Winter Olympics kick off in Sochi
The grand Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics started at 20:14 Moscow Time, which symbolizes the year of the first Winter Games in Russia’s history, and in about three hours the world was told the history of a great country - Russia. More than 3,000 young talents from schools, as well as professional artistic groups, took part in many of the scenes, which include professional dance, ballet, acrobatic and circus performances. 2,000 Sochi 2014 volunteers helped in the organisation of the Ceremony both on stage, behind the scenes and within the grounds of the Olympic Park.
"In terms of so-called upper engineering, i.e. moving sets and various transforming systems, no country has made a show of such length and complexity. Russia is first," said Konstantin Ernst, Ceremonies Chief Creative Director and Screenwriter, as quoted by Channel One Russia.
The worldwide audience of the Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Olympics on Friday stood at 3 billion, the R-Sport Agency reports.
The Ceremony is set to be remembered around the world thanks to its scale, entertainment, unique scenery and innovative use of technology. Three billion TV viewers worldwide and 40,000 guests of the Fisht Olympic Stadium watched the 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. According to the press release of the Sochi 2014 Organising Committee, in total, more than 12,000 people were involved in the realisation of the Opening Ceremony of the 22nd Olympic Winter Games 2014.
The organisers revealed that the stadium’s stage, with an area of more than 8,500 square metres, is equipped with 25 elevators and 18 trap doors for decorations.
In all, the ceremony involved more than 500 loudspeakers with a total capacity of 1 million watts and over 15,000 walkie-talkies with headphones for the cast and technical personnel. 132 powerful spotlights shone with the brightness of 2.64 million watts. 140 television cameras immediately provided the unique image of the ceremony to viewers around the world.
3,500 athletes took part in the athletes' parade.