Teresa YeoA visitor to London can’t help but be impressed by the preparations for the 2012 Olympics Games that is due to start with the opening ceremony this evening.
London will play host to the games for the third time, a feat no other city has accomplished in the Olympic history.
Queen Elizabeth II will kick off Olympic proceedings which include the athletes’ parade and Danny Boyle’s show.
Director and producer of the movie Slumdog Millionaire Danny Boyle is the director for the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.
It is understood that taking part in the opening ceremony are 70 sheep, 12 horses, ten chickens, three cows, three sheepdogs and two goats.
The Olympic stadium will be transformed into a rural idyll.
A cast of 15,000 people will perform to an estimated TV audience of four billion people.
It is rumoured that Daniel Craig, as James Bond, will make a dramatic entrance, leaping from a helicopter.
The opening show is inspired by Shakespeare’s play the Tempest, a play about an exiled duke on an island who plotted to restore his daughter to her rightful place by skillful manipulation.
Citizen Journalists Malaysia (CJMY) talked to people on the street about what impacted them most regarding the Olympics and apart from the medals, the beautiful weather and the expectation that team Great Britain would get off to a great start, there are the transport and security problems surrounding the vicinity due to the increased visitors to London.
Several people mentioned that a special bell has been installed to ring in the start of the games. The Ceremony will start with the sound of the largest harmonically tuned bell in Europe, produced by the Whitechapel Foundry.
When interviewed by the BBC, Danny Boyle said that using the bell was ‘how communities notified each other that something important was going to happen… after the war the bells were rung in London to announce the peace and we will begin our Games with a symbol of peace.’
Fiona Nicol, 50, has to take public transport to her work place at the London Business School.
She is a public relations consultant and told CJMY that the special lanes created for the Olympic participants and officials has created a lot of chaos to all and sunder.
She summed up the situation, ‘Confusion, frustration and delays reigns on London’s congested roads.’ She continued, ‘Yesterday, the rehearsals for the opening night were delayed because performers could not reach the site on time.’
Fiona’s friend, Sandra Butler, 50 a community manager with a local authority, agrees,’ These lanes which are open only to Olympic athletes, officials, journalists, emergency services and games marketing partners are exclusive and make life difficult for everyone else. ‘
The Olympics torch is carried by a long relay of runners carrying torches to bring the flame from Olympia to the site of the games.
Once there, the torch is used to light a cauldron that remains lit until it is extinguished in the Closing Ceremony.
CJMY talked to Chew Moi, 49 years, who works in the data retrieval section of the London Police.
Her job is to check on the travellers who use prepaid cards on buses and trains as the frequency has increased due to the expected upsurge of tourists.
She has to monitor the movements of certain suspects and using the CCTV and the police’s software, is able to identify quickly the offenders.
Crimes are expected to increase during times like these.
All eyes will be on London tonight as the spectacular opening is just hours away, at 9pm this evening and local time at 4am Saturday July 28, 2012.
Whatever their grouses, Londoners and the whole world will be looking forward to the games.
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