Opening Ceremony Of The Pan Am Games 2007

[Anne Marie]

Stop being sarcastic and ironic from the other side of the planet. YOU ARE WRONG! I was there, of course people were for the brazilians competitors but WITHOUT depreciating the canadian performance. It's normal to hear the crowd when something bad happens (except in hyperpolites asian countries with their expressionless people). She was one of the preferred and carismatic at the competition and at the end people were cheering and clapping her performance.

YES, Brazil is very passionated and I belieeve it will be one of the leacies of OG in Rio, people we now have a chace to realize this not a SOCCER MATCH. Except for the US competitors and the actual political situation of their President in the international scnario at that time (GW BUSH), I agree they were not very welcomed by the population despite my against position (they athlets no politicians). The Cuban Team were receveid like kings and they headed the worst problems in some categories such as Judo and Volley. IOC IS COMPLETELY CORRECT TO GIVE US A CHANCE maybe one day WE'LL BE "AS POLITE AS YOU ARE" (like Whitney Houston reception few days ago in your country.

Give me a break.

I was curious how the Opening Ceremony of the Pan Am Games 2007 were and I searched for some videos on youtube - the pics are not professional, but it gives an impression how the OC might be in 2016!

very impressive!!!

... but I have to add this video which I found when I was searching for videos of the opening ceremony of Rio de Janeiro 2007 - I hope this won't happen in Rio 2016 again:

I wonder what the commentators are saying?

[Anne Marie]

Baby wake-up: PanAm IS NOT OG. Maybe you've considered the Dominicam PanAm open ceremony at the level of Beijim's one...Oh....please

The 2007 PanAms opening ceremony was a nice show, but I think it was rather unimaginative and predictable. When compared with recent Olympic opening ceremonies, it looks like a 90s production.

We need something unexpected, something that will knock everyone's socks off with a tight narrative and kick-ass technical production wizardry, but still retain a strong sense of the host city/country's culture. Think Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008.

[Lord David]

Can we expect Rio 2007 at a grander scale?

If I recall, they wanted a suspended cauldron but could not do so due to budget constraints, will we see it this time round?

Thanks to what we saw at Beijing 2008 and Vancouver 2010, will we see an elevator type setup? Perhaps the perfect choice for a concealed cauldron, that emerges at the pivotal moment, is lit, then "magically" rises to be suspended on the roof?

Will the Athletes be seated again? Surely you can retain the simple (though seat taking) water feature, have say 8,000-10,000 athletes and officials with perhaps 5,000-6,000 at ground level (or will that take up too much space?)?

What innovations will we see? Perhaps a unique use for floor projections? Maybe show the "flat" floor with projections in the countdown, only to have live satellite feeds from a park (or better yet the field of each Olympic Stadium) of each of the previous host cities, on birds eye view, where performers form each number of the countdown. So we'd have Athens 1896 with a 31, Paris at 30, St Louis at 29 etc, till we come to London at 2, then the projections finish the elevator emerging with performers displaying 1 and then the expected fireworks opener extravaganza (well a small sampling).

[Ikarus360]

I'm still worried about what are they gonna do with the ahtletes on the Opening Ceremony considering Maracana pitch is smaller. Perhaps they'll use part of the tribunes as well to sit them? They also need to do some renovations like building tunnels below the turf in order to make stuff come from the ground

I believe the problem with the suspended cauldron was that the roof wasnt strong enough to support it or something like it, as well for the budget. Another problem they need to fix.

[baron-pierreIV]

Will the Athletes be seated again? Surely you can retain the simple (though seat taking) water feature, have say 8,000-10,000 athletes and officials with perhaps 5,000-6,000 at ground level (or will that take up too much space?)?

It's not a matter of space. Seating 9,000 athletes means loosing some 9,000 "A" Premium seats' income thus that would mean a loss of at least some $15 million dollars for the organizing committee.

[Mau2010]

I see two problems here for Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony:

- During PanAms ceremonies the space was bigger, but now new tribunes were built, I know that Winter Olympics use trackless stadiums for Ceremonies, but this time we're talking about almost 200 Olympic Teams from different countries, that's much bigger and with a reduced space like that they won't only have to walk on parade, but also will have to find a place to stand until the end of the ceremonies, I don't see how's that possible in a smaller space than in 2007

- Unless they do the same as Vancouver we won't see a different cauldron from what we saw on PanAms, don't forget that new Maracana Roof extensions will be extended to the center, they'll be made of some kind of glass so a Beijing-type cauldron over the roof is discarded, no similar material at a similar distance would support a thing like that, so no surprise if for Olympics we see the sun-shaped cauldron again

[Lord David]

I see two problems here for Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony:

- During PanAms ceremonies the space was bigger, but now new tribunes were built, I know that Winter Olympics use trackless stadiums for Ceremonies, but this time we're talking about almost 200 Olympic Teams from different countries, that's much bigger and with a reduced space like that they won't only have to walk on parade, but also will have to find a place to stand until the end of the ceremonies, I don't see how's that possible in a smaller space than in 2007

- Unless they do the same as Vancouver we won't see a different cauldron from what we saw on PanAms, don't forget that new Maracana Roof extensions will be extended to the center, they'll be made of some kind of glass so a Beijing-type cauldron over the roof is discarded, no similar material at a similar distance would support a thing like that, so no surprise if for Olympics we see the sun-shaped cauldron again

More reason to sacrifice 10,000 seats in the stands and add say 5,000 seats on floor level.

[Lord David]

I'm still worried about what are they gonna do with the ahtletes on the Opening Ceremony considering Maracana pitch is smaller. Perhaps they'll use part of the tribunes as well to sit them? They also need to do some renovations like building tunnels below the turf in order to make stuff come from the ground

I believe the problem with the suspended cauldron was that the roof wasnt strong enough to support it or something like it, as well for the budget. Another problem they need to fix.

I can see another problem with the suspended cauldron (provided of course it stays in say the center on the stadium and doesn't do some fancy moving around), come the football competition, a little too high a kick of the ball and the ball gets flamed by the sun shaped cauldron.

[DannyelBrazil]

Don`t worry people, politicians of Rio already started talks about building a new and "most modern Olympic Stadium in the world"...

As Beijing, they planned a smaller Olympic Stadium, and then we had Bird Nest... If politicians' wishes come true, Rio will do the same...

Too early to be worried about Rio's ceremony... The projects have been modified by IOC and Rio2016-OCOG lately, so Maracana can be ruled out.

[Victor Mata]

I doubt they'll reuse a 9 year old cauldron from a PanAm Games to the Olympics. We don't even know if the Sun will fit the simbology for Rio 2016 as it did for Rio 2007.

[baron-pierreIV]

/\ All of those ceremonial decisions are going to be decided by the Ceremonies team. But they're NOT going to use that same PanAm cauldron. What? Is Rio too cheap and so unoriginal as to reuse an old cauldron?

[Dinhu4ever]

Don`t worry people, politicians of Rio already started talks about building a new and "most modern Olympic Stadium in the world"...

As Beijing, they planned a smaller Olympic Stadium, and then we had Bird Nest... If politicians' wishes come true, Rio will do the same...

Too early to be worried about Rio's ceremony... The projects have been modified by IOC and Rio2016-OCOG lately, so Maracana can be ruled out.

Wait, what? o.o Where did you see that?

[mr_one]

Wait, what? o.o Where did you see that?

I saw this too, and was in the DENI MENEZES's blog. They're thinking in buildind a new stadium (probably will be a olympic stadium) at Barra cluster.

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Talking about the cauldron, of course they will NOT reuse the same cauldron of Rio 2007 Pan Am... And atheletes will not be seated, the'll be in the middle of the fiel like in the others ceremonies. Who is thinking that the field of Maracanã Stadium is small, no, it is not small.

[Mau2010]

Maracana's field is smaller, this is how it was for PanAms 2007

This is how it is now

This is how it will be for 2016

Of course in the other hand ceremonies could be held at Joao Havelange Stadium, but there should be built new tribunes over the south and north ones since 40.000 seats is kinda small for an Olympic Ceremony, and I'm not sure if Rio would like to do that.

[gotosy]

^anyway the Joao Havelange stadium will have the seating capacity increased to 60,000 to host the athletics competition

[Dinhu4ever]

^anyway the Joao Havelange stadium will have the seating capacity increased to 60,000 to host the athletics competition

Then what's the point in increasing the capacity of a stadium that has only seen a sold out audience once if they're building a new stadium in Barra/Jacarepaguá? And, honestly, moving the final from Maracanã? That's almost criminal!

[Mau2010]

Then what's the point in increasing the capacity of a stadium that has only seen a sold out audience once if they're building a new stadium in Barra/Jacarepaguá? And, honestly, moving the final from Maracanã? That's almost criminal!

I guess (ONLY GUESS!) that using Joao Havelange Stadium as Athetics venue for 2016 Olympics would be cancelled as Maracana's Ceremonies venue if a new Olympic Stadium is built.

[Victor Mata]

Don't know if it's the right place for this but check it:

Handover to Guadalajara at CC:

[Mau2010]

Now that I saw this video, I guess if Maracana is used for Opening Ceremony they could probably do a parade of nations like this one (check after 4:28)

Of course I personally think that for some reason a parade of nations like that has not the same taste of a multi-person parade

[aluz]

There will be no stadium in the Barra/Jacarepagua area either for the WC or for the 2016 SOG.

The JH stadium will be upgraded to 60.000 people to be in line with the IAAF requirements and Maracanã will be refurbished for the 2014 WC. By the way, the JH stadium was already built with the columns that will provide support to the additional 15.000 places to be added for 2016. So we are probably talking about a quick and unexpensive work.

[DannyelBrazil]

There will be no stadium in the Barra/Jacarepagua area either for the WC or for the 2016 SOG.

The JH stadium will be upgraded to 60.000 people to be in line with the IAAF requirements and Maracanã will be refurbished for the 2014 WC. By the way, the JH stadium was already built with the columns that will provide support to the additional 15.000 places to be added for 2016. So we are probably talking about a quick and unexpensive work.

Aluz, I wish you're right...

I don't trust on Brazilian politicians and their megalomaniac ideas...

Indeed, Rio made a project and won, why not follow it without huge changes?

[Mau2010]

Aluz, I wish you're right...

I don't trust on Brazilian politicians and their megalomaniac ideas...

Indeed, Rio made a project and won, why not follow it without huge changes?

Well, London oficcialy presented a very different plan from what they showed when they bid at Singapore for 2012, so no wonder if Rio does the same thing.

[DannyelBrazil]

Well, London oficcialy presented a very different plan from what they showed when they bid at Singapore for 2012, so no wonder if Rio does the same thing.

Changes are good, since Rio plan was not perfect (Far from it)... But now, the mayor wants to changes lotssssssssssss of things...

Is this good to Rio??? I mean, should IOC get annoyed with those changes after approve a plan?

[OneTimeOnly]

/\ All of those ceremonial decisions are going to be decided by the Ceremonies team. But they're NOT going to use that same PanAm cauldron. What? Is Rio too cheap and so unoriginal as to reuse an old cauldron?

Sure why not? If they already have a cauldron lying around, why not use it???? Why waste money on something that's uneeded???

[aluz]

Changes are good, since Rio plan was not perfect (Far from it)... But now, the mayor wants to changes lotssssssssssss of things...

Is this good to Rio??? I mean, should IOC get annoyed with those changes after approve a plan?

The changes proposed by the Mayor are good for the city. There is no doubt that refurbishing the Port is more important than building a lot of stuff in Barra, but the question is the impact on the SOG logistics. The Port lies in one edge of the city and is not well connected to the Barra and Deodoro clusters. So, a radical move to the Port would probably require a change in the venue plan, as well, which might leave the OTC, Riocentro and HSBC Arena in a difficult situation.

There is also the financial impact of the move. Transforming an Olympic Village in a residential compound in Barra is more profitable than doing it at the Port. So, it might be expensive to move the OV or the Media Village to that area.

What I believe will happen is a moderate move, with part of the press and a advanced post of the IPC being placed at the Port. In that way, this part of the IPC would be closer to events such as the Marathon, the OCs, Sailing and Road Cycling.