became apparent that no one was turning up and said “people” were simply hogging extra seats so that they could put their bags somewhere. One woman and her young son took up five seats! So much for the Olympic spirit.
We tried not to let these events dampen our spirit – after all, it was the YOG and it was held in Singapore. The stage was certainly beautiful. Because it was a floating platform, the backdrop was the Marina Bay reservoir fringed by the tall skyscrapers, including the infamous “surfboard” that was the new Marina Bay Sands resort. What was particularly interesting was that a large portion of the platform was partially submerged in the water. We realised as that this was to allow the performers to wade through and achieve some rather stunning visual effects, such as the opening act that featured performers making Olympic rings in the shallow water. It was all rather clever.
The next few performances, however, were a bit dubious. One of the acts featured the origins of Singapore. Coming hot on the heels of our National Day celebrations the week before, it was all a little dejavu. DC felt that we were watching the National Day celebrations part deux. Yet another performance was labelled “Monster”, and had a huge monstrous puppet that was operated by 20 people as the centrepiece of the stage. I think the idea was to convey how the youngsters are able to face their fears and conquer them to achieve future success, but somehow the props seemed a bit too frightening for some of the audience. The last performance that was a bit controversial featured a young girl who was told by her mother not to play with fire, but gleefully ignored her and proceeded to set the whole stage on fire. While this made for an excellent visual spectacle, I wonder what sort of message the organisers were trying to send here.
Fortunately, a few other performances managed to produce a decent effect. One example was the glowing dragon that arrived by boat and waded through the shallow water. The dragon’s body was actually comprised of a horde of performers. It was very impressive.
Yet another performance that was apparently very visually appealing was the arrival of the Olympic flame on the back of a glowing boat shaped like a phoenix. Unfortunately my vantage point was a bit off, so I didn’t manage to get a good look at the phoenix boat or the dozen dragon boats that flanked it.
Finally, it was time for both the Singapore and Olympic flags to be raised. I found it rather impressive and was even more wowed when the wind picked up such that both flags actually flew during the raising ceremony!
And the flame being lit was of course quite something. I think the flame tornado idea is awesome.
And finally the Olympic torch was light and here it will burn for the rest of the games.
Overall, the opening ceremony left me with mixed feelings. Personally, I think some things could have been done better, such as the organisation and seating arrangements. These are things that are absolutely essential, and we were let down. As far as the performances were concerned, I think they were very much a matter of personal taste and while I didn’t agree with some acts, I don’t think the performers can be faulted.
I am aggrieved at one thing in particular though. And this was the release of hundreds of helium-filled plastic doves into the air when the Olympic flame was lit. While it was indeed a very lovely sight that elicited gasps of appreciation from the crowd, the lack of long-term perspective galled me. We were close enough to see that the plastic being released into the air was the plastic-bag variety, which will have to come down at some point and end up in the sea, contributing to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and posing a dangerous hazard to the sealife. Great environmental message that the organisers are trying to send to the world’s youth, particularly at an event that celebrated youth and the potentious future ahead. It was simply appalling and I can’t condemn this enough. To me, this event was ruined by one very stupid act.
Not a good start for the world’s first YOG.
eat. drink. cook. travel. 