TH FY OFTHE YEAR:THE

Cc PENING CEREMONIESAT THE

16TH WINTER OLYMPICS | by Stacy Dunn

_ When the Albertville Games organizing committee

saw the Opening Ceremonies at the 1988 Calgary

| Games, ] bet they all agreed that they would upstage

_Calgary’s down-home welcoming celebration. Of

ourse,that was what happened Saturday, February

_ 8th. This spectacle had women wearing the

signs, which introduce each country,on their heads and

literally,space-age,blizzard-causing outfits.Speaking

_ of zany outfits,the Canadian team wore firefighting-

_ inspired coats. The party was a fashion designer’s

“nightmare anda dancer’s dream. Dancers dressed in "crazy costumes and hung from a carousel in the mid- “dle of the stadium. This part of the show was beautiful “as the dancers did fancy aerobatic moves. The weirdest "part was these dancers, who were dressed in metallic- looking outfits,hanging in the air by acrane and playing instruments.The crowd did a few waves and ‘France’s President Mitterand even joined in one of the

waves.I expect that Albertville will go overboard at : he Closing Ceremonies.

Ibertville ’92

by Stacy Dunn

The media hoopla caused by the Winter Olympics is definitely crazy,but we must admit that we care how well Canada does in these games and like the human- interest stories of some of the athletes(remember

f ritain’s Eddie the Eagle in the last Olympics,the ski jumper who celebrated his last place finish). Besides Those aspects,the fast pace of the sports are really

Wascinating;excellent goals and saves in lockey,flawless jumps in figure skating and ski umping,and dizzying speed in the other skiing events is wellas the speed skating and bobsleigh events make terrific television viewing. You can watch the highlights on CBC (channel 11 or 13) every night at PM until February 23rd. The following are events hat should be important to us Canadians: PRIDAY,FEB,14 Hockey; CANADA vs. Czech. SATURDAY,FEB.15 Figure Skating: Kurt Browning Boes for gold inthe Men’s Freestyle finals

UNDAY,FEB.16 Hockey: CANADA vs.C.1.S.(referred to as the Unified Team at these

games) MONDAY,FEB.17 Curling: Men’s GR1/Women’s

GR2;Canada’steams might be playing thenandthey .

are expected to do well.

TUESDAY ,FEB.18 Hockey: Quarter Finals(our boys might make it to here) Curling:Men’s GRI1/Women’s GR2;Men’s GR2/Women’s GR1 = WEDNESDAY,FEB.19 There are more Quarter Finals in hockey and more men’s and women’s curling in which you could see Canada compete.If you would

_ like to avoid the influx of these two sports,I suggest

you catch the women’s original program in figure skating.Canada’s Karen Preston and Josee Chouinard could finish in the top ten.

THURSDAY,FEB.20 Hockey: TBD (Sorry,! do not know what ‘‘TBD’’ means,butitsounds important and Canada might be involved init.) Curling: Canada might be in the tie-breaker(if necessary) or the plac- ing matches 5&6. Short Track Speed Skating: This sportis roller derby-like speed skating and Canada’s Sylvie Daigle is expected to win goldin the Wom- en’s 500m.

FRIDAY,FEB.21 Bobsleigh: 4-man runs 1&2 (We might see PEI’s Dave MacEachern help the Cana- dian team capture a medal then.) Hockey: Semifinals Curling: Semifinals

SATURDAY ,FEB.22 Bobsleigh: 4-man runs 3&4 Curling: Men’s & Women’s Finals Short Track Speed Skating: Women’s 3000m Relay Hockey: Bronze Medal Game

SUNDAY,FEB.23 Hockey: Gold Medal Final Figure Skating: Parade of Champions (This gala is better than the competitions because the skaters feel no pressure from the jugdes’or the audience. )

CLOSING CEREMONY: Ifyou had seen the wacky Opening Ceremonies,you might want to watch this ceremony which might be weird as well.

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February 13

, 1992 Page 23