Creative director Marco Balich said that the opening ceremony for the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy was a complex show, staged at four different locations. Its length could be attributed to the exuberance and fervor of the athletes.

Balich said that the ceremony sent a message of global peace, humanity and elegance. The main event took place in Milan's San Siro Stadium, but was linked to celebrations in Cortina d'Ampezzo in the Dolomites more than 400km away, and athletes' parades at Predazzo, Livigno, and Predazzo.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), praised the show. Their only complaint was the length of the three-and-a-half hour performance.

Balich said that the length was "correct except for the athletes parade which, for the first time?took place at four different locations. He said it was difficult to keep the athletes' parade as tight as they had to be in a stadium.

He said at a Monday night event: "This is my sixteenth Olympics ceremony, and I know how to manage it. But being in four different locations -- you can understand the complexity of managing the athletes who want to remain in front of the camera to'salute their nation.

Balich designed two Olympic cauldrons that, for the very first time, will be lit simultaneously at the Arco della Pace in Milan and Piazza Dibona in Cortina.

He said, "It is a design that was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and pays homage to?the sun".

It is a great piece of music and a beautiful message. In Milan, the Arco della pace speaks to the Olympic values. "It will only be temporary and I hope that it will stay somewhere else in the City," he said.

Every evening, the cauldron is the focal point of the celebrations.

From 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. every hour on the half-hour, a five minute show will be performed, with music composed by composer Roberto Cacciapaglia. The ritual will continue until the Olympic Flame is extinguished, on February 22, 2019.

The two cauldrons are lit again on March 6 with the arrival of the Paralympic Flame and at the Paralympic Opening Ceremony. They will be extinguished in March 15 during the Closing Ceremony.

The cauldrons, which were constructed in Yorkshire (northern England), were the result of a partnership between Fincantieri and Milano Cortina, an Italian sponsor. (Reporting and editing by Keith Weir, Giancarlo Navach)

(source: Reuters)