Pacific Daily News from Agana Heights, Guam • Page A32

SPORTS guampdn.com July 29, 2012 32 Pacific Sunday News $1 on Guam SEE PAGE 31 LONDON From the Beatles to Bond to Beckham, Queen to the Queen and seemingly every single cool song from the UK in between, the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics was definitely one for the ages. Team Guam reveled in the majesty of it all, along with the rest of the athletes from our region. Wrestler Maria Dunn, dressed in a gorgeous white dress flecked with blue scallops, proudly walked colors around the Olympic Stadium, joining hundreds of volunteers and more than 10,000 athletes in kicking off the greatest sports event in the world. With Dunn taking the lead, swimmer Pilar Shimizu and runner Amy Atkinson followed closely behind, holding hands and flashing their brilliant smiles for the world to see. They were followed by the men: judoka R.J.

Blas, swimmers Ben Schulte and Chris Duenas, runner Derek Mandell and mountain biker Derek Horton. Their shirts were the color of the deep Pacific Ocean with white coral accents. The coaches and officials were similarly draped in island formal wear, including Brent Butler, Roy Wood, Atef Hussein, Neal Kranz and Art Guerrero; and officials Tony Thompson, Chris Fernandez and Roger Wahl. Blas had a different feel this time around, as he was flag-bearer in Beijing. the frontrunner this time around and my second games so I knew what to he said.

it was great watching my team- while marching out! I have to say that I think it could ever get old still as awe-inspiring as the first They were later joined by others from our area: The Federated States of Micronesia, led by Manuel Ming- infel; Palau, led by Rodman Teltull; and the Marshall Islands, led by Haley Nemra. With the ceremony starting at 9 LONDON (AP) Shaken and stirred. James Bond and the queen teamed up to give London a wild Olympic opening like no other. And creative genius Danny Boyle turned Olympic Stadium into a jukebox, cranking up world-beating rock from the Beatles, the Stones and The Who to send the planet a message: Britain, loud and royal proud, is ready to roll. Now over to you, athletes.

It was a brilliant introduction to kick off a 17- day festival of sports. eight athletes are among the roughly 10,500 in London for the games. They include wrestler Maria Dunn, who was given the honor of carrying the Guam flag into Olympic Stadium during the parade of nations. RJ Blas, like Dunn a two-time Guam Olympian, was in awe. the frontrunner this time around and my second games so I knew what to he said.

it was great watching my team- while marching out! I have to say that I think it could ever get old still as awe-inspiring as the first Blas, Dunn and the rest of the Guam team were part of the spectacle, which included Great monarch. Queen Elizabeth II, playing along with movie magic from director Boyle, provided the highlight of the high-adrenaline show. With film trickery, Boyle made it seem as if beloved 86-year-old monarch and its most famous spy parachuted into the stadium together. Daniel Craig as 007, the queen, playing herself, and her royal corgis starred in a short movie filmed in Buckingham Palace. evening, Mr.

she said before they were shown flying by helicopter over London landmarks and then leaping she in a salmon-colored dress, Bond dashing as ever in a black tuxedo into the inky night over Olympic Park. At the same moment, real skydivers appeared as the stadium throbbed to the James Bond theme. And moments after that, the monarch appeared in person, accompanied by her husband, Prince Philip. Organizers said it was thought to be the first time she has acted on film. queen made herself more accessible than ever Boyle said.

Boyle sprang another giant surprise in giving seven teenage athletes the supreme honor of igniting the Olympic flame. Together, they touched torches to trumpetlike tubes that spread into a ring of fire and then rose elegantly to jointly form the cauldron which organizers said would be moved Sunday night to one end of the stadium. It was the end of the journey for the flame. Some 8,000 torchbearers, mostly unheralded Britons, had carried it on a 70-day, journey from toe to tip of the British Isles, whipping up enthusiasm for a $14 billion Olympics taking place during a severe recession. The final torchbearers were kept a closely guarded secret remarkable given the scrutiny on these, the first Summer Games of the Twitter era.

The evening started with fighter jets streaming red, white and blue smoke and roaring over the stadium, packed with a buzzing crowd of 60,000 people, at 8:12 p.m. or 20:12 in the 24-hour time observed by Britons. The show never caught its breath with a nonstop rock-and-pop homage to cool Britannia. The soundtrack veered from classical to irrev- erent. Boyle daringly included the Sex and a snippet of its version of Save the an anti-establishment punk anthem once banned by the BBC.

With a singalong of Beatle Paul McCartney closed the spectacle that ran 45 minutes beyond its scheduled three hours. The encyclopedic review of modern British music included a 1918 Broadway standard adopted by the West Ham football team, the Rolling Get No) and by still another Queen, and other tracks too numerous to mention, but not to dance to. Boyle, who directed and while developing into one of most successful filmmakers, had a ball with his favored medium, mixing filmed passages with live action to hypnotic effect, with 15,000 volunteers taking part in the show. Actor Rowan Atkinson no London welcomes world Guam marches into Olympic Stadium in parade of nations PHOTOS ONLINE For more photos, visit the Pacific Daily News photo gallery at www.Guam- PDN.com Richard TODAY Sports Part of the spectacle: Guam athletes walk behind the flagbearer during the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympic Games Friday at Olympic Stadium. Olympic coverage: Readers can log on daily to GuamPDN.com and read the Pacific Daily News for coverage of Team Guam and the London 2012 Olympics.

KEEP IT HERE See Games Page 30 Team Guam blends in on historic night See Boy go Page 30.