Post by TOPGUN on Aug 8, 2008 9:24:03 GMT 8
OLYMPIC SPECTACLE
RP bets march in ‘barong’ for opening
By Ted S. Melendres
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:06:00 08/08/2008
BEIJING—The world’s only emerging superpower takes the wraps off its grandest coming-out party Friday night in this smog-choked capital with a lavish opening ceremonies for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
No less than 80 heads of state and monarchs, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will be in attendance when athletes from a record field of 205 countries, including the Philippines, march behind their national colors at the awe-inspiring Bird’s Nest main Olympic stadium.
With a cast of 10,000 performers, the kickoff ceremonies to the most expensive Olympics ever unfold at exactly eight minutes past 8 p.m. (China Standard Time, same time in Manila), an auspicious moment for the superstitious 1.3-billion strong mainland Chinese.
To the world’s most sought-after professional boxer, World Boxing Council lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao, belongs the honor of carrying the Philippine flag at the head of a modest fighting platoon of 11 athletes plus 10 officials in Friday night’s opening rites.
Of the 15 Filipinos seeing action in the Games, only archer Mark Javier, shooter Eric Ang and taekwondo-jins Marie Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go will be missing from the parade that is expected to be seen by about 1.8 billion people.
Javier and Ang plunge into action on Saturday and officials said they want the pair to get as much rest as they can.
Only Rivero and Go have not checked into the Athletes’ Village. They are expected to fly in on the eve of their preliminary fights on Aug. 21, three days before the Games close.
The athletes joining the ceremony are swimmers Miguel Molina, Christel Simms, James Walsh, Daniel Coakley and Ryan Arabejo, boxer Harry Tañamor, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, long jumpers Marestella Torres and Henry Dagmil and divers Shiela Mae Perez and Ryan Fabriga.
Marching with them aside from Pacquiao and Puentevella are Philippine Olympic Committee spokesperson Joey Romasanta, POC treasurer Julian Camacho, POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros and some still unnamed coaches.
The Filipino marchers will all be wearing barong which the RP chief of mission and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella helped design.
The parade will see a Chinese twist in the order of teams. The countries will be arranged according to the number of strokes it takes to write their names in Chinese.
Because Guinea has a two-stroke acronym “Ji,” its athletes will enter the stadium behind those of Greece, the birthplace of the modern Olympics.
The Philippines will be among the last to march, according to International Olympic Committee officials.
Never in the Philippines’ participation in the Summer Games has it sent athletes so few and tasked them with so great a target. The country has never won an Olympic gold medal and the athlete who breaks that curse will pocket P15 million in rewards and bonuses from the government and generous private sponsors.
“The athletes are all ready,” declared Puentevella on the eve of the greatest sporting show on earth. “They know it’s time to control their nerves and focus on their fight.”
The President will get to see Javier and Ang open their respective bids Saturday after deciding to stay one more day.
“Yes, she’s staying for one more day to watch them (Javier and Ang),” Puentevella told a Filipino sportswriter Thursday.
Security was tightened another stifling notch at the Games venues Thursday following Monday’s attack that killed 12 policemen in a province northeast of here and the unfurling of a “Free Tibet” banner by a foreign protester from a tower just across from the Bird’s Nest.
Competition venues are ringed by PLA sentries, one for every 50 to 80 meters, standing in stiff attention and oblivious to the ominous haze that envelops Beijing.
Puentevella and other POC officials hoped that the pollution and security will not come into play during the next 17 days of battle.
“The athletes’ only worries are security, pollution and the rain,” he said. “Otherwise, they are all ready to compete.”
NOTES: The actual cost of building the posh competition venues and of holding the Beijing Games, the most expensive ever, may never be known but estimates vary from $35 billion to $40 billion, according to wire news services. The 90,000-capacity Bird’s Nest alone costs a staggering $500 million (P220 billion), almost one-fifth of the Philippines’ 2008 national budget.
ATU-MATES ! YOU CAN WATCH THE OPENING TONIGHT AT 8:08 PM LIVE VIA SATELLITE OVER RPN9.
RP bets march in ‘barong’ for opening
By Ted S. Melendres
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:06:00 08/08/2008
BEIJING—The world’s only emerging superpower takes the wraps off its grandest coming-out party Friday night in this smog-choked capital with a lavish opening ceremonies for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad.
No less than 80 heads of state and monarchs, including President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will be in attendance when athletes from a record field of 205 countries, including the Philippines, march behind their national colors at the awe-inspiring Bird’s Nest main Olympic stadium.
With a cast of 10,000 performers, the kickoff ceremonies to the most expensive Olympics ever unfold at exactly eight minutes past 8 p.m. (China Standard Time, same time in Manila), an auspicious moment for the superstitious 1.3-billion strong mainland Chinese.
To the world’s most sought-after professional boxer, World Boxing Council lightweight champion Manny Pacquiao, belongs the honor of carrying the Philippine flag at the head of a modest fighting platoon of 11 athletes plus 10 officials in Friday night’s opening rites.
Of the 15 Filipinos seeing action in the Games, only archer Mark Javier, shooter Eric Ang and taekwondo-jins Marie Antoinette Rivero and Tshomlee Go will be missing from the parade that is expected to be seen by about 1.8 billion people.
Javier and Ang plunge into action on Saturday and officials said they want the pair to get as much rest as they can.
Only Rivero and Go have not checked into the Athletes’ Village. They are expected to fly in on the eve of their preliminary fights on Aug. 21, three days before the Games close.
The athletes joining the ceremony are swimmers Miguel Molina, Christel Simms, James Walsh, Daniel Coakley and Ryan Arabejo, boxer Harry Tañamor, weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz, long jumpers Marestella Torres and Henry Dagmil and divers Shiela Mae Perez and Ryan Fabriga.
Marching with them aside from Pacquiao and Puentevella are Philippine Olympic Committee spokesperson Joey Romasanta, POC treasurer Julian Camacho, POC secretary general Steve Hontiveros and some still unnamed coaches.
The Filipino marchers will all be wearing barong which the RP chief of mission and Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella helped design.
The parade will see a Chinese twist in the order of teams. The countries will be arranged according to the number of strokes it takes to write their names in Chinese.
Because Guinea has a two-stroke acronym “Ji,” its athletes will enter the stadium behind those of Greece, the birthplace of the modern Olympics.
The Philippines will be among the last to march, according to International Olympic Committee officials.
Never in the Philippines’ participation in the Summer Games has it sent athletes so few and tasked them with so great a target. The country has never won an Olympic gold medal and the athlete who breaks that curse will pocket P15 million in rewards and bonuses from the government and generous private sponsors.
“The athletes are all ready,” declared Puentevella on the eve of the greatest sporting show on earth. “They know it’s time to control their nerves and focus on their fight.”
The President will get to see Javier and Ang open their respective bids Saturday after deciding to stay one more day.
“Yes, she’s staying for one more day to watch them (Javier and Ang),” Puentevella told a Filipino sportswriter Thursday.
Security was tightened another stifling notch at the Games venues Thursday following Monday’s attack that killed 12 policemen in a province northeast of here and the unfurling of a “Free Tibet” banner by a foreign protester from a tower just across from the Bird’s Nest.
Competition venues are ringed by PLA sentries, one for every 50 to 80 meters, standing in stiff attention and oblivious to the ominous haze that envelops Beijing.
Puentevella and other POC officials hoped that the pollution and security will not come into play during the next 17 days of battle.
“The athletes’ only worries are security, pollution and the rain,” he said. “Otherwise, they are all ready to compete.”
NOTES: The actual cost of building the posh competition venues and of holding the Beijing Games, the most expensive ever, may never be known but estimates vary from $35 billion to $40 billion, according to wire news services. The 90,000-capacity Bird’s Nest alone costs a staggering $500 million (P220 billion), almost one-fifth of the Philippines’ 2008 national budget.
ATU-MATES ! YOU CAN WATCH THE OPENING TONIGHT AT 8:08 PM LIVE VIA SATELLITE OVER RPN9.