Tragic beginning

Just hours before the 21st Winter Olympics tragedy struck as Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili lost control during a training run and flew off the final corner at the Whistler Sliding Centre striking a pole that was part of the structural couture of the course. Efforts to resuscitate the young athlete were unsuccessful.

Surely there will be some tribute to the luger during the opening ceremony. But the kind of suspense that we are normally thinking about at this time is what the ceremony will look like. Each host city seems to have a higher bar to reach artistically just as the athletes attempt to stretch the limits of their abilities. And who... what one person will be given the opportunity the light the caldron?