10 January 2007

Opening Ceremony

Team New Zealand and our flagbearers waiting for the opening ceremony.

Fencers from all the participating countries parade through the streets of Torino.

Athletes enter Piazza San Carlo.

Renaissance statue which the central stage was built around.

A musical interlude on the sound stage.

Romans.

Hundreds of kendoka enter the piazza.

On one side of the centre stage Brazilian martial art Capoeira.

And on the other Fiore Dei Liberi's Flos Duellatorum.
Sabre Tango.
Satellite uplink to the International Space Station.

Yes, Storm Troopers and Boba Fett. I have no idea why.
Speeches, of course... there's Rene Roch.

Marching band.
The Italian flag is delivered to the piazza in style.

"Fencing" acrobats suspended high above the sound stage.

Athletes' oath.
Hundreds of "fencing" dancers.
A giant foil, sabre and epee are brought on to the stage.

And the evening ended with a bang.