What I wanted to see at the Opening Ceremonies

I love the Olympics. I watch as much coverage as I can. We upgrade our electronics so that we can record and watch more. We take it very seriously. We stop watching news so we don't see results before we can watch. This year, we have enough storage to record literally all coverage that will be aired on all 4 channels. 

Image credit:
http://blogs.wsj.com/dailyfix/2014/02/07/live-blog-2014-sochi-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony/

The opening ceremonies are always very special as well. I love learning about the countries that are hosting and I love seeing the culture. Which brings me to my topic for today: I was disappointed in the Sochi Opening Ceremonies. 



I loved the torch. What a beautiful design. I loved the dancing. I loved the small amount of music we heard and the ballet dancers. I loved the gears and that portion that showed the advancement of Russia. But the rest was lacking. 

I am not going to go into the politics. There is enough online about that. 

Here is what I would have wanted to see in the Opening Ceremonies for an Olympic Games held in Russia:

• Multitude of Russian Cultures: There are 27 languages that are considered official languages in Russia. Who do these languages represent? I would have loved to see each culture represented. 

 

• Vodka: I am sure some will disagree with this thought but Vodka is a huge export of Russia. I would have liked to have seen this industry represented during the industrial part of the ceremonies. Russia has perfected the making of vodka. 

Image Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll

• Nesting Dolls are a great tradition in Russia. I didn't see them represented at all in the opening ceremonies. 

 

• Russian Composers - I would have loved to have seen an orchestra come out and play music from some of the great Russian composers. There are so so many! Heck, even Willie Wonka uses Rachmaninoff. 

 

Credit: http://lcrsperspectives.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/architecture-in-russia/

• Real interpretation of the onion-shaped domes. To me, this is some of the most beautiful architecture in the world. The balloons looked like something out of a children's game. Why not give us the real colors and designs? They are gorgeous! And not a drop of neon in sight.

 

• Medical Advances: Russia has made some huge advances in photodynamic therapy and laser medicine. They are treating cancers with it. This means no chemicals in the body, just light used by the cells to heal. I need to do more research into this and some other things they are doing. This is incredible! 

While I love the Olympics and fully support our athletes fully (those sweaters they made the US athletes wear are a whole other post), I would have loved to have learned more about the real culture and history of Russia. It seems that there is so much more to the people there that we didn't see, or more importantly feel, about Russia. Parts of the opening ceremonies were beautiful and entertaining, but overall it was a bit of a disappointment because I didn't learn enough about the true history of Russia.

Laureen