2006 Asian Games Opening Ceremony
Encyclopedia
The 15th Asian Games
2006 Asian Games
The 15th Asian Games, officially known as the XV Asiad, is Asia's Olympic-style sporting event that was held in Doha, Qatar from December 1 to December 15, 2006. Doha was the first city in its region and only the second in West Asia to host the games...
Opening Ceremony was held in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
on December 1 marking the start of the 2006 Asian Games. The ceremony took place in the multi-purpose Khalifa International Stadium
Khalifa International Stadium
Khalifa International Stadium or also known as National Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Doha, Qatar as part of the Doha Sports City complex, which also includes Aspire Academy, Hamad Aquatic Centre, and the Aspire Tower. It is named after Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, Qatar's former Emir...
, the stadium was specifically renovated for the Asian Games. The ceremony was attended by over 50,000 spectators, as well as 20,000 athletes and performers. Asian heads-of-state and the President of the International Olympic Committee
International Olympic Committee
The International Olympic Committee is an international corporation based in Lausanne, Switzerland, created by Pierre de Coubertin on 23 June 1894 with Demetrios Vikelas as its first president...
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge
Jacques Rogge, Count Rogge , is a Belgian sports bureaucrat. He is the eighth and current President of the International Olympic Committee .-Life and career:...
were in attendance. The officials and organizers of the ceremony promised it to be the most spectacular Opening Ceremony
Opening ceremony
An opening ceremony is the official opening of a building or event. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup are huge events involving thousands of participants and watched by a massive worldwide audience. On a much smaller scale, some ceremonies mark the opening of a...
in recent years. In the result, the Opening Ceremony of the Games was described by the media to be one of the most breath-taking and technologically spectacular multi-sports event ceremony, the most expensive multi-sports event ceremony (both Opening and Closing ceremonies) in the history of Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...
.
Overview
Created and produced by David Atkins Enterprises, the Opening CeremonyOpening ceremony
An opening ceremony is the official opening of a building or event. The opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup are huge events involving thousands of participants and watched by a massive worldwide audience. On a much smaller scale, some ceremonies mark the opening of a...
of the 15th Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...
Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
2006 focused on the future of youth and their dreams that await them. Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
i children were the first to perform. They entered the stadium and spent 10 exuberant minutes creating a cultural and traditional Arabian carpet
Arabian carpet
Arabian Carpet , are carpets made in the Arab world using traditional Arab carpet making techniques or made in the style of traditionoiil Arabian carpets.-History:...
sometimes referred to as a Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
i sadu carpet on the stadium floor.
After, another plethora of youngsters from ASPIRE, sprinted around the stadium in a sheer engery and joyfulness chasing the official mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
of the games - Orry the Arabian Oryx
Arabian Oryx
The Arabian Oryx or White Oryx is a medium sized antelope with a distinct shoulder hump, long straight horns, and a tufted tail. It is a bovid, and the smallest member of Oryx genus, native to desert and steppe areas of the Arabian peninsula...
. Qatar always wanted to be on the sports map again and this performance done by the youngsters created an emphasis on youth to comprehend that Qatar
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
wants to be the sports capital of the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
. However, this was just a small portion of this described as magnificent and wonderful opening ceremony. The stadium was filled with spectators from all around the Asian continent
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
also some of their heads-of-state in attendance to support their country. An array of lights lit the stadium with multi-coloured lights.
The ceremony started with the welcome of Emir of Qatar Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani with the OCA chairman Sheikh Ahmed Al-Fahad
Ahmed Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah
Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah is a Kuwaiti politician and current president of Olympic Council of Asia and also a member of the International Olympic Committee. Al-Sabah was educated at Kuwait University and the Kuwait Military Academy, and attained the rank of major in the Kuwaiti Army...
and his wife. After that, a 10 second countdown began to signal the starting of the opening ceremony. The message "peace upon to you" from a group of 2,300 young people with the Arabic greeting of "asslamualaikum" after the countdown. A group of children, led by Nasser Khaled Al Kubaisi, then sang Qatar's national anthem and raised the national flag.
The first part of the show, called "The Journey Begins", tells about a young man called the "Seeker" leaving his family, and Nura, his love and beginning his discovery of Asia, guided only by the stars and his astrolabe
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
. After encountering a fierce storm at sea, he was rescued by a giant falcon, landing him on safe ground where he continued his path to discovering the colourful history and cultures of Asia. The Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat
Angkor Wat is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation – first Hindu,...
, the Taj Mahal
Taj Mahal
The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...
, the Temple of Heaven
Temple of Heaven
The Temple of Heaven, literally the Altar of Heaven is a complex of Taoist buildings situated in the southeastern part of central Beijing. The complex was visited by the Emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer to Heaven for good harvest...
and Borobudur
Borobudur
Borobudur, or Barabudur, is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist monument near Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia. The monument comprises six square platforms topped by three circular platforms, and is decorated with 2,672 relief panels and 504 Buddha statues...
were among the important landmarks he passed. The Seeker was also treated to a multicultural presentation that displayed the cultures of different Asian regions. Nura, on the other hand, descended into the stadium with a very large piece of cloth trailing her, covering the entire eastern stands, and sang in Arabic, "Atone, Atone Oh Sea!" as she despairs, waiting for the arrival of her love. With his Asian brothers helping him in his way back to his homeland, the Seeker safely made it back to Nura, and invited all of Asia to celebrate their wedding.
The latter part of the cultural programme focused on the Seeker showing his son the Arab world's contributions to modern science in the past, the present and the future. Sixty-four horsemen also entered the stadium in the segment 'Tribute to the Desert Horseman.'
After the Athlete's Oath and Judge's Oath, as well as opening speeches and remarks were finished, delegates from the 45 countries and regions of Asia entered the stadium. For the third time after Olympics 2000
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
and 2004
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
, North Korea
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
and South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
jointly entered the stadium under one flag
Unification Flag
The Unification Flag is a flag designed to represent all of Korea when both North and South Korea participate in sporting events. The flag was first used in 1991 when the two countries competed as a single team in the 41st World Table Tennis Championship in Chiba, Japan and the 8th World Youth...
. Performances from Hong Kong's Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung
Jacky Cheung is a Hong Kong singer-songwriter and actor. The Chinese language media refers to him, Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau and Leon Lai as the Cantopop Four Heavenly Kings , with more than 60 million records sold as of 2000....
, who sang "Together Now", as well as India's Bollywood
Bollywood
Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
star Sunidhi Chauhan
Sunidhi Chauhan
Sunidhi Chauhan is an Indian playback singer, best known for her Hindi film songs in Bollywood. She has also recorded songs for Marathi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Bengali, Assamese and Gujarati films and is credited with over 2000 songs....
who sang "Reach Out" were a tribute to the athletes. Lebanon's Magida El Roumi and Spanish tenor José Carreras
José Carreras
Josep Maria Carreras i Coll , better known as José Carreras , is a Spanish Catalan tenor particularly known for his performances in the operas of Verdi and Puccini...
performed "Light the Way".
The most dramatic moment was when Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani rode his horse up the stairs to the top of the stadium to light up the giant cauldron in the form of a giant astrolabe. The flame was transferred electronically to the Aspire Tower
Aspire Tower
The Aspire Tower is a tall tower-like skyscraper located in the Doha Sports City complex in Doha, Qatar. Designed by architect Hadi Simaan and AREP and engineer Ove Arup and Partners, the tower served as the focal point for the 15th Asian Games hosted by Qatar in December 2006.The Aspire Tower is...
just outside the stadium, and fireworks soon went off, signalling the start of the 2006 Asian Games. The horse nearly slipped in the process. A clip of this was internationally viewed.