Vancouver Olympics 2010 Opening Ceremony (PHOTOS)

The 2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony launched the Games tonight in Vancouver. The ceremony fell just hours after the tragic death of an Olympic luge slider in a horrific high-speed accident (WARNING: graphic images).

Nelly Furtado, Bryan Adams, Steve Nash and Wayne Gretzky were among the stars to participate in the event. Click here for more details about the opening ceremony, or scroll down for pictures.

Don't miss: Olympic torch approaches opening ceremony.

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Comments

[skippyB]

06:53 PM on 02/16/2010

KD Lang was phenomenal. One human voice. I've never seen nor heard anything to compare.

[ramblingjohnny]

01:10 PM on 02/16/2010

Gretzky on the back of that pick-up truck now that was priceless! The Olympic torch look like four massive joints no doubt an unofficial homage to BC bud! All that was really missing was the trailer park boys to light that sucker!

[Glad2bCdn]

03:03 PM on 02/15/2010

There were some wonderfully moving moments in the opening ceremonies and I can understand that the may be a need for pre-recorded vocals HOWEVER if you cannot fake it like you're live then don't even bother - I'm talking to you Bryan Adams and Stiffy Furtado! KD never lipsyncs and Sarah may have but she was till there and singing - Bryan you could have just sent the music from London for all you cared to share it with us live.

Nothing is ever perfect so we don't expect it but sheesh those two were so stiff and very disconnected from each other for most of that performance - I almost changed the channel when I heard the song start and Bryan's voice was coming out of thin air - glad I stuck around.

[noweknow]

01:30 PM on 02/15/2010

I got my money's worth for the 2008 summer Olympics in China. Can't say the same for Canada.
I feel Canada should give refund to people for their tickets.

The Vancouver Olympics opening ceremony was EPIC FAIL and the rest just boring and unimaginative.
Sure the Beijing Olympics was a tough act to follow, but it seemed Canada wasn't even trying.

the fiasco in Canada has taken pressure off Brazil and Russia's upcoming Olympics.
They can't possibly do worse than Canada.

I read all the excuses to justify Canada's lack of professionalism and creativity.
The translation: Canada's CHEAP.

[efffox]

04:48 PM on 02/15/2010

Sorry you didn't like the opening ceremonies, but to say that Canada wasn't trying is just rude. Ever since Vancouver won the Olympic bid, our country has worked very, very hard to showcase Canada and to call it a "fiasco" is ridiculous! Canada has 33 million people and China has over a BILLION people - so the fact we don't have the same amount of money as China to spend does NOT make us CHEAP (by the way, the U.S. doesn't have as much money as China either). Your comments are rude and insensitive and say a lot more about YOU than Canada! Do us a favour - don't watch - but if you do - keep your ignorant comments to yourself!

[ConcernfromCanada]

03:09 PM on 02/16/2010

Allow me then, a fellow Canadian to offer my opinion. The opening ceremonies were lame, underwhelming and embarrassing. k.d. lang was the only thing that was good and she was superb. I think the organizers are stuck in a time warp and for anyone living here (I was born and raised here and have watched every opening ceremony of every summer and winter games for the last thirty years) - it felt like the National Film Board produced a geography lesson for 6th graders.

Your defense that it was because Canada has less money than China is even more embarrassing.

[uneeda]

05:26 PM on 02/15/2010

except for k.d.lang and native peoples,a disaster.Do we really need to continually sell the country with the redcoats ?

[ontariogirl]

09:32 AM on 02/14/2010

The opening ceremonies was an emotional day for my family. I don't usually share personal information but its an emotional time for my family. We celebrated my mothers funeral the day of the opening. I went out and bought ten pairs of red Olympic mittens for each of my brothers and sisters. Ten of us. We wore them and took a picture. Sounds crazy but hey thats me. When KD Lang sang Alleluia it was just perfect. We will get our gold on Canadian soil.....my mother told me so. RIP. We love you.

[lizmckenzie55]

10:37 PM on 02/13/2010

He's racing now ... Ono 3rd ... just past halfway ... Ono second ... last lap ... the Korean wiped out ... Ono got the silver!

[goodtomeetyou]

10:52 PM on 02/13/2010

That wipe out was wild. USA silver and bronze!

[lizmckenzie55]

09:34 AM on 02/14/2010

It was wild ... love the short track and, obviously, I am an Ono fan. Been watching him since he emerged on the scene and I wish him the best!

[deeppeace]

11:38 PM on 02/13/2010

Apolo's my boy! Figuratively.

[lizmckenzie55]

10:32 PM on 02/13/2010

Ono can make history here ... you know, Bonnie Blair's record ... damn, I am excited ... following Ono for so many years now ... what a young man!

[lizmckenzie55]

10:31 PM on 02/13/2010

Okay, heads up here all you short track fans ... Ono is up next for the Gold .. GO APOLA!

[tracy282]

10:31 PM on 02/13/2010

Wow, the whales swimming across the floor were incredible. That boy flying through the sky landing on the plains was fantastic and KD Lang killed it. Her voice, that song, the starry lights. That was beautiful. I was moved.

[noweknow]

10:44 PM on 02/13/2010

Never been to a circus? Sea World?

[elizlucinda]

08:57 PM on 02/14/2010

Sorry you didn't enjoy it.

[Hazelnut]

10:18 PM on 02/13/2010

I am sorry to say I did not see all of the opening ceremonies, but what I saw was beautiful! Congratulations to the Canadians, you did a wonderful job.
As far as the "glitch" with the torch lighting, I would not have even noticed it if the commentators hadn't pointed it out. It looked just as impressive with three pillars.
Best of all luck to the athletes, my hopes and prayers are for their safety, as well.

[Emucrat]

10:05 PM on 02/13/2010

I missed the Chinese opening

I missed Avatar

I missed the Vancouver opening

My life sucks!

[elizlucinda]

10:42 PM on 02/13/2010

Welll...you can go see the Vancouver opening on line..It rocked!!!

[noweknow]

10:46 PM on 02/13/2010

Censorship sucks!

[RODERICK098]

09:49 PM on 02/13/2010

Loved the opening ceremonies . Wished they had had more Canadian musical performers on but KD Lang singing the Canadian song Hallelujah was brilliant. Nelly and Brian should have had a better song than the one they were given. The opening had heart which is not what I remember about the Chinese opening. I am old enough to have been to Expo 67. The American pavilion was so much better than the Soviet one. The Russian one cost more money while the US pavilion had heart- pictures of movie stars. American inventiveness sjowed examples of what the pioneers invented back in the 18 hundreds. The Canadian opening had the same feel as the American pavillion. Cheapar but more artistic.more feeling. more imagination. And Joni Mitchell singing Both Sides Now-there are so many amazing Canadian musical performers that the world should have been made aware of- Maybe in the closing?????

[noweknow]

10:01 PM on 02/13/2010

They can't hold a candle to Anne Murray.

[alsm9]

10:10 PM on 02/13/2010

Are you joking? You must be joking.

[elizlucinda]

10:43 PM on 02/13/2010

Are you from Nova Scotia?

[Natalie Buddo]

10:52 AM on 02/15/2010

Joni Mitchell? that was Sarah McLaughlan singing! ... and Nelly and Brian weren't GIVEN the song, they actually wrote it... I think we could have gotten WAY better talent than those two... Canada has so much talent! why go with Adams and Furtado!?

[RODERICK098]

03:25 PM on 02/15/2010

They used a recording of Joni Mitchell. Agree with rest of your post. If they wrote the song it was lousy.

[BorisPutinov]

09:21 PM on 02/13/2010

Tovarich.
Those spoiled, soft people ( I don't have to tell you who they are, you can all guess who they are ) who denegrate how others go about presenting their Olympic Games are a group to feel very sorry for; their shallowness knows no limits and bounds; they live in a bubble of their own making.
They will do the same thing to us when it is our turn to have the games in Sochi; on that you can depend.

Boris

[dnegri]

09:14 PM on 02/13/2010

Fox News continues sending crews throughout the city in search of lines of people waiting to get health care, and willing to plea on camera for the US Health Insurance companies to come and rescue them from their horrible plight.

To date, no reports.....

[jimspy]

09:54 PM on 02/13/2010

Are you serious? They're really doing that?

[Igniter]

10:18 PM on 02/13/2010

NO!!!

[dnegri]

09:12 PM on 02/13/2010

Spring time temperatures....my goodness, anyone wanna bet that those cretins at Fox News, and Limbaugh have nothing to say about it.

[jimspy]

09:58 PM on 02/13/2010

I heard they had the warmest January on record in Vancouver.