So many moments from the opening ceremonies are worthy of celebrating. We won’t be discussing those here.
Also in this post:
Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth
See that?
Rather we’ll take a look at how the International Olympic Committee and London 2012 organizers lied to us. And then NBC let them off the hook with its silence.
Repeatedly in the days leading up to the opening ceremonies, IOC President Jacques Rogge rejected pleas to observe a moment of silence for the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.
“We feel that the Opening Ceremony is an atmosphere that is not fit to remember such a tragic incident,” he said. So imagine my surprise when the big event had not one, but two moments of silence.
First we had a pause during the wild recap of Great Britain history, to remember those who died during World Wars I and II. You got to see that one.
Then, at 10:14 p.m., London time, just before the parade of nations, the stadium went silent as a massive video wall displayed thousands of faces, pictures submitted by audience members of friends and family who did not live long enough to celebrate the games.
NBC instead took a commercial break. No mention of the memorial, or questions about why there wasn’t time to honor 11 more faces.
When Israel entered the stadium, NBC’s Bob Costas did note that Olympic organizers instead had honored the slain athletes several days earlier, in front of an audience of several hundred in the athletes’ village.
Costas has been a voice of reason, noting that it would be only proper to take note of the grim anniversary during the ceremony. But instead he had to take a moment of silence during the pre-show coverage.
It’s just not right.
Ok. Moving on.
Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth
Tweet of the night came after James Bond and The Queen made their entrance, via parachute.
“So I think the Queen and James Bond just parachuted into Olympic Stadium. Now its a party,” tweeted Mike Foss, senior social media editor at USA Today.
Okay, technically it was a stunt double under canopy. But it was the real queen in the video. And it apparently was more challenging to get the shots of the helicopter racing along the Thames than it was to get her highness to vamp with Daniel Craig.
See That?
I thought my eyesight was bad, but South Korea has an archer with 20/200 vision. That means he can’t read the keys on a keyboard, let alone see the target. Despite that, he set two world records on Friday during the first round of competition.
“It’s just the first round so I won’t get too excited about it,” he told reporters. Given that he won gold medals in 2008 and 2004, he may know what he’s talking about.
About Project TILWO — Every day I watch London 2012 Olympic coverage on TV and online then share the lessons I learned, with occasional help from my friends. Edited by Lynn Hess @ Premier Proofing.
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