'Impossible' shut out as Games begin

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" justify="">NAGANO: As snow-flakes drifted aimlessly outside the majestic M-Wave stadium, floating at times like fluffy, weightless cotton and at times vanishing suddenly into an invisible dark hole, the 2005 Special Olympics World Winter Games were declared open here on Saturday evening.<br /><br />Like the concept behind the Games itself, everything was different, indeed special.<br /><br />The two-hour opening ceremony, to start with, wasn''t about entertainment at all; it was about solidarity and about extending a reassuring hand.It wasn''t extravagant either; it was simple, yet colourful and touching.<br /><br />The idea was probably to make you and me step out of our daily lives and see the world through the eyes of others. For those two hours, one''s heart was filled with a mixture of joy and purposeless anger (Why God Why?); but at the end of it, one somehow came out of it feeling light and happy.<br /><br />Japan''s prime minister and their Crown Prince shared the dais for the first time in a public function but they were not really the star attractions; Nadia Comaneci and Vanessa Williams, plus a number of Japan''s divas and celebrities, also graced the show but they too stayed in the background.<br /><br />The spotlight was firmly on the 2,000-odd special athletes from different parts of the world who are going to competing against each other, and against themselves, over the next eight days. <br /><br />They were paraded into the arena, right at the beginning, in Olympian style; but there hardly any frills or exaggeration. As they walked in, waving and clapping, they looked like their country''s finest athletes; in the dim light, you couldn''t see any difference or handicap either.<br /><br />It was only when they tried to reach for their seats and groped around just a bit, you knew that they were intellectually disabled.<br /><br />The show was conducted by a beautiful MC and her handsome barritoned-partner; but the finer moments were provided by five special athletes who are still learning to speak properly. Their halting words and almost full-of-pain tone, in fact, worked as a wonderful and refreshing contrast to the shrill and joyous commentary of the actors.<br /><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal" style="" text-align:="" justify=""><br />The clincher, however, was the oath: "Let me win," proclaimed the chosen one. "And if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt," she concluded. Winning is neither everything nor the only thing here; being here itself is a bigger victory for each one of them. Also, these athletes are not expected to cheat, resort to dubious means or indulge in unfair practices; so they are not forced to make any of those empty and meaningless promises either.<br /><br />The show, appropriately titled, Wings of Courage, started off with the roll of Japanese drums (Wadaiko), the lion dance (Shishima) and the bell dance (Shiki Sanba) But it''s only when the wings were finally unveiled and slowly enveloped the entire stadium that you could feel the spirit behind the Games. <br /><br />As darkness engulfed the main stage, three of the dancing girls were lifted up, seemingly flying like angels. They went higher and higher until merging into the skies.<br /><br />Is anything really impossible in this world?<br /><br />Just as you were being overwhelmed by the real meaning behind the concept, however, there''s a brief respite: some nice, loud and danceable music from two more of Japan''s famous names, Love Junks and Aya Ueto.<br /><br />As the evening started getting colder, luckily, the Olympic flame arrived; and yet again, the ritual was different. It was carried around the stadium but by athletes from different parts of the world, each small run giving an equal chance to every important country or athlete from one region after another. <br /><br />Each one was, however, accompanied by Japan''s various medal winners over the years in summer and winter Olympic Games.<br /><br />A small Indian contingent was also there; the players were dressed nattily in black suits and bright ties; they didn''t seem to be warm enough but they were hardly complaining. The team got a tiny round of applause, just like virtually every other squad. US got the loudest and warmest reception but that could have been because they have been in the forefront of this movement. Even Japan got the same tepid treatment. <br /><br />But it wasn''t because they are not loved or not the favourites; it was because these Games are not about being patriotic or zealous.<br /><br />They are all about being equal. Tomorrow, once competition begins, there will be winners and there will be losers but in the end they will still remain equal.</div> </div>