mattygs

Just coming to the end stages of the Opening Ceremony and *Light it Up* display.
Stunned by the events so far, never thought I would see that kind of performance of a ceremony in New Zealand - in this age of video based ceremonies.
Had the perfect touch of authentic culture and true rugby spirit, not to mention a nod to the City of Christchurch (for those not aware, the Canterbury rugby jersey are the red and black hoops).
Loved the music, Victoria Kelly did a great job. Big fan of the Pacifica choir too, very New Zealand.
I was really impressed at how polished the whole thing was, and loved the way that the ceremony really did link in with the hammerhead shark concept which is the basis of the New Zealand 2011 visual identity.
Well done David Atkins and team.

Following on from the discussion re: Seb Coe and his job (so far) as the fearless leader of LOCOG and his suitability as rising up the IOC ranks, I wonder if it might be appropriate to look back at the various people who have lead the efforts of hosting an Olympic Games - the presidents of the OCOGS.

Granted, some have made themselves more well known than others.
A few of the more well noted Presidents

- Peter Uberroth : the leader of the LA84 Games was possibly the first to gain international attention as an OCOG President, and of course, credited by many as a key player in the future financial model success of the Olympic Games

- Gerhard Heiberg: IOC darling of the Lillehammer Games who is the exception when it comes to OCOG presidents to have moved into the IOC

- Billy Payne : the polarising character who headed up Atlanta's ACOG

- Gianna Angelopolous Daskalaki & Mitt Romney: I put these two together as they were I guess the saviours of two OCOGS facing some pretty rough waters at the time

- John Furlong: apparantly a driven yet very low key (at least in appearance) head of VANOC

- Sandy Hollway and Michael Knight: the two main men in delivering the Sydney Games, though no blood lost between these two. Seems to be Sandy was never given as much credit as he was deserved?

In any case, those are just a few names that come to mind. Other have come and gone, a few seem to have gotten on with the job without causing too much fuss (at least in the context of the job).

Be interested as to peoples opinions on who have performed the best out of presidents of the OCOGS.

As a side note, who was the infamous being who held the chiefship of the ATHOC before the IOC nudged him out and asked for Gianna to come back?

A lil while back I asked for abit of advice on Olympic points of interest that I might come across on my round the world jaunt.
Left Auckland a few weeks ago and can report that I have ticked off 3 hosts from the list.

Heading to Australia first, surprisingly, it was my first visit to Sydney. Took a cat out to Homebush, what an odd place to arrive at by the water, really doesn't appear much like what you would expect from an Olympic park. I hate taking the bus, so thought it would be fine to take the walk from the wharf into the park. After many minutes questioning our directional skills, we ended up at our destination.Spent an enjoyable arvo there wandering around and taking photos. Got the must do photo shot infront of the logo sculpture on Darling Harbour - stayed at King St Wharf so nice and convenient.

Sitting here in Kyoto at the moment, but also managed to cross off Tokyo and Nagano from the list.
Amazing seeing the national Olympic stadium by Kenzo, really hard to believe it was built when it was, it's the kind of venue architecture that we see today.
Nagano was an unknown quantity for me. Unless you're heading into the mountains, I guess it's not the place you would normally visit, and via Shinkansen, I was only there for a day.
As I'd heard, just a normal working class city, not amazing to look at, but very friendly . Went to Zenko-ji and had a geeze at the bell used to start the opening ceremony.
Standing at the rail station, you could definetely sense that it would be a far more impressive urban area in winter, the place is surrounded by mountains and they'd look fantastic dressed in snow.
Also headed out to Shinonoi station and did the short walk to Minami Nagano Sports Park. Really is a nice oasis in an otherwise rugged industrial area. Great to see the cauldron up close, was surprised - thought it would be bigger.
The park has a distinct lack of *Olympic related* sculpture and memorial, and to be fair, an abundance of awful awful art. Thought they may have had something abit like sydney has with their *8 women* sculpture, but nothing - just a few bits of wire in their ornamental lake really.
Unfortunately, time didn't let me venture out to any of the other venues, had to make do with the shots of the White Ring and Big Hat from the train. (
Still, a very productive and memorable little Olympic trip so far.

Leaving Japan on Monday, next stop - London, followed by Lausanne and Barcelona.