The World Athletic Championships started in Helsinki yesterday. The highlight was the 10,000 metres for women. The Ethiopians swept the medals, with Tirunesh Dibaba coming in first with a time of 30:24.02 mins, Berhane Adere getting second place with a time of 30:25.41 mins and Ejegayehu Dibaba (Tirunesh's sister) coming in 3rd with a time of 30:26.00 mins. The fourth Ethiopian, Werknesh Kidane with a time of 30:32.47 mins came in sixth. It was an absolutely superb performace in the last 400 metres when the three Ethiopians left the rest of the field standing after the gruelling 9.6 km!!
The outstanding performance by walker Ecuadoran Jefferson Perez was also worth watching. Adam Nelson of the US won the shot putt with a throw of 21.73 metres. He was a great and amusing performer.
This was followed by the second part of the Opening Ceremony, the cultural programme. It started at 10:30 pm Finnish time. A maximum of 10 athletes per country was allowed to take part in the athletes march. Most had only a couple, while some had none and a Finnish representative carried the flag for them.
The event was MC:d by a Professor X in a Time Warp machine who visited all the major athletic World Championship sites.
The evening was, unfortunately, in pouring rain in the open air. But with true Finnish Sisu, the entire programme was carried through with a great band international performers doing their acts drenched to the skin. It was a tribute to all of them who did their acts as if the rain was part of the show. The light and fireworks effects were stunning, with the rain actually complementing the entire show.
Finland has been an introverted and arrogant country. Normally, the Finns ignore all others to satisfy themselves. They go first, unlike practice in civilised countries where the guests precede the host.
In this instance, however, I was very pleasantly surprised that the Finns behaved truly internationally. The Finnish representatives in the parade of athletes were the last to enter the stadium. The various winners of previous Gold Medals who came on the stage were from all around the world, not just Finnish Medal winners.
Most of the cultural programme was by artistes from outside of Finland. Lift off was the Finnish Leningrad Cowboys. It was sad to see their weird hairdos sort of lilting under the heavy rain, but they sang their number, Goldfinger, without any break.
The other performers included Laura Bono from Italy, Nemo (from Belgium?), three absolutely great lady drummers from Japan (sorry, but I missed the name of the group), and the Swedish Rednex country music group.
There was a song by Geir Rönning who represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005. An excellent Finnish group called Värttinä, consisting of three ladies, Susan Aho, Mari Kaasinen and Johanna Virtanen performed a special brand of Finnish music. The speed of the vocals is equal to or even faster than what one hears in rap. Annikki told me that this group (singers have obviously changed over the years) has been making this unique Finnish music for as many as 20 years!!
The Spanish Guitarist Vicente Amigo was amazing. The Greek popstar Helena Paparizo gave a rousing performance.
The other Finnish groups that performed were the heavy metal band, NIGHTWISH and APOCALYPTICA (Eicca Toppinen, Paavo Lotjonen, Perttu Kivilaakso).
The rain sort of cleared up near the end. But it did not matter for those of us who were able to sit and watch it on TV, feeling sorry for all those who had to brave the weather. They obviously must have seen something spectacular, as even on TV, although not as expensive as in other international events as the Olypics, it was a great show.
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