The Official Opening Ceremony for the 2007 World Orienteering Championships took place yesterday evening. Team Member Jeremy Green was nominated as the South African representative to take part in the parade of nations.


The ceremony was quite festive, appreciably short and quite entertaining. Interestingly, the ceremony took part in an amphitheatre in front of a monument in central Kiev that is dedicated to "the reunification of Ukraine with Russia". Interesting one.

The spectators were treated to unusually short speeches by various dignitaries, an army marching band that broke out into cabaret (really got the crowd going), some Ballroom Dancing by the national paralympic champions of the Ukraine, and some spectacular folk dancing that redefined some orienteers standards of flexibility and quad muscle strength.


All the teams were presented with a token gift by the organisers. It was only a loaf of local bread, but I'm sure there's a bit of tradition behind this. Jeremy got to it before the rest of the team did...


I suppose every team has a character like this...


Team Austria, together with Team Defector Richard Gathercole was in the audience as well. Below is a snap of him wearing his the opposition colours... He does look a bit humble (and grey haired).


Before the opening ceremony we did manage to get a good walk around some of the older parts of Kiev. The highlights are the monasteries (spectacular) and the catacombs below some of them where ancient monks are laid to rest in glass coffins for all to see.


Here are some of the team members winding their way between various churches on the main hill in Kiev.


Wednesday is the Middle Distance Final. The South African team will be out spectating for this one. The field is quite open this year, so it's going to be interesting to see who emerges as World Champion in this discipline.