Athens, you are the best!

I was blasted away

[Macguru]

The most outstanding opening ceremonies I ever saw.

Remarkable, marvelous, spectacular!

The greatest show on heart was never presented so good.

Thanks

[brotherhood of LAN]

Caught a bit of it, agreed, I'd be proud to be Greek.

If they do as well as in Euro 2004 they'll run out of crockery to smash :)

[RussellC]

Awesome! I can't wait to watch it on TV tonight. I have several friends/old teammates that are competing this year. Go USA swimmers!

[Robino]

Simply amazing.

[Mr Bo Jangles]

Yes, thoroughly well done - new heights of artistic good taste and technical inspiration. Flawless execution. Five stars from me.

[Visit Thailand]

Yes was quite incredible, saw as much as I could before falling asleep. Well done Greece!

[AAnnAArchy]

Well done by Greece, but poorly done by NBC - too much yammering about politics, not enough focus on the athletes...all the athletes, not just the ones with large delegations. I hate getting stuck with USA-centric coverage. We are not the world.

Anyway, I think that's been my favorite opening ceremony ever.

[Warren]

I know one of the officials at the Softball tournament. I am extremely disappointed with Australian TV because they are only showing softball games that feature Australia. Obviously he won't be on any of the Australian games which means I won't get to see him umpire.

[Brad]

Well done by Greece, I have to agree it gets 5 stars. I loved the way the caldron for the Olympic flame bent down like a human arm to be lit. Great stuff.

>>but poorly done by NBC

I agree. NBC has been dropping the ball on coverage since Atlanta. Their streaming Internet video is pathetic compared to what the BBC is offering. If NBC starts playing all the human interest sob stories about the athletes instead of actually covering some of the athletic events like they have done in the past I will end up turning the whole thing off.

[amznVibe]

By the way, their website is at nbcolympics.com
About the only authorized domain with olympics in it, they sue the pants off anyone that even tries to use the word (even the olympic club which was around a decade before the official organization).

[Robino]

NBC's coverage was horrible.

After the first few minutes I put in my Kostas Pavlidis CD and it was like I was there.

[Macguru]

>>I loved the way the caldron for the Olympic flame bent down like a human arm to be lit. Great stuff.

After 15 years as a special FX designer for the entertainment industry, I admit a weak spot for fireworks. Masterfully designed and displayed, this short lived masterpiece was perfectly adapted for the stadium's architecture. It was also very tight with rest of the show, but compared to the rest, it was just a pinch of salt.

A stadium wide swimming pool just vanished in 4 minutes.

A giant floating Cycladic head statue broke twice into 8 pieces, floating in a slow cosmic ballet.

3 000 drummers, some 250 yards away from each others, all on the same cue.

I spare the details, but some of the challenges were very high.

I hope they have taped some 'making of' footage for the DVD... I defenitly want to see this part.

Athens just created the best event of it's kind, ever. They surely raised the bar a couple of notches. I hope next ones can keep a proper ballance in trying to beat Athens.

[Kirby]

Gianna did an amazing job in half the time. My only regret was that I fell asleep before the torch entered the stadium. Anywhere I can see the lighting of the caldron?