Director
plays down Sochi ceremony glitch
Send a link to a friend
[February 08, 2014]
By Patrick Johnston
SOCHI, Russia (Reuters) — The creative
director of the Winter Olympics opening ceremony played down the
significance of a technical hitch during the lavish show on Friday,
where one of the five rings that make up the Games' symbol failed to
open.
|
The apparent failure meant the ring could not be illuminated by
fireworks as had happened during rehearsals.
Five giant snowflake-shaped structures suspended from the roof of
the Fisht Stadium on the shores of the Black Sea in Sochi were
supposed to open into circles and then light up with pyrotechnics.
Only four opened, and that particular feature, near the very start
of the 2-1/2-hour opening ceremony, was abandoned.
"Zen Buddhists have a saying that if you have the perfectly polished
ball, leave a nick in it so you can understand just how perfectly it
is polished," Konstantin Ernst, head of Russia's biggest television
station, told reporters.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Feb/08/images/ads/current/ldn_sda_062409.png)
"The (opening of the) rings was the simplest technical thing. That
came first and everything else went off, and this was that nick."
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2014/Feb/08/images/ads/current/castlemanor_lda_010714.png)
Asked if he thought the glitch may have detracted from the show,
Ernst was unwavering.
"No normal person would get distracted by one snowflake that did not
open from the story that is being told over two and half hours," he
said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has staked his reputation on
staging a safe and successful Games, despite threats from Islamist
militants to disrupt them.
(Additional reporting by Mike Collett-White;
editing by Ossian
Shine)
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. |