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Award Ceremony Begins in Nagano City (February 10)
An award ceremony for the Nagano Games was held on February 9. Medals were presented to the top finishers of the men's 30-kilometer cross-country skiing race, men's singles in the luge, and women's 15-kilometer race in the biathlon.When I was trying to write down the names of the medalists near the entrance to Central Square in downtown Nagano--where the medal ceremonies are being held--a volunteer staff member kindly gave me a copy of the list of the medal winners.
When I first got to Central Square, there were only a few people around, but by the time the ceremony was about to start, the crowd had grown to around 2,000 people.
Announcements were made in three different languages--English, French, and Japanese--there being one narrator for each language. The medalists were greeted by loud cheers when they entered the stage, especially from supporters from their own countries.
The ceremony's climax was the raising of the medal winners' national flags and the playing of the national anthems of the gold-medalists. Ekaterina Dafovska of Bulgaria, who won the gold in the biathlon, was moved to tears, and this made a particularly lasting impression on me.
Participating in the ceremony in person for the first time made me aware of the sights and sounds that don't always come through on TV broadcasts (Report by Shun Okuno, Shinonoi Middle School, at Central Square)
The crowd cheers in Central Square for the medalists.