On the night of Friday, Feb. 12, with seven years of planning in the rearview mirror, the lights will dim inside Vancouver's BC Place. Nearly 55,000 people in attendance, and hundreds of millions more watching on televisions around the world, will wait eagerly in anticipation.
What happens next, at the first Opening Ceremony to be held indoors, is anyone's guess. How will organizers decide to light the Olympic flame? Where will that flame burn? Only this much is known: Officials promise that the performance will unite passionate Canadians, thrill the world's best winter athletes and bring hope to the world over.
"The Opening Ceremony is our biggest chance to speak to a global audience and tell the story of a contemporary Canada that will inspire the world," said John Furlong, the head of Vancouver's organizing committee, when the ceremony's production team was first announced.
Remember Sydney 2000?
The man responsible for fulfilling those hopes is executive producer David Atkins, an Australian who produced the Opening Ceremony for the Summer Games in Sydney 2000, as well as the Opening Ceremony for the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
Preparations for the show remain closely guarded, but given the indoor venue and the team of directors named to collaborate on the project, the roof certainly makes for an interesting twist. Lights and music always play an important role as the host city works to compile a culturally unique show.
Look for organizers to draw on British Columbia's rich natural history and the significance of the region's thirty groups of First Nations people.
The A-B-Cs of the O.C.
The ceremony officially will begin when Canadian Prime Mininster Stephen Harper joins the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Jacques Rogge, and Furlong. Each will have an opportunity to speak.
In addition to the common heroes, the Olympic Torch Relay also attracts Hollywood actors, professional athletes, and past Olympians. Lance Armstrong even brought his bike.
Traditionally, the world's best winter athletes will then enter to greet a roaring crowd during the parade of nations. Nothing replaces this feeling, say many veteran Olympians. American freestyle skier Shannon Bahrke still remembers walking into the stadium in Salt Lake in 2002.
"The loudness when Team USA walked in -- it was the most incredible feeling I've ever had," says Bahrke. "I mean, you couldn't even talk to the people next to you. It was just this moment I will never forget."
One athlete from each country will be honored as the flag bearer. The most recent American winter athlete to be given this honor was long-track speedskater Chris Witty, a five-time Olympian who carried the flag into Torino's Stadio Olimpico. In 2002, Amy Peterson, a short-track speed skater who appeared in four Olympics, led United States Olympic into Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake.
Order of nations
Each delegation will enter BC Place in alphabetical order, with two exceptions. Greece, by tradition, always enters first. The loudest cheer will be saved for Canada which, as the host country, will enter last.
Each contingent will be dressed in its official uniform. Only those athletes participating in the Games, and no more than six officials, are permitted to march.
Another important aspect of the Opening Ceremony is the Olympic Oath, which will be taken by one athlete and one official.
To the strains of the Olympic hymn, the Olympic flag will be brought into the stadium and raised. Anticipation will be building once again for a tradition that first started in 1936 during the Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany - the lighting of the Olympic flame.
Next up, after months of speculation, the identity of the flame lighter and the manner in which they do it will be revealed. Many fans will remember back to the Summer Games in Beijing 2008 when former Chinese gymnast Li Ning soared above the Bird's Nest with a torch in hand.
Torch relay reaches Day 106
After more than 100 days of criss-crossing Canada, the Olympic torch will arrive inside the stadium. Typically the torch will then pass to several people in a relay before it's taken to the cauldron.
Furlong, VANOC's chief, will be watching seven years of work come to life. So does he think Vancouver can top Beijing? Furlong recently told the New York Times he remembers hearing spectators in awe of the Beijing ceremony as they filed out of the stadium. His show isn't trying to compete with that, Furlong said, but he's confident it's going to amaze.
"I've seen a mockup of the show, and I'm pretty sure people are going to come out of the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver and they're going to be, ‘Wow, that was fantastic.'"
With three months to go before the Opening Ceremony, the Olympic flame lights up the Arctic as Vancouver goes through final checks at venues.
Whistler's pristine mountain peaks make a very photogenic argument. This is one of the top outdoor adventure towns in the world.
