The Olympic Games is on in Paris. And for a day or two, Australia was on top of the medal tally! Because the Games start with the swimming competition and we’re world leaders in swimming. It won’t stay like that, of course. Our pool of 27 million people can’t come up with enough elite athletes to compete with countries like the USA (342 million) and China (1.4 billion). Even so, we tend to punch well above our weight, usually finishing in the top 10 or thereabouts on the medal tally at the Games.
But honestly, I’ve become cynical about the Olympics. Is it really about the best competing on a level playing field? Has it ever been? Isn’t it really a competition between the countries which can afford to pour money into developing elite sport? That’s without the inevitable performance-enhancing drugs.
And what about the Paris opening ceremony. Was it mockery of Christianity, a parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Last Supper? I’ve had a look at the segment again to make up my own mind. And it looks to me like the actors are, indeed, arranged to mimic the painting. It’s hard to believe that was accidental and if it was designed, it is an affront to Christians everywhere. How could the French authorities have been so stupid?
Updated. However, as Robin Hedwig-Larsen has pointed out (thank you), the segment was probably intended to mimic the painting the Feast of the Gods – the painting is in France and portrays the Greek gods. Read more here.
The guy in the blue body paint (and not much else) is meant to be Bacchus, God of wine and revelry – and apparently the father of Sequana, Goddess of the River Seine (although I couldn’t find anything to confirm that assertion). Sequana is a Celtic Goddess.
Quoting from Wikipedia, “In Gallo-Roman religion, Sequana is the goddess of the river Seine, particularly the springs at the source of the Seine, and the Gaulish tribe the Sequani. The springs, called the Fontes Sequanae (“The Springs of Sequana”), are located in a valley in the Châtillon Plateau, to the north-west of Dijon in Burgundy, and it was here, in the 2nd or 1st century BCE, that a healing shrine was established. The sanctuary was later taken over by the Romans, who built two temples, a colonnaded precinct and other related structures centred on the spring and pool.”
I’m not sure why anyone thought it was a good idea to have an overweight god symbolising wine and debauchery figuring prominently at the Olympic Games, which is about elite sport. Maybe they thought that while the athletes did their thing, all the lesser mortals could carry on in different ways?
Sequana is an obvious symbol for Paris. She was supposed to be riding that rather unconvincing robot horse that galloped along the snaking course of the river through the city to hand over the Olympic torch. I rather liked the idea of making the river the focal point for the opening, not least because it gave millions of people the chance to see some of the spectacle live. Shame about the weather.
I sincerely hope that those Aussies associated with the 2032 Games, which are slated to happen in Brisbane, Australia, learn some lessons from the Paris opening ceremony. I recall the announcement made when Sydney was declared winner of the bids for the 2000 Olympics. There had been a pool of contenders, including Athens, and the respective representatives waited on the edge of their seats as Juan-Antonio Samaranch made his announcement. When Sydney was declared the winner there was leaping up out of chairs, jubilation, and much back-slapping. And it was a terrific, well-organised Games, supported by the public of the whole country.
Brisbane was the only contender for the 2032 games so an announcement was hardly necessary. Even so, the Queenslanders tried to emulate the events when Sydney won its bid, with the Premier and others leaping out of their chairs in feigned surprise and delight. Ho hum. With eight years to go, many of us here in the sunshine state hope the whole thing is cancelled. Not because of the idea – more because we just can’t afford it.
With my writing hat on, I wrote an article on sequels.
And with my photographer hat on, I caught this seagull strutting its stuff on the strand.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Festin_des_Dieux includes a discussion as to which piece of art was represented in the opening of the Games.
My opinion? Go with an Olympic theme (i.e. Greek gods) from a piece of art in France. Seems reasonable.
Yes, does seem reasonable. Thank you. I’ll update my post with a reference to that. However, many, many people noted (and were offended by) the resemblance to The Last Supper. Maybe they should have road-tested it.