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Wednesday, October 18
Paralympics open in a blaze of light
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Rain that threatened to spoil the
celebration held off Wednesday for the 11th Paralympics to open
with a big party.
|  | | Huge fish float above the crowd during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games in Sydney Wednesday. |
The biggest Paralympics picked up where the Sydney Games, the
biggest of the modern Olympic era, ended 17 days earlier -- in a
vibrant spectacle of dance, music and Aussie icons.
Thousands of glowing flashlights inside the stadium compensated
for the starry cosmos that usually backlights the Southern Cross
constellation that was hidden behind overcast skies.
Gray clouds hung menacingly over the city all day and weather
forecasters had predicted heavy rain and strong winds during the
evening, but it never rained.
Another full-scale party was already in full swing by the time
governor general Sir William Deane declared the games open and
swimmer Tracey Cross read the oath.
In his opening address, International Paralympic Committee
president Robert Steadward paid tribute to the unparalleled success
of the Olympic Games, then promised more of the same.
"The way has been paved for our Paralympians to make their mark
on sporting history," Steadward said.
"The Paralympic Games are about sport, culture and fellowship,
so we will spend the next 10 days enjoying the spirit of fair play
and sportsmanship exhibited by our athletes."
About 4,000 athletes from 121 nations walked or rolled their
wheelchairs onto the running track at Stadium Australia.
Some athletes spun their wheelchairs around in 360-degree
wheelies and others performed handstands and somersaults up the
main straight, raising thunderous cheers.
"Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Oi, Oi, Oi!!" rang out as an almost
capacity crowd welcomed the athletes.
But the loudest cheer was saved for the Australians -- the
biggest team at these games -- when their more than 200 athletes,
some with the national flag painted on their faces, entered the
arena behind the other delegations.
Calypso music was drowned out by beating drums and the screams
of more than 95,000 spectators, all either standing, jumping or
dancing, as the letters A.U.S.T.R.A.L.I.A appeared on a giant video
screen over a background of aboriginal designs.
From the middle of the infield, wheelchair athlete Louise
Sauvage ignited a mini cauldron that emerged from under a raised
platform.
Sauvage, a multiple Paralympic gold medalist and three-time
winner of the Boston Marathon, was the last of six torchbearers of
the Paralympic flame inside the main stadium.
The spark from the cauldron grew with a flame-throwing effect,
triggering a series of relay flames that swept across the field and
up to the cauldron at the north end of the stadium -- the same
cauldron that held the Olympic flame.
Continuing a theme of reconciliation between indigenous and
nonindigenous Australians, the ceremony commenced with a welcome
by Rod Towney, chairman of the New South Wales Aboriginal Land
Council.
Indigenous band Yothu Yindi performed its signature song
"Treaty" on a stage in front of images of Australia's red center
shining off a 70-foot long video screen.
Organizers had expected a sellout crowd of 100,000, but the
uncertain conditions meant hundreds of seats were vacant when the
ceremony started.
Earlier, stadium staff worked feverishly to drain pools of water
from the arena floor and off fiber-cement platforms that had to be
coated and re-coated with paint throughout the three-hour
spectacular.
International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio
Samaranch, who satisfied Sydneysiders with his "best ever" rating
of the 2000 Sydney Games, returned as a guest of the International
Paralympic Committee.
Samaranch said he expected the Paralympics to be just as
successful as the Olympics because many of the same organizers and
volunteers were involved.
Competition in five of the 18 sports starts Thursday.
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