Olympics-Director Balich says athletes’ parades made ceremony run long

By Giancarlo Navach

MILAN, Feb 10 (Reuters) – The opening ceremony of the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics was a uniquely complex show staged across four locations and its length can be put down to the exuberance of parading athletes, creative director Marco Balich said.

Balich said the ceremony delivered a global message of peace, humanity and Italian elegance.

The main event was staged in Milan’s San Siro stadium but linked with celebrations in co-host Cortina d’Ampezzo, more than 400 km (250 miles) away in the Dolomites, as well as athletes’ parades in Predazzo and Livigno.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) praised the show, with the only quibble over the duration of three and a half hours.

Balich said the length “was correct except for the athletes’ parade, which for the first time took place in four locations. It was very complex to keep it as tight as it has to be in a stadium,” he said.

“This is my 16th Olympics ceremony and I know very well how to manage one, but being in four locations — you can imagine the complexity of stage‑managing the athletes, who want to stay in front of the camera and salute their country,” he added at an event on Monday night.

Balich also designed the two Olympic cauldrons which, for the first time, were lit simultaneously and will burn throughout the Games — one at Milan’s Arco della Pace and the other in Cortina’s Piazza Dibona.   

“It’s a design object based on original inspiration by Leonardo da Vinci that pays homage to the sun,” he said.

“In Milan, under the Arco della Pace, it speaks about the values of the Olympics, with the Castello Sforzesco in the background and great music attached. It will be temporary, and I hope it will remain somewhere else in the city,” he said.

The cauldron is at the centre of a daily celebration every evening during the Games.

Every hour on the hour, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m., a five‑minute show will be held, accompanied by music by composer Roberto Cacciapaglia. The ritual will run until the Olympic flame is extinguished on February 22.

On March 6, with the arrival of the Paralympic flame and during the Paralympic opening ceremony, the two cauldrons will again be lit before being extinguished on March 15 at the closing ceremony.

The cauldrons were created through a partnership with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri, a Milano Cortina 2026 sponsor, and were built in Yorkshire, northern England.

(Reporting by Giancarlo NavachEditing by Keith Weir)