다니엘: London 2012 - Enlightenment & Festival of the Flame

My London 2012 experience continued with the Paralympic Games. I was disappointed that Astro did not air the live coverage of the entire sporting event like they did with the Olympic Games, but I guess costing factors must have played a part in their final decision making. Nevertheless, they covered both the opening and closing ceremonies live, along with daily highlights of the Games. Although, I still wished I could have watched some of the live coverage because I am curious to know how these Paralympic athletes compete in their respective events.

The Games began with the opening ceremony entitled "Enlightenment" on Wednesday night. The ceremony differed in concept altogether from that of the Olympics. Whilst the latter paid tribute to British history, literature, and digital age, the Paralympic ceremony paid tribute to scientific discoveries. Stephen Hawking (British physicist who suffers from a motor neuron disease, leaving him almost completely paralyzed and unable to speak) himself appeared during the ceremony, and said (through a speech synthesizer) "We live in a universe governed by rational laws that we can discover and understand. Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious".

Some of the prominent scientific discoveries which were featured during the ceremony include the Big Bang theory, Sir Isaac Newton's discovery of gravity (featuring the audience biting their given apples at the same time) and the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator in the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland (featured at the start in the film Angels & Demons). Lucky for me, as a science graduate, I was able to understand the concepts featured throughout most of the ceremony. The highlight was definitely the entrance of the Paralympic flame, which was brought in by former Royal Marine Joe Townsend, who descended from the Orbit tower into the stadium via a zip-line, passing it on to David Clarke (representing GB's blind football team), who then passed it on to Margeret Maughan, Britain's first Paralympic gold medalist for the honour of lighting the famous cauldron designed by Thomas Heatherwick.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Umbrellas - A nod to British weather

Thomas Heatherwick's masterpiece

The apple - a nod to Sir Isaac Newton

Unlike the Olympics, I didn't watch any of the events on television, so I couldn't name some of my favourite moments from the Games. However, I still keep up with some updates via online news and the official Games website. I am proud for my fellow Malaysians Hasihin Sanawi and Ziyad Zolkefli, who brought home a silver and bronze medal in the their respective archery and shot put events. My only disappointment is how little attention these great Paralympians get from fellow Malaysians. I am also disappointed with the lower incentives they receive from the government compared to that given to the Olympians, when they have achieved equivalent triumphs as those of Dato' Lee Chong Wei and Pandelela Rinong. I personally feel Paralympians deserve so much respect for being able to achieve tremendous feats given their personal limitations. They are the ones who truly inspire generations to come.

The closing ceremony which took place on Sunday was one which truly celebrated the athletes and the people who have been involved in the Paralympic Games for the past 11 days. Called "Festival of the Flame", the ceremony celebrated the seasonal cycle of ancient and modern festivals with a journey through autumn, winter, spring and summer, serenaded by performances from British rock band Coldplay. In fact, the ceremony was somewhat like a Coldplay concert, and being an avid listener of the band, I enjoyed most of the performances that night. Initially I was wondering why Coldplay did not perform for the closing ceremony of the Olympics, but now I know why! They definitely gave one heck of a closing performance for the Paralympic Games with an unforgettable night of great music and artistic performances. Some of the best performances that night were definitely Paradise, Clocks, Strawberry Swing featuring the British Paraorchestra and Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.

Coldplay

Fireflies, representing the end of autumn

Fireflies during the performance of Paradise

The Sun King

The ceremony also saw Ireland's Michael McKillop and Kenya's Mary Nakhumicha Zakayo being awarded with the Whang Youn Dai Achievement Award by Dr. Whang Youn Dai herself for best exemplifying the Paralympics spirit during these Games. What's my favourite moment of the ceremony? No, it was not the performances by Coldplay, but the entrance of the flag bearers into the stadium, who proceeded to form a heart shape at the center of the stadium, representing the love we shared for the Paralympians, who have captured our hearts and minds for the past 11 days. It's always a great sight and feeling to see different nations of the world gathering in peace and unity in the name of sports.

The heart of flag bearers from each Paralympic competing nations

LOCOG Chairman Lord Sebastian Coe and president of the IPC Sir Philip Craven both received standing ovations from the audience for their heartfelt closing speeches.

"Finally, there are some famous words you can find stamped on the bottom of a product. Words, that when you read them, you know mean high quality, mean skill, mean creativity. We have stamped those words on the Olympic and Paralympic Games of London 2012. London 2012 - Made in Britain" - Lord Sebastian Coe.

"Before I close I want to link Stephen Hawking's words about changing perceptions across multiple dimensions from the ethereal opening ceremony, to the words of a five year old called George Glen. A few days ago George was reading a book "Treasure" with his mum, Emma. The first page showed a man with an eye patch, a hook for a hand, a parrot on his shoulder and a wooden leg. Emma asked George who the man was, expecting him to say "a pirate". But he said "Well he only has one leg, he must be an athlete" - Sir Philip Craven.

The ceremony concluded with the most extravagant display of fireworks over the Olympic stadium and river Thames, and a Union flag bearing the message "Thank You London, Thank You UK" projected on Britain's Houses of Parliament. Definitely no better way to end the Festival of the Flames than fireworks itself!