A joke was made about the hydraulic system failure with the indoor cauldron in the opening ceremony. Electrical sparks, a fake chicken and feathers shot out of the hole where the fourth arm would have risen. After this, Québécois clown and mime Yves Dagenais, dressed in workmen's clothing, climbed out of the hole, plugged two long cords together, and pretended to pull the fourth pillar out as it emerged. Dagenais then "summoned" Catriona Le May Doan (who appeared from underneath the stage via an elevated trap door), holding a lit torch in her hand. She looked around, acting bewildered, and then saw Dagenais, and he happily presented to her the emerging fourth pillar. He then wiped his brow with a red handkerchief to signify a job well done and walked off the stage. After the pillar was in place, Le May Doan, who had been left out of the lighting of the cauldron in the opening ceremony because of the failure, saluted the audience by holding her torch in the air, walked over toward the pillar and was finally able to light the cauldron, to great fanfare from the audience. With the entire cauldron lit, Le May Doan saluted the audience again and then descended back underneath the stage.[3][4][5]
A mass of white-clad high school students with snowboards came out and surrounded the cauldron while the band Inward Eye gave a performance, with the Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra behind them. This took place during the countdown, which was followed by the release of fireworks in BC Place. After the countdown and fireworks, the anthem cast created the words Strong and Free followed by a maple leaf and then a circle surrounding the cauldron to welcome the official party.
A bilingual rendition of the Canadian national anthemO Canada was sung by the Anthem Cast, The Vancouver Youth Symphony Orchestra, & Inward Eye.
Entrance of the flag bearers and the parade of the athletes
The flag bearers for the participating nations then entered the stadium at the same time, making a ring around the Olympic Cauldron. Following tradition, the athletes entered the stadium in no particular order to parade around the Olympic Cauldron at the centre of the stadium, before filing out to take their reserved front row seats.
As with tradition, the medals to one of the marquee events of the Winter Games – men's 50 km classical cross-country – were presented during the closing ceremony. The race was held earlier that day in Whistler Olympic Park. The medals were given by Gerhard Heiberg, IOC member for Norway and member of the Executive Commission of the IOC. The flowers were given by the Ski Federation.
Recognitions
Two new members of the IOC, Angela Ruggiero (USA) and Adam Pengilly (UK), were announced.[6] The volunteers who made the games possible were also recognized.
Greek national anthem
A Royal Canadian Mounted Police honour guard raised the Greek national flag while the Greek national anthem was then sung by Greek-Canadian opera singer Ariana Chris. This is the only time in any Olympic closing ceremony apart from the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games that the Greek national anthem has been performed vocally, with most renditions of the anthem being instrumental.
The games were formally closed by International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge calling them "excellent and very friendly" in his tradition of assigning each games their own identity in closing comments. Rogge also addressed the tragic loss of Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili (who died in an accident at the Whistler Sliding Centre on February 12, 2010) in his comments, stating his condolences for the country of Georgia, and that his memory "will always be with us."[12]John Furlong, chair of VANOC, also spoke.[4]
Neil Young sang "Long May You Run" while the Olympic flame was extinguished in both the indoor[3] and outdoor cauldrons. After both flames were extinguished, all four legs of the indoor cauldron descended to the ground.
Cultural section
William Shatner, Michael J. Fox and Catherine O'Hara came onto the stadium floor and delivered comedic monologues playing on stereotypes of Canadians. O'Hara's section involved the tendency of Canadians to be overly polite and apologetic. Shatner's section involved beer. Fox's section involved urban areas and terrain.
The theme of satirizing Canadian clichés[13] continued with Michael Bublé dressed as a Mountie performing "The Maple Leaf Forever" first straight, followed by four scantily clad singer/dancers dressed as Mounties stripping his Mountie uniform to reveal a tuxedo leading to a whimsical Vegas-style arrangement of the song as a procession of giant Mounties, dancing Mounties, hockey players, giant table hockey players wearing gold medals (as Canada won both the men's and women's tournaments), complete with a child dressed as a puck for said game, followed by voyageurs and lumberjacks in dancing canoes,[10] bare-midriff dancing and ceiling hung maple leaves, and last but not least, several giant inflatable beavers and flying moose. "The Maple Leaf Forever" was sung using a modern version rather than its traditional lyrics and was arranged in a medley with other pieces. Hockey Night in Canada's former, but still iconic, signature tune, "The Hockey Theme", was played during the giant-sized hockey match. The entrance of the voyageurs was accompanied by the traditional French-Canadian song "Envoyons d'l'avant nos gens" performed by La Bottine Souriante, while the cultural section ended with Bublé singing the last line of "O Canada". Audience members were provided with and encouraged to wear headgear fashioned into moose antlers.[13]
k-os performed "Eye Know Something" with various Vancouver-area hip-hop dancers, including members of Now or Never Crew, Xtreme Soul Style, Freshh, and Style-O-Phonics.
Invented instrument ensemble Scrap Arts Music performed an abridged version of "Phonk" in the closing minutes of the concert section.
Notable attendees
Aside from celebrities participating in the ceremony, mayors Robertson and Pakhomov, and members of the International Olympic Committee, the following notable people were in attendance:
In Canada, CTV, Omni Television, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN, RDS and V broadcast the ceremony live. However, there were lengthy commercial breaks during the broadcast, one of which excluded the entrance of the Canadian athletes when returning live. Furthermore, the Canadian broadcast also omitted the men's 50 km classical cross-country medal ceremony and the subsequent Norwegian national anthem. The broadcast was the second-most watched event in Canadian television history, with an estimated 24.5 million people watching some part of the ceremonies[18] (of a population of ~ 34 million).
In China, CCTV-1 and CCTV-5 broadcast the ceremony.
In Brazil, only Sportv broadcast the ceremony live. Rede Record and Record News broadcast the ceremony 90 minutes after its conclusion, in order not to interfere with its prime-time schedule.
In Germany, ZDF carried the closing ceremony. Because of the time difference, it was 3:30 clock in the morning.
In the United States, NBC broadcast the Closing Ceremony with coverage starting at 7:00 pm EST. NBC abruptly ended Olympic coverage at 10:30 pm EST, to broadcast the debut of The Marriage Ref, and resumed at 11:35 pm EST after late local news.[19] This spawned outbursts from upset viewers, especially on Twitter.[20]
Soundtrack
Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Closing Ceremony Commemorative Album
Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Closing Ceremony Commemorative Album (2010)
Sounds of Vancouver 2010: Closing Ceremony Commemorative Album (French: Musique de Vancouver 2010 : L'album commémoratif de la cérémonie de clôture des Jeux), the soundtrack for the closing ceremony, was released on the iTunes Store on March 1, 2010.[21] It charted at #17 on the Canadian Albums Chart. "Un peu plus haut, un peu plus loin", performed by Garou is the only track from the opening ceremony included.
^ abOgilvie, Clare; Inwood, Damian (March 1, 2010). "'A stronger, more united Canada'; We are 'more in love with our country, more connected,' says CEO". The Province. p. A8.
