FINA world championships kick off with spectacular pilgrim show

Over 6,000 spectators in total attended the vibrant opening of the much anticipated World Aquatics Championships in Kazan. They witnessed a unique show both in terms of its core message and visualisation. The Water element became the centrepiece of this fantastic performance. Together with the artists of the show, spectators descended to the bottom of the sea and flew to the brightest star in the sky; together with the main characters, they made fateful decisions, grew aware of their past experience and looked fearlessly into a future. Real-life stories about courage, compassion and addiction to knowledge showed that people are capable of changing the world around them by paving their path

The organisers took spectators’ breath away from the very first minutes of the show. Water being the main theme of the 16th FINA World Championships, it was logical that the audience was greeted by a swimmer who took a long journey to reach Kazan. A video clip was played showing the main character of the show, the swimmer, swimming past continents and crossing several time zones. The swimmer’s role was performed by Nikita Korolev, a native of Kazan and national swimming medallist. He was granted the honour of opening the ceremony.

The organisers invited each and every one to imagine themselves as pilgrims and showed a figurative road towards the life spring.  In the depth of this spring, there lies the ancient town of Bolgar, the mysterious ancestor for present-day city of Kazan. The Wise Man, one of the main characters of the show, entrusts the water with his secret, puts a message in a bottle and throws it into the ocean. The show’s directors depicted the water as a living element shown through a wild dance of six performers wearing costumes with water pouring out of their sleeves. Fountains were also installed on the stage, the biggest one of them reaching 12 metres.

The show introduces six sports featured in the FINA World Championships programme and each of them has a themed episode dedicated to it.

The audience became the principal participant of this journey. Each part of the show, each step along the figurative road towards the life spring will be made with the direct involvement of literally each and every member of the audience. By using props, spectators will get wrapped up in the story. For instance, spectators were asked to switch on white flashlights to create the atmosphere of the galaxy or blue ones to a storm. At the end of the ceremony spectators has finally discovered a message that was sent in the bottle by the Wise Man at the beginning of the ceremony.

The protocol part of the event opened with Vladimir Putin’s welcome speech to all those present: “Russia welcomes visitors and participants of the 16th FINA World Championships. I welcome all sport lovers. Our country hosts this tournament for the first time and our main mission is to stage it to the highest standard.  I would like to express my gratitude to all those involved in the build-up to the World Championships. Specifically, I would like to acknowledge the Tatarstan leaders’ contribution. Here, public authorities give careful consideration to sports.  Through joined efforts the host city did everything possible to ensure the World Championships’ success. I’m positive that athletes will show the best of their abilities while spectators and fans will become participants of a huge sporting extravaganza. I wish all athletes to set new records and all spectators to have a vivid and unforgettable experience.”

For his part, FINA President, Dr. Julio C. Maglione, said: “Dear President Vladimir Putin, dear Interim President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov, Your Highness Sheikh Al-Sabah, dear friends, guests and athletes, the moment has come. We gathered here together to open the 16th FINA World Championships. Thank you Russia, thank you, citizens of Tatarstan, thank you, kind and lovely people of Kazan! Our special gratitude to thousands of volunteers without whom the World Championships would not be possible.” Mr. Maglione noted that these Championships will bring together national delegations from a record number of countries and will be shown to a record number of TV viewers, and tomorrow this mega opening ceremony will be talked about on the five continents. The competitions will be held at first-class venues in the very centre of the host city.

“I declare the FINA World Championships open,” said Mr. Putin, concluding the Kazan 2015 Opening Ceremony show.

On behalf of the athletes the oath was taken by 2013 Summer Universiade swimming champion, bronze medallist of the 2008 European Championships, silver medallist of the 2007 FINA World Championships Yana Martynova.

On behalf of all the judges, the oath was taken by three-time world open water swimming champion, seven-time European champion, internationally certified judge, head coach of the Russian national open water swimming team Aleksey Akatyev.

Olympic synchronised swimmer Natalia Ishchenko was chosen as Russia’s flag-bearer.

The Opening Ceremony featured a star-studded line-up that included explosive performances by Aigul Khayri and Filyus Kagirov with the song Tugan Yak (Native Land), Dina Garipova and Aygul Galeeva with the song The Breath of Life, Elmira Kalimullina with the song The Forgotten Shore, Ilyusa Khuzina and Maksim Prokhorov with the song The Sea Monsters, JukeBox Trio band with the song One Tribe,  Alena Toymintseva with the song The Living Water and Aida Garifullina with the song Abyss.

The overall number of involved artists equalled to 200 dancers, athletes, ballet dancers and circus artists. Maria Kiseleva was responsible for staging synchro swimming routines for the numbers.

The script of the official Opening Ceremony was designed by the creative group led by the Peoples’s Artist of Russia Igor Krutoy and production director Alexey Sechenov.

The Opening Ceremony's official show, Pilgrim, is included into the cultural programme of the upcoming sporting event. It will be staged on a day-to-day basis during eight days, from July 26 till August 2, right after the start of the Championships. The only difference from the Opening Ceremony will be the absence of the protocol part. Approximately 50,000 people are expected to watch this show in Kazan.

For reference

For the first time in the history of FINA World Championships, the opening ceremony was held at another venue rather than a swimming pool.

The Tatneft Arena Sports Palace is a multifunctional sports and cultural venue of Kazan. It’s one of the biggest and most well-equipped ice palaces in Russia and Europe. It was opened under the name of LDS-1,000 (Ice Sports Palace 1,000) during the celebrations of Kazan's 1,000th anniversary. Starting from December 26, 2005, the Tatneft Arena Sports Palace is a home venue for the Ak Bars Ice Hockey Club. Specifically for the FINA World Championships, the Tatneft Arena Sports Palace was re-equipped for hosting the Opening Ceremony for the upcoming sporting event.