Prior to the Games, I had noticed, in the media and elsewhere, a sense of, at best, complacency, and at worst, dread or resentment, towards them. I had been thinking of attending some events, and this negativity only strengthened my resolve to do so. It also occurred to me that I probably wouldn't get another chance to see world-class athletes live in action if I didn't go.
When I bought tickets in June, only about 50% of them had been sold, but by the time of the opening ceremonies, there was much more interest and excitement about the Games, and the crowds I was with were never less than noisily enthusiastic.
As I mentioned, I took many pictures, and have had to go through them carefully to decide which ones to post here (I may post them all, with captions, on my Picasa site - but that's for the future).
After sifting through the pics, I decided to divide them up into three separate postings, to reflect each of the days I went to the events. First up...
Saturday, July 11
The first event I attended was the Men's Artistic Gymnastics. It was held at the Ricoh Coliseum, known to some simply as "the Coliseum," to others as "the home of the Toronto Marlies," Toronto's Junior hockey team.
Here is a shot of the place prior to the events:
Six events took place here:
Front, left to right - vault, rings, pommel horse;
Centre - floor exercise;
Rear, left to right - parallel bars, high bar
At each event area, the volunteers (in saffron-coloured t-shirts) prepare the areas where the judges will sit.
The triangle-set LCD screens will show each competitor's name, country and score.
Near bottom left, the Games' mascot, Pachi the Porcupine, drums up enthusiasm. He has 41 quills, representing the number of countries participating in the Games. These 17th Games had the highest number of competitors in their history.
And, at top left, the competing countries' flags are on display.
One of the first "action" pics I got was of the Canadian competitor, Ken Ikeda, on the pommel horse. Sadly, he was to slip later in this routine, which knocked him out of any chance for a good standing.
The next "action" pic was of the Canadian competitor, Hugh Smith, on the rings. They move from one position to the other (mostly with swinging motions), and must hold each position to show strength. Also makes it easier to get a good picture!
But when I look at guys doing this exercise, I can't imagine the strain their muscles must take.
After all the athletes on a team finished on one of the apparati, they would then rotate to the next one, so that (in this case) the five teams competing would get a shot on all six of the apparati. Thus, the overall event lasted for a couple of hours. These were qualification events, but none the less exciting for being so.
Then, it was outside, to the Exhibition grounds, named "PanAm Park" for the purposes of the Games. It was a hot, sunny day, temps around 30C. You can see various tents set up, the Games' flags, and the BMO Field in the background, where the Toronto FC play.
There were tents for the Games' sponsors, as well as for entry areas, where they would search attendees' bags and scan each person with metal detectors.
To the left, out of shot, were food trucks, offering many choices, all of which I must say were pretty high-priced.
There was entertainment in the PanAm Park the whole day. This was a troupe of performers (I believe they called themselves The Fruits) on flexible stilts, who would gesture and sway to the accompaniment of various types of music, from opera to pop. There were many "oohs," "aahs" and gasps from the crowd, as these acrobats looked like they could fall right over at any minute!
There were also live bands playing throughout the day, at this stage on the north end of the site. They were part of the series of free"Panamania" concerts held here, at Nathan Phillips Square, Harbourfront, and in the Distillery District. I believe this is the pop-rock group Said the Whale.
The next event I went to was something really unusual: Roller Figure Skating. It's just what it sounds like, figure skating on old-school (4-wheel) roller skates.
It was held in the Exhibition Centre, and there were just bleachers for seating. The skating surface was a series of large, smooth wooden boards, as you can see from this picture taken before the event. I was about three levels up, high enough to see the surface, but close to the action.
(Many of these pics were taken with the zoom, so, apologies, the quality won't be the best, but I hope you get the idea).
Prior to the skaters taking to the, er, boards, these two people went over the surface, picking up any small debris that might pose a hazard to the athletes.
There were women's and men's events in this preliminary short-program round, eight athletes per. All eight got a chance to limber up a while prior to the event. Then, four skaters at a time were invited to warm up just prior to their routines. The women first:
This event was very challenging for the athletes. They had to do the same jumps, poses and spins as ice figure skaters, only on rollers.
It took a while for me to get used to the "BAM" of rollers on wood, as each jump or spin landed.
Frankly, some of these athletes had a hard time of it; there was much wobbling and many falls, but it only brought home how hard this sport really is.
Here is Canada's Kaila Macri, posing at the start of her routine. She did a very good job, and finished fourth in the short program.
Then, it was the men's turn. As before, groups of eight, then four, took to the boards to warm up.
The men seemed to have an easier time at this sport. They appeared much more solid and sure of themselves on the skates. I'm not sure what accounts for the difference; perhaps the men's greater weight somehow helps. Only speculation, though.
The biggest thrill came from this man, Marcel Sturmer, from Brazil. He was solid throughout, landing every hair-raising jump and spin, to the astonishment and delight of the crowd. He garnered the highest score of the event, and a huge ovation after his flawless routine.
This event also took a couple of hours to complete. There were no Canadian men in the competition, and so it was back out, through the remarkable atrium of the Exhibition Centre...
...back out to the Pan Am Park, where another act was at the north stage. They were called USS (Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker), and their music was high-energy hard rock, with the addition of a turntablist.
It was getting towards nine pm by this time, and I hung around a little bit longer, but then headed home, by which time it was dark. It had been a tiring, but fun day, and there would be another in a week. That's for the next posting...
(P.S. You may have noticed a dark spot on a couple of the last three or four pictures. When I took my camera into a shop to ask about it, they said it was damage to or a problem with the sensor, and it would cost a fair bit of money to fix it, so in the end, I bought a whole new damn camera. It's similar to the one I used here, so the quality of future pics will be about the same.)
All right, onward we go.
No comments:
Post a Comment