Wayne Gretzky, Nancy Greene, Steve Nash, Rick Hansen, and Catriona Le May Doan chosen to light Olympic cauldron

Five Canadian sports legends all joined together at B.C. Place to light the Olympic cauldron.

Wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen brought the flame into the stadium. From there, he lit a torch held by gold-medal-winning speed skater and broadcaster Catriona Le May Doan.

Her flame lit the torch held by basketball star and former Olympian Steve Nash. He, in turn, lit the torch carried by Nancy Greene, who took home gold in the giant slalom in the 1968 Winter Games in Grenoble.

Greene's flame lit a torch carried by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, executive director of Team Canada's gold-medal-winning hockey team at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games

They stood by as there appeared to be a mechanical problem with one of the beams that was to stand alongside the Olympic cauldron. Only three beams emerged from the floor, but that was deemed sufficient, and  the cauldron was simultaneously lit.

Gretzky then ran out of the stadium and onto a police escort on his way to light an outdoor Olympic cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza beside the Vancouver Convention Centre.

The opening ceremony included several Canadian musical stars, including K.D. Lang, Sarah McLachlan, Ashley Macisaac, Garou, Bryan Adams, and  Nelly Furtado.

Comments

2 Comments

TW

Feb 12, 2010 at 9:57pm

Go Tiger!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

skippy

Feb 13, 2010 at 11:51am

Last night the Opening Ceremony was a Great demonstration of Canadian Goodwill towards the World. There were many Firsts as far as i am aware!

Athletes got to sit in the Audience!

The loss of an Athlete was treated with tremendous respect!

A Paralympian carried the Olympic Torch into the Auditorium BUT why did you not go the extra step and allow a Paralympian to join in lighting the cauldron? I blog on www.parrabuddy.blogspot.com and use www.twitter.com/skippydetour .

The ceremony was indoors!

Overall i enjoyed the presentation but would have wished that the Celebration had been free of the unfortunate loss and oversight for Rick Hanson who could well have been an Olympian if life had been kinder.

Hoping that the Paralympian Games will meet the standard set by Sydney2000!

i earned the name skippy but use skippydetour to avoid imposters