Snow Skills

The Torino 2006 Opening Ceremonies lived up to expectations; it was surely an amazing and dramatic melange of many images and sounds. One of the themes of the ceremony was passion, consistent with the Torino medals with their center hole exposing the passion of the athletes. The costumes included brilliant white by Giorgio Armani to red-suited speed skaters who had flame trailing from their helmets (representing the Sparks of Passion). The celebrities included Sofia Loren and Susan Sarandon, who helped to carry the Olympic flag into the stadium. The productions included a mass of dancers forming a beating heart and a tribute to the Alps including dancing cows. The music ranged from a cover of John Lennon’s “Imagine” by Peter Gabriel and Yoko Ono to a grand aria (Nessun Dorma) by Luciano Pavarotti. And they even worked a bright red Ferrari Grand Prix racing car into the event!

And who lit the Olympic Cauldron?

My guess of Alberto Tomba was close: he carried the torch into the stadium, to the delight of the crowd. A bigger crowd-pleaser, certainly for the Italians, though, was when Tomba passed the torch to Stefania Belmondo, who lit a chain reaction of pyrotechnics that sent the flame across the stadium and lit the cauldron several hundred feet away. It was a very cool effect; it seemed like the stadium was on fire for a moment.

Stefania is surely worthy of such an honor. While Tomba was a great Italian champion, Stefania was a great Italian champion for a very long time. As a nordic skier, she competed at a World Cup and Olympic level for over 16 years, winning many championships along the way. As an Olympian, she participated in the Winter Games of Calgary 1988, Albertville 1992, Lillehammer 1994, Nagano 1998, and Salt Lake City 2002, earning six medals (gold, silver, and bronz) in both solo and relay events.