Paralympic Closing Ceremonies

What a crazy day Sunday was! Instead of staging the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremonies at the Olympic Stadium like all the other ceremonies, it was held at Piazza Castella (better known as Medals Plaza during the Olympic Games). There were a few tickets for sale (if you wanted to sit down), but other than that, it was free and open to the public. Needless to say, it was a logistical nightmare for our security department! After starting the packing process of equipment for most of the day, most of us went to Closing Ceremonies to assist our athletes. This picture is from the U.S. Olympic Committee website (yet another great picture that I didn't take!).

The Closing Ceremonies themselves were quit interesting. I didn’t really understand the progression of tunes from “Singing in the Rain”, “It’s Raining Men” (with strategically placed assistants opening umbrellas in the crowd and squirting perfumed water over the spectators), to a bunch of children singing “Another Brick in the Wall.” A bit strange, but overall amusing! The confetti and fireworks were great and made up for some of the confusion!

Due to transportation logistics, most of our athletes had to be on a bus headed for Zurich only 3 hours after the Closing Ceremonies ended. So, imagine trying to round-up a group of athletes who have just had an experience of a lifetime, to get them to their planes, trains, and automobiles on time so soon after the experience has ended. Actually, it wasn’t that bad, and everyone was where they needed to be when they needed to be there.

Now, we have to finish packing up all the equipment and personnel required to put on an event (actually two events) of this scale, and head home.