Gold Coast dazzles on the world stage as Commonwealth Games are officially opened

LET the Games begin: More than 2500 performers, 4500 athletes, almost 50 tonnes of special effects equipment, a couple of Royals and a giant floating Migaloo all contributed to a phenomenal opening ceremony at the Commonwealth Games.

GOLDEN girl Sally Pearson played a starring role as the Gold Coast finally welcomed the world to its biggest ever party with a dazzling Commonwealth Games opening ceremony last night.

The Olympic and world champion hurdler, who was overlooked for the flag-bearer role in favour of hockey veteran Mark Knowles, had the honour of handing the Queen’s Baton to Prince Charles as the Coast’s big moment finally arrived. McKeon looking to explode out of the blocks Auction blitz throughout Games Swimmers must ‘own pool’ to stop wave of rivals Horton has a decision to make Ashes on wheels: Time to renew hostilities with Poms The Glitter Strip dazzled on the world stage as stars, real and imagined, lit up Carrara Stadium for Games opening ceremony. A ‘starfield’ of 7000 LED lights created a perfect night sky inside the stadium as stars including Pearson and pop princesses Delta Goodrem and Ricki-Lee Coulter and shone on an overcast and breezy evening. Hundreds of spectators trying to get to the stadium had earlier been left stranded without buses in an apparent transport bungle. More than a decade after the State Government launched its bid for the Games, Queensland’s biggest-ever event finally began in front of a 35,000-strong crowd, including Prince Charles and wife Camilla, and an estimated 1.5 billion television viewers worldwide. The 140-minute spectacular on a central sandy stage featured more than 2500 performers, 4500 athletes and almost 50 tonnes of special effects equipment. Aboriginal themes dominated the ceremony on a day when indigenous protesters blocked the Queen’s baton on the Southport Spit on its final relay journey to Carrara. GALLERY: BEST PICS FROM THE NIGHT The ceremony featured a didgeridoo orchestra, dramatic performance by the acclaimed Bangarra dancers and a traditional smoking ceremony in which Prince Charles and his wife were ‘blessed’ Aboriginal-style inside the royal box. In a fun-filled contrast to the dramatic but deeply spiritual indigenous scenes, the centre of the stadium was transformed into a mock Surfers Paradise beach complete with umbrellas, deck chairs, beach toy-playing kids, a surf school, sunbathers, lifesavers and even beach showers. Countries were called into the stadium by lifeguards in a genuine Gold Coast patrol tower, and the athletes marched in to iconic anthems by Australian artists including INXS, Midnight Oil, John Farnham and Olivia-Newton John, performed by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra and Queensland Youth Orchestra. A huge roar from the crowd signalled the arrival of the Australian team to the strains of Evie, by 1970s Aussie rock legend Stevie Wright. In another moving moment, images of everyday Queenslanders singing the national anthem — including Great Barrier Reef divers, CWA ladies from Warwick, a new Brisbane mum with her newborn child and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary workers — were beamed onto the stadium’s big screens. The athletes were marshalled into position by hundreds of real surf lifesavers hamming it up with choreographed dance moves. State-of-the-art lighting effects created lifelike images of breaking waves, a frolicking white whale Migaloo, a Gold Coast theme park rollercoaster and a giant wedge-tail eagle soaring across the stadium above indigenous dancers. Lifesavers carried Coulter across the sand on a rescue board as she performed a song called technicolor Love, surrounded by towel-twirling dancers clad in colourful bikinis and board shorts. Ceremony music director Katie Noonan, former frontwoman for Brisbane band George, also had a starring role, performing a medley including I Still Call Australia Home and I Am Australia on a white piano, backed by the Gold Coast Choir. After its epic 388-day, 230,000km around-the-world journey involving 3800 bearers, the Games baton was finally delivered into Carrara Stadium in a kombi van — the same vehicle used to collect the baton from Buckingham Palace just over a year ago. The baton had been blockaded by about 50 indigenous activists on the Spit, delaying the final leg of the relay to Carrara by about an hour. In a golden moment before she goes for Games gold in the 100m hurdles next week, Pearson handed the baton to Prince Charles as the crowd erupted. Games chairman Peter Beattie gave the welcoming address on behalf of Queensland after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk was controversially overlooked for a speaking role. Mr Beattie said Australians were a ‘warm and fun-loving people’ and had invited the world to the Games to experience ‘true Australian hospitality’. “Right now there are over a billion people from all over the world watching us and this moment that connects us all, here in this beautiful meeting place on the Gold Coast,” he said. “Our promise to all of you is that over the next 11 days, we’ll be focused on making these Games special, leaving us all with fantastic memories of what happens when we come together with open hearts and the spirit of friendship.” Prince Charles, representing his 91-year-old mother, the Queen, at the ceremony, said it was fitting that the Commonwealth Games were known as the ‘Friendly Games ... as one of the world’s friendliest countries has invited us into their homes for this momentous sporting event’. “We will see the Gold Coast, Queensland and Australia make these Games their own, adding their distinctly warm and welcoming flair to the opening ceremony and the next 11 days of competition,” he said. As the show reached its crescendo, Goodrem — dressed in a dazzling blue sequin outfit — sashayed through the stadium performing a brand new song called Welcome to Earth written especially for the ceremony. A 30m translucent effigy of Migaloo floated high above the stadium in the ceremony’s grand finale as Ruel performed his hit Golden Years and fireworks exploded over Carrara. CELEBRATION OF INDIGENOUS CULTURE PRINCE Charles and Camilla were blessed Aboriginal-style in an ancient smoking ceremony in the royal box as indigenous culture took centre stage at last night’s opening spectacular. Local Yugambeh Aboriginal artist Luther Cora and his family performed the ceremony in the middle of the stadium before the smoking bundle of plants was taken to the box to ‘cleanse’ the Prince and Duchess of Cornwall. Striking indigenous themes dominated the ceremony which began with big screen images of 11-year-old Aboriginal girl Isabella Graham sitting in the crowd holding a mobile phone. Isabella, the niece of Coast Games medal designer Delvene Cockatoo-Collins, raised the phone displaying the message: ‘Welcome to the oldest living culture on earth’ It signalling a countdown to a dramatic burst of blue pyrotechnics representing planet earth’s creation. World-renowned didgeridoo player William Barton also starred, with images of him blowing his instrument atop Surfers Paradise super-tower Q1 before appearing in the stadium as part of the ‘Four Winds’ didgeridoo orchestra. Mau Power, the first hip-hop artist to emerge out of the Torres Strait, performed his upbeat rap remake of the Christine Anu hit before Anu herself joined him in the middle of the stadium. Daubed in ghostly paint and feathers and carrying smoking staffs, members of the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre performed a totem ceremony which finished with a flyover by a giant wedge tail eagle created as part of a dazzling light show. The athletes paraded around the stadium on an 8m wide ribbon of indigenous artwork created by renowned Torres Strait artist Brian Robinson. A giant effigy of famed white whale Migaloo, lit up with images of Antarctica and the Great Barrier Reef painted by Cockatoo-Collins, floated across the stadium in a dramatic finale.

Originally published as Gold Coast dazzles on the world stage as Commonwealth Games are officially opened

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