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Toronto 2015 Opening Ceremony Live chat


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I was thinking the same thing. I though an athlete from Ontario would be last torch bearer.

Are you referring to the Millennial New Years Eve celebration? I know that was a failure, but I do remember it. Speaking of which, I wish Toronto had a much better New Years celebration, but that's another issue. I've always imagined an elevator rising, (or dropping from the top) with the lights acting behind it generating a giant countdown before the New Year, at which a giant fireworks show happens, that's a pipe dream but it's an idea.

I was kind of disappointed that Steve Nash did it. I was honestly expecting Donovan Bailey to do it and was kind of shocked he did not end up doing it. Would have much preferred if it was someone from the GTA who lit the cauldron.

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Well I guess, Wayne Gretzky from Ontario lit the cauldron in Vancouver (remember he lit the cauldron outdoors after), so I guess it's kind of "payback" in a way that Steve Nash lit the Pan Am cauldron in Toronto.

Yes, some will debate if there are actually 4 cauldron lighters in the Vancouver ceremony, but I think how Gretzky lit a second cauldron immediately after suggests that he was the sole final torch bearer.

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I totally forgot that Wayne lit the outdoor cauldron by himself.

Well I guess, Wayne Gretzky from Ontario lit the cauldron in Vancouver (remember he lit the cauldron outdoors after), so I guess it's kind of "payback" in a way that Steve Nash lit the Pan Am cauldron in Toronto.

Yes, some will debate if there are actually 4 cauldron lighters in the Vancouver ceremony, but I think how Gretzky lit a second cauldron immediately after suggests that he was the sole final torch bearer.

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Wikipedia claims about Vancouver's cauldron:

"Under IOC rules, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron must be witnessed by those attending the opening ceremony, implying that it must be lit at the location where the ceremony is taking place. Although another IOC rule states that the cauldron should be witnessed outside by the entire residents of the entire host city, this was not possible since the ceremony took place indoors"

So if that's true, and I bet there are some experts on this site that can verify this. Does this make Vancouver 2010 W.O., and Toronto 2015 P.A., the only two olympics/regional games to have an opening ceremony indoors? Assuming that the Asian Games and the like has the same kind of finale to the opening ceremony, where a cauldron is lit. I usually don't really care about opening/closing ceremonies too much and always pay attention to the actual events.

If those are indeed the rules, then I think it is crystal clear that Vancouver had one final torch bearer, and that was Wayne Gretzky, the cauldron inside BC Place was but a red herring, while I do wish Steve Nash had a better path to the cauldron than awkwardly exiting at Gate 5, (well what could you really do with the SkyDome) as well his flame nearly being extinguished when he was running didn't help either. I guess it was an ok finale.

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So if that's true, and I bet there are some experts on this site that can verify this. Does this make Vancouver 2010 W.O., and Toronto 2015 P.A., the only two olympics/regional games to have an opening ceremony indoors?

Sochi's ceremony was underneath a roof, but that was temporary so I don't know if it really counts.

I recorded the ceremony, so I was able to skip the speeches and most of the parade.

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Sochi's ceremony was underneath a roof, but that was temporary so I don't know if it really counts.

I recorded the ceremony, so I was able to skip the speeches and most of the parade.

Sochi's stadium had a strip along the middle of open air. So it wasn't entirely under a roof, if memory serves me right, when Tretiak lit that cauldron, he ran to the edge of the stadium which was totally exposed to the outdoors which allows the city of Sochi to see the cauldron being lit. In a venue like BC Place or the Rogers Centre (of course with the roof closed), no one in the actual city can see the flame being lit if the cauldron was located inside the building, hence that's why I call the first cauldron in Vancouver a fake cauldron.

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Sochi's stadium had a strip along the middle of open air. So it wasn't entirely under a roof, if memory serves me right, when Tretiak lit that cauldron, he ran to the edge of the stadium which was totally exposed to the outdoors which allows the city of Sochi to see the cauldron being lit. In a venue like BC Place or the Rogers Centre (of course with the roof closed), no one in the actual city can see the flame being lit if the cauldron was located inside the building, hence that's why I call the first cauldron in Vancouver a fake cauldron.

Well, only the audience of the London OC from 2012 saw the cauldron being lit, the rest of the city didn't see a damn thing. I don't know if that added anything to the convo, but yea I said it lol

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Wow, just got back from the ceremony. Aside from Julio's speech, that show was absolutely incredible. I'm watching a replay right now online and it looks even better than it did in person. The stage was a little far from the seats but it was still amazing. The torch lighting was a fantastic idea, mother to son and then the future to the past of Canadian basketball. Will have more comments and photos tomorrow...

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Well, only the audience of the London OC from 2012 saw the cauldron being lit, the rest of the city didn't see a damn thing. I don't know if that added anything to the convo, but yea I said it lol

Again, I am no expert on this topic, usually I don't bother watching the opening ceremonies at all, as they seem to go on and on and on.....I guess I'll have to brush up and see footage of cauldron lightings from previous Olympics and Regional Games. One that does come to mind about what I'm saying is Atlanta, remember where the cauldron was in that stadium, basically on the top along the walls of the stadium. Of course, anyone outside the stadium could see the cauldron being lit, now I'll have to see where London's cauldron actually was.....I know we are running into a tangent with this thread, but it's something I wanted to inquire about.

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I really loved the ceremonies.... It was quite different of what we have seen so far ... But excelent.. and most of all elegant!!!!! fine, artistic...

I can say it is a rule-breaking ceremony!!!!

Love it!!! Unforgetable night!!!! :) :) :) :) :)

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Having reviewed these ceremonies and some of the comments, it is clear that this ceremony ( or at least the execution of it) was divisive. I shall commence my evaluation from the strong points of the proceedings.

Undeniably, the music was officially magnificent. The last time I heard a musical score of the standard heard was Sydney 2000. A memorable ace. The opening of the love segment with the National Ballet of Canada was sensational and the final leg of the torch relay, including the Donovan Baily "Jump" right up to the Steve Nash jog outside the Stadium was incredible and of "genius" standard.

That being established, and clearly so, the ceremony validated much of my initial concerns. It was, in essence, a presentation that remained by and large within the Cirque "box" (e.g. over reliance on aerial work, etc). There was nothing wrong really with what was happening on stage, what was wrong was the scale. As I said before, a show like that was inappropriate for a setting like that. It was atrociously dark most of the time and that seemed to strangle any build-up of excitement in my opinion. Furthermore, the audience seemed very isolated from what was going on - that's why it is strategically important to have some sort of audience participation because it widens the sense of "ownership" of what is happening. What happened after Steve Nash is a complete loss to me. A cauldron lighting should be an honour for the athlete selected NOT an embarrassment for him/her. Over the last two major multi-sport events held in Canada, the cauldron lighting fell into the latter category. I commend the idea of trying to reinvent the wheel. However, in doing so, you must be very mindful of detail. It was nice to see fireworks over the CN Tower. I also didn't get the sense that the athletes were "thrilled" to be there and that was the sad part.

All in all a very well though through rating of 5.8 out of 10. Let the games begin! Congratulations Toronto.


It did not exceed Guadalajara nor Vancouver...and that's the toothaching truth.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IaujXtkUt4

A somewhat disappointing Ceremony. Seemed more like a glorified Cirque du Solei performance with the official stuff added in.

They should have made the stage bigger, used the big Jumbotron and covered the windows with the 5 large screens.

You have floor level seating for spectators, athletes directly seated under the Royal Box.


The parade of nations occurs when a door is opened in the middle of the stage, revealing a ramp. The athletes go through the Pan Am flame's holder, some can even touch the torch, whilst they head to their designated seating area.

As for the roof not being used (opened) they could have attempted to offer a projection of the outside (the same view as if it were opened) the moment the fireworks are to set off and CN tower would have been used of the cauldron. A way for the audience to see what's happening outside, without the roof needing to physically open. This would have been done on the ceiling, if possible.

All in all, not too bad of an Opening Ceremonies, but still lackluster. 6.5 out of 10.

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A big ceiling "screen" could have showed anything from the constellations of the sky, to a virtual map of the Americas during the parade of nations. Showing information and tidbits on each nation, whilst the big Jumbotron showed the nation's name and the 5 screens showed the flag.

It would then show a "live" feed of the outside, if physically putting high resolution cameras on the roof was expensive or impossible or simply risky, then you simply fake it! The fireworks shown live does not have to match the CGI fireworks projected inside the Dome.

And how would you do this big ceiling projection? Cover the framework of the ceiling/roof with large cloth (possibly white) in which large scale projectors emitting from the floor would operate.

As for the name Pan American Dome, why was Rogers Centre still displayed on the outside? Surely they would have replaced the name temporarily with their approved one. Home of the Jays? What about the Argos? Ok, so it's baseball season and they didn't bother to cover that sign outside the stadium, but acknowledgement to both sports and teams which call the Dome home would have been nice.

Imagine if it had been 60,000 spectators inside rather than 45,000.

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Rewatching this Opening Ceremony for a second time, the first impact of the cultural spectacle came to lose big part of the effect and enter some of the weak technical aspects people implied - the lighting was terrible, the negative space was wasted and the initial impact seems to be lost in a second. For a Pan Am is still succesful albeit really underwhelming. In this rewatch I keep a 6.5. And I said it again, they lost a good opportunity with the finale. Props for the Parade.

Normally I qualify a succesful Opening Ceremony when you keep loving the spectacle with succesful rewatches and you still love this. That's the reason why I love Barcelona and Sydney. You can still rewatch these ceremonies and keep the emotion. There aren't perfect but that "it" factor continues.

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Kinda mixed on this one. It had some really great moments, some really forgettable ones, and some just awful ones. The slow opening and the awkward cauldron lighting didn't start or end it well. The torch coming in early was a mistake (it just sat there seemingly pointless), but they way they brought it in was pretty amazing. The story felt weak and most of the show felt like it belonged in Cirque's Chapiteau, but the performers and performances in the middle sections take on their on were quite good. And then there were just other parts that felt clumsy or totally forgettable. This was not Olympic calibre, but for being a regional Games OC, it wasn't bad. You have to expect that. Example? Take a look at the ceremonies for LA '84 and Indy '87...no comparison!

The cauldron lighting was completely anticlimactic. OK, the best part was the runner getting lost...twice! LOL! But why was it necessary to light it outside? Especially since it was a small cauldron to begin with? It just felt lacking.

The arrival of the flags were also kind of awkward, but O Canada was great! If you took the entrance of the Canadian flag from Vancouver 2010, the dynamic vocal performance of Toronto 2015, and the orchestral interpretation from Montreal 1976, you'd have a near perfect presentation.

Anyway, in the end...it was a decent show fitting to the occasion and definitely a patented Cirque show. Congrats Toronto...and good luck with the Games.

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Kinda mixed on this one. It had some really great moments, some really forgettable ones, and some just awful ones. The slow opening and the awkward cauldron lighting didn't start or end it well. The torch coming in early was a mistake (it just sat there seemingly pointless), but they way they brought it in was pretty amazing. The story felt weak and most of the show felt like it belonged in Cirque's Chapiteau, but the performers and performances in the middle sections take on their on were quite good. And then there were just other parts that felt clumsy or totally forgettable. This was not Olympic calibre, but for being a regional Games OC, it wasn't bad. You have to expect that. Example? Take a look at the ceremonies for LA '84 and Indy '87...no comparison!

The cauldron lighting was completely anticlimactic. OK, the best part was the runner getting lost...twice! LOL! But why was it necessary to light it outside? Especially since it was a small cauldron to begin with? It just felt lacking.

The arrival of the flags were also kind of awkward, but O Canada was great! If you took the entrance of the Canadian flag from Vancouver 2010, the dynamic vocal performance of Toronto 2015, and the orchestral interpretation from Montreal 1976, you'd have a near perfect presentation.

Anyway, in the end...it was a decent show fitting to the occasion and definitely a patented Cirque show. Congrats Toronto...and good luck with the Games.

I think this is a pretty spot on and really fair review of the opening ceremony, I'd have to agree with all of it.

Some nice moments, some awful moments but something which was most certainly a cirque show.

It seemed to lack the cohesive production of other ceremonies stadium events. As I mentioned before, I feel like even though Glasgow's content was quite lacking in some regards, the lighting and general production was high quality.

Maybe Toronto was lacking a specialist in ceremonies stadium production, who knew how to fill a stadium and use complimentary lighting.

None of this to take away what was still a very impressive Pan-Am Games ceremony though.

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From de minute 54:00 to the end, a delicate and contemporary ceremony. Not better than Athens 2004 (for an Olympic comparision), but better than London 2012, for me.

Was more artistic than Rio 2007, London 2012 and Beijing 2008 (it was so impressive).

Cirque du Soleil, perfect. The fire moment, perfect. Songs, perfect. Lighting, perfect.

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I find that people on this thread seem to think that whenever someone is critical, it just is plain hating and this is not so. Had there been some real critique - like all the examples above which were wonderfully fair and balanced - the ceremony might have been better. Should Toronto proceed to bid for the Olympics, it should pay closer attention to detail. Especially with regards to those events which are foregrounded to the public and those which the public anticipates. The fact that the Opening Ceremonies is ALWAYS a sell out speaks to the reality - whether we like it or not - that the beginning sets the tone for everything that comes after in the minds of people. Hope to see pictures of the competition soon.

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