As I write this I just witnessed the torch lighting and, forgiving a slight technical malfunction, it went off well. I was going to include a list of all of the torch lighters, the most notable to me of course being The Great one, Wayne Gretzky. I couldn't remember who every one of them was however, and since I didn't plan ahead far enough to write them down as they were introduced, I went to that great repository of knowledge wikipedia.
Right. I apologise for the blurriness of it, but try to pretend you're on the same thing people who use wikipedia are on.
An interesting side note of the flame, if you weren't watching or missed it for what ever reason, there will actually be two cauldrons with Olympic Flames this year. Apparently the flame must be visible throughout the Olympic city and since the ceremonies were held indoors for the first time ever, after lighting the flame at the ceremony The Great One then carried the torch to a second, outdoor, location. As strange as this may seem, it's not unprecedented to have more than one cauldron. The Olympic Flame is sacred and lit at the very beginning of the torch relay by Eleven women, representing the Vestal Virgins, who perform a ceremony in which the torch is kindled by the light of the sun, by reflecting it rays with a mirror.
Several backup flames are always kept to relight the cauldron should it go out. This is an important backup plan, since the flame has gone out several times, notably in 1976 in Montreal when it was doused by a rain storm. A quick thinking official re lit the flame with his cigarette lighter and it was then re lit again with the backup flame. In 2004 the the flame was blown out by the wind, and in 2008 it was doused five times during the relay to escape Parisian protests against China playing host.
Now that that's all out of the way, I think I should take a moment to note the tragedy the has befallen these games. Luger Nodar Kunaritashvili was killed in a practice run shortly before the Olympics began. Kunaritashvili was a Georgian competitor, 21 years of age and considered young for the sport. The Vancouver track has been widely regarded as being the fastest, and as a result most dangerous, track in the world and no doubt there has already been talk (I don't know if it has been officially considered but I hope not) about redesigning the course.
This was one of those horrible accidents that, while it could have been prevented with a different track or perhaps by simply raising the retaining wall in certain turns, we must simply learn from, remember, and move on. As one of the Olympic spokesmen said, this an eventuality that befalls all sports. Sports, and really every human endeavor, tend to evolve at a faster rate than safety. When competing on the highest level of a sport, be it luge, skiing, or stock car racing, the competitors will always become faster and faster and they will outpace the safety standards because course designers are on a slower learning curve than the athletes.
There has been discussion that the course is too fast and should never have been used. I'm not a follower of luge but I think i can say that for any sport this would be a bad idea. In order humans to grow, be it in sports or in space exploration, or writing, or any activity, the bar must be set high. For something to grow it must challenge the best and the unfortunate fact is that is a dangerous endeavor.
My prayers go out to the family and friends of Nodar Kumaritashvili and to the other competitors in this years games. I hope that the remainder of these games will be safe and that the bar will stay high for all of the sports and competitors.
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