SPECTACULAR! The Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics was hi-tech and mesmerizing. Symbolic of the country that has produced brands like Samsung and LG, the PyeongChang Olympics opening salvo last Friday night is a must-watch spectacle.
There are two Olympic versions. There’s the Summer Games and the Winter Games. Usually, if we speak of the opening parade, the Summer Olympics is more spectacular. But the one produced by Korea two nights ago would rank very high in the list of top Olympic shows. I’ll spare you further details but watching the North and South Koreans holding hands and walking side-by-side was powerful. I strongly suggest that you watch the replay on YouTube.
The PyeongChang Olympics runs from Feb. 9 to 25. The venue is located 180 kms. east of Seoul. I’ve been to the South Korean capital once, back in 2011. It was a business and investment group from the Philippines organized by the economist Bernie Villegas. Among those from Cebu with us were my dad Bunny, Dondi Joseph and Joe Soberano. (We got to see North Korea from the DMZ.)
PyeongChang today is cold. It’s -8C and they’re ready for the 2,952 athletes representing 92 countries. (By comparison, the 2016 Rio Olympics had 11,237 athletes from 207 countries.)
This is the second Olympic hosting of South Korea. The first was the 1988 Seoul Olympics. And in our continent, it’s only Asia’s third time to host the Winter Olympics. The previous ones were in Japan (Sapporo in 1972 and Nagano in 1998).
The Philippines is represented by two Olympians. When our country’s name was announced during the parade, we were the 88th nation to be called and our flag-bearer was Asa Miller. He’s only 17 years old and is in senior high school. He was born and raised in the U.S. (Portland, Oregon) and his mother Polly is Filipina (from Santa Cruz, Manila). Asa is joining the slalom skiing event that will commence on Feb. 18.
Asa is not our only pag-asa. There’s a more famous name who’s joining for the second time (after he competed in Sochi in 2014).
Michael Martinez, the ice skating phenom who started his passion back in 2005 at the SM Southmall ice skaing rink, is back. After winning silver at last year’s Southeast Asian Games, the 21-year-old Martinez did all he could to qualify for the PyeongChang Olympics. He was denied. But because of the injury of one of the competitors, Martinez (by virtue of being the first alternate in an Olympic qualifying event), was called in last month. The spot intended for Sweden was given to the Philippines.
The 5-foot-9 Michael Martinez will compete in the ice skating short program on Feb. 16.
Where to watch the Winter Olympics? ESPN5, the new collaboration of ESPN and TV5, is showing various games on TV. Even better, go to YouTube and type “Sports5.” There are three YouTube channels airing live and replay games of the Winter Olympics.