The effects created provided a spectacular accompaniment to the three-hour ceremony. The Chinese performance of the Beijing handover ceremony was given a dramatic finish using 15 of Le Maitre's Electric Air Cannons to fire yellow streamers from inside a giant lantern. The ceremony featured performances from some of Greece's top singing stars. Particularly impressive was the traditional Greek song Misirlou (familiar from the movie Pulp Fiction) performed by Anna Vissi on a square stage in the centre of the stadium. Four high-powered Venturi Cannons surrounded the stage and pumped out hits of white and light blue confetti and silver mylar. Over 3kg were used in each cannon for each cue, creating a fantastic cloud raining down over the singer throughout the song.
As the event progressed, both the athletes who partied in the centre of the stadium and the audience who surrounded them were showered with confetti and glitter pumped from 16 of the high pressure Turbo Blowers that are manufactured by Pyrotek. These blowers were chosen because they use high pressure CO2 to project the confetti to a high altitude, thus covering huge sections of the stadium with fast falling confetti on each cue.
The 2004 Olympics drew to a close with a final speech from members of the IOC and a last song from all the singers. Slow falling confetti created a beautiful rain effect across the stage using 12 riggers in the roof of the stadium to throw the confetti by hand, giving the Closing Ceremony the perfect atmosphere to conclude such an outstanding event.
(Lee Baldock)
