Mark Maloney on Kentucky sports

Wow!

Friday’s opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics were hot. Literally and figuratively.

The 90-degree heat felt hotter, thanks to a packed stadium of 91,000, Beijing’s ever-present smog and a lack of wind.

Interestingly, organizers were prepared for the lack of wind. The Chinese and Olympic flags fluttered steadily, thanks to a fan-powered flag pole.

Tracking local athletes, Tyson Gay and Tayshaun Prince were easy to spot. Lexington Legends coach Stubby Clapp said he would march; he probably did, but I didn’t spot him. Elaine Breeden skipped the festivities in order to be ready for her first race on Saturday.

The Beijing Games theme of “One World, One Dream” played out well. Of course, China drew the biggest response when the athletes marched into the Bird’s Nest. Chinese Taipei and Hong Kong were next. South Korea drew polite applause, while North Korea drew a louder response.

The United States also drew one of the bigger ovations, and more cheers came when President George Bush was shown on the stadium video board.

While the U.S. had Lopez Lomong, other prominent flag-bearers included Jamaican sprinter Veronica Campbell-Brown, Swiss tennis star Roger Federer and NBA stars Andrey Kirilenko (Russia), Dirk Nowitzki (Germany) and Yao Ming (China).

Now, it’s time to play.

This entry was posted on August 8, 2008 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Baseball, Basketball, Elaine Breeden, Kentucky, Lexington, Olympics, Swimming, Tayshaun Prince, Tyson Gay, University of Kentucky. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.