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Closing Ceremony Details


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Where do you get all those information from? Do you have any links or pictures?

If they are going to use the pit again, then they have to remove the turf on the infield overnight for the closing ceremony day. They still need the turf for the men's javelin throw on Saturday. Or maybe they want their ceremonial props a little bit pierced. ;)

Don't worry. If you ever watched the final battle scene from Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower, you will know how fast they can handle carpets of plants. :P

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Where do you get all those information from? Do you have any links or pictures?

If they are going to use the pit again, then they have to remove the turf on the infield overnight for the closing ceremony day. They still need the turf for the men's javelin throw on Saturday. Or maybe they want their ceremonial props a little bit pierced. ;)

Just read an article done just after the opening ceremony, talking about the time period they had to outfit the stadium from opening ceremonies mode to track and field mode - in addition to loading up all the closing ceremony props.

They will have around 8 hours to fit out the stadium into closing ceremony mode on sunday - I dunno how much of the turf they will have to change. Sydney obviously left their turf out, but Athens had their spiral on the field for the closing ceremony.

The NBC reps have apparently gone to see the closing ceremony rehersal and said it was amazing.

It will have a case of 7000 people, none of which appeared in the opening - well none of the mass perform,ers at least.

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I just read this item on ITV's Teletext news:

"London 2012 will unveil its blueprint to be the Cool Olympics with an 8 minute closing clot in the Beijing Closing Ceremony.Rock legend Jimmy Page and singer Leona Lewis will perform and footballer David Beckham will also be involved.

The set will start with a London double decker bus circling the Bird's Nest stadium pursued by cyclists Chris Hoy,Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade."

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I just read this item on ITV's Teletext news:

"London 2012 will unveil its blueprint to be the Cool Olympics with an 8 minute closing clot in the Beijing Closing Ceremony.Rock legend Jimmy Page and singer Leona Lewis will perform and footballer David Beckham will also be involved.

The set will start with a London double decker bus circling the Bird's Nest stadium pursued by cyclists Chris Hoy,Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade."

Sounds like its the traditional stereotypical presentation.

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Just hope that it is not the "Vancouver 2010" version of what the London 2012 presentation will look like. Man, some people really stuck it to VANOC, when they were displeased about how it was perceived at the Torino 2006 closing ceremony. Anyway, I cannot wait for what LOCOG approved for previewing London's Olympic Games at the time alloted.

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Just hope that it is not the "Vancouver 2010" version of what the London 2012 presentation will look like. Man, some people really stuck it to VANOC, when they were displeased about how it was perceived at the Torino 2006 closing ceremony. Anyway, I cannot wait for what LOCOG approved for previewing London's Olympic Games at the time alloted.

The handovers always get stick, particular with the home audiences in the next host city, who always tend to squirm at what is presented.

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Hi guys found this on the bbc website this morning. Many of these could be redding herrings. but its sounds like a bit of fun and very tongue in cheek and not taking ourselves too seriously. GB gets the gold medal for queuing, sarcasm, rain and humour!

______________________________________________________

London's handover plans revealed

CLOSING CEREMONY: Watch live from 1200 BST SUNDAY on the BBC Sport website (UK users only). Further coverage on BBC One and red button.

The details of London's role in the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony have been revealed, with the eight-minute slot hailed as "London loud and proud."

Musicians Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis will perform on Sunday as London unveil their blueprint for 2012.

The £2.5m set also features footballer David Beckham and cyclists Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton and Shanaze Reade.

Bill Morris, London 2012 director of ceremonies, insists London will not compete with China in terms of scale.

The closing ceremony is expected to be as spectacular as the four-hour ceremony which launched the Games just over two weeks ago.

But while the opening ceremony focused on 1,000 years of Chinese history, the closing event will be much more about showcasing "the diversity and colour of modern China".

Morris said London's part in the spectacle, which would start after London mayor Boris Johnson received the Olympic flag, would be "simple and creative".

London's set will start with a red London double-decker bus driving around the Bird's Nest stadium.

The bus will be backed by a musical sequence which combines elements of the shipping forecast, Jersualem, Greensleeves and harmonies based on the chimes of Big Ben.

Hoy, Pendleton and Reade, dressed as everyday Londoners, will then follow on their bikes.

Three dance groups will also be involved - the Royal Ballet, street dance theatre group ZooNation and CandoCo, a company which specialises in mixing performers with and without disabilities.

The dancers will surround the double-decker when it comes to a halt at a bus stop, and a 10-year-old girl from east London, Tayyiba Dudhwala, will emerge to receive a football from another girl, Erika Tham.

The bus will then transform itself, with the top half folding down in segments to show a privet hedge cut into shapes of the London skyline: Tower Bridge, Battersea Power Station, the Houses of Parliament, while a phalanx of black umbrellas will be unfurled alongside.

Our approach is to keep it simple and creative, to make it youthful and diverse, entertaining and fun

Bill Morris

Then X-Factor winner Lewis will emerge from the roof on a rising column to sing an RnB aria before guitarist Page emerges for the duo to perform a new version of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'.

As the song nears its conclusion, former England captain Beckham will appear on another lift, accompanied by Tayyiba, and will kick a football into the crowd of athletes, sparking a live link-up to the handover party outside Buckingham Palace.

After the flag handover, a version of the national anthem will be sung by the National Youth Theatre.

Morris admitted he was stunned by the scale of the opening ceremony, which involved drums, a light show and 29 sets of fireworks, but said he was not overawed.

"I can genuinely say I did not feel a sense of nervousness that we had to follow that because London brings other things and it will be a different place and a different time," he said.

"We will take a London approach and will be different. Our approach is to keep it simple and creative, to make it youthful and diverse, entertaining and fun."

He said the segment was neither a short version of the likely 2012 opening, nor an attempt to encapsulate Britain in eight minutes, but it was a small "fun" taster of what is to come in four years time.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe admitted the handover slot was a tough prospect but believed it would be succesful.

"We are not going to win over everybody but it is something that will appeal both to younger generations and to more mature generations such as myself," said Coe, 52.

"I just love the version of Whole Lotta Love that he (Jimmy Page) and Leona Lewis have done."

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There will be 7,000 performers at the closing, compared to the 15,000 at the opening. So basically, what we're getting for the closing is a theatric performance equivalent to the opening ceremony while Beijing's actual opening ceremony was like having three opening ceremonies all at once. :D

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