Chapter 1353: Opening Ceremony
The Olympic Games first originated in ancient Greece.
At that time, people wished for peace when the city-states fought endlessly, so they reached an agreement to hold games in Olympia regularly every four years, and they agreed that the “sacred day of truce” be implemented in the year of the games.
Because of this, the Olympic year was known as the year of peace.
However, reality and ideals often conflicted. From the Georgian War during the 2008 Olympic Games to the 2020 Colombian Civil War, since the world entered the first year of the new century, the imaginary peace did not arrive. Instead, humanity had been on the brink of war.
The 2020 Olympics was a failed Olympics.
At least in the eyes of most foreign tourists.
They saw disputes, chaos, and extremisms that ran counter to the Olympic spirit. In order to prevent protesters from throwing rotten eggs at athletes from the UA, the Yoto police had to deploy an additional 500 police officers to protect the safety of athletes in Yoto.
Of course, although many incidents occurred, this Olympics was not without its highlight. The technological prowess demonstrated at the Yoto Olympics still made most foreign tourists feel like the trip was worth the money.
This Olympics could be the Olympics with the highest usage rate of robots in history. From autonomous vehicles to robot volunteers, as well as the anime characters that came into life with the use of AR technology, everything manifested this point.
Just like the giant Doraemon in the main stadium, technology itself was one of the selling points of this Olympics.
However, keen tourists did discover that except for a small number of “miniature” robots were engraved with the Mitsubis.h.i.+ logo, most of the highly anthropomorphic and highly intelligent service robots were printed with the logo of Future Heavy Industries.
There were also autonomous vehicles equipped with magnetic levitation devices and autonomous drones…
Unconsciously, Future Group seemed to have contracted the high-tech part of the Olympic Games.
Many people imagined that if one day in the future, the XX Olympic Games were to be held in the fabled maritime city-Penglai, what would that experience be like? The endless stream of maglev cars, the hordes of service drones, the maglev train that circulated the entire city in 20 minutes… It seemed that city had entered the future ahead of schedule.
After this turbulent week, the Olympic Games finally unfolded…
“Welcome, Jiang Chen.”
As soon as Jiang Chen got out of the car, he saw a smiling face.
Kis.h.i.+da shook Jiang Chen’s hand enthusiastically and then gestured toward the VIP seats of the main stadium.
When they entered through a private tunnel, he looked at the direction of the main entrance of the lower venue through the floor-to-ceiling gla.s.s windows of the elevator. With the dense crowds at the stadium, he thought that if he had to through the main gate, the opening ceremony would be over before he could get in.
When he entered the stadium, he saw an acquaintance, although this acquaintance did not seem to like him.
An eagle-like stare was locked onto him, and there seemed to be a haze in Kerry’s eyes.
From Jiang Chen’s smile, he felt annoyed. But he was a diplomat after all, so he didn’t write his unhappiness on his face. He just raised his hooked nose slightly and looked away from Jiang Chen after a while.
When Jiang Chen saw that Kerry no longer looked at him, he still smiled and looked away from him. But at this moment, he saw another familiar figure. Except that he never met this person, but only saw her on TV.
“I didn’t expect the President of the UA to come here in person.” Zhang Yaping sat down next to Jiang Chen, tilted his head slightly, and glanced in Hill’s direction.
“Is there a problem?” Jiang Chen laughed.
“No,” Zhang Yaping smiled and shook his head, “I just think it’s a bit strange. The CIB and the UA military just had a large scandal, even if Hill plans to use the Olympic Games to visit Nippon to repair the broken relations.h.i.+p, I don’t think it will be that effective, right?”
“It’s because they are not here for them.” Jiang Chen said with a smile.
“Do you mean…” At the same time as he said this, a trace of realization appeared on Zhang Yaping’s face.
“That’s right,” Jiang Chen pointed at himself, then pointed at Zhang Yaping who was looking at him, as he said, “Most likely they are here for us.”
The head of the host country and the President of the Olympic Committee entered the stadium one after another. The stage of raising the national flag and playing the national anthem ended, then the opening ceremony of the entire Olympic Games also kicked off. The next stage was an hour to two hours of performances.
Jiang Chen found a bottle of vintage red wine and a goblet, poured himself a gla.s.s, and leaned on a chair to enjoy the performance on the stage.
The first performance was naturally the Olympic theme song, performed by a group that he couldn’t name.
Because he couldn’t understand, Jiang Chen didn’t pay attention to what they sang. Soon after the song, the second program started.
A series of light particles appeared in the center of the stage, and the lights came on one after another. Accompanied by clean and refined electronic sounds, a pair of emerald green double ponytails jumped out from the illusory dimensional gate, as she swayed briskly with her fluttering black skirt.
She was voted as the most popular virtual idol to perform, and she was also one of the highlights of the opening ceremony. Not only Hatsune Miku, but there were also a number of popular characters that people were familiar with, such as Mario and Tinkerbell.
By the way, the augmented reality device on the main stadium stage was also produced by Future Heavy Industries.
After the two-hour performance, athletes from all over the world entered the stadium.
Greek athletes entered the stadium first, followed by athletes from partic.i.p.ating countries, and finally the athletes from the host country.
Although he signed up for an event, Jiang Chen did not appear in the Xin athletes that marched through the stadium. He just sat in the VIP booth and waved to the athletes below the stage.
After all the athletes had entered the stadium, a song of Olympics played, and the Olympic flag was raised.
In the center of the stadium, the Olympics Committee and the organizer gave their open remarks to the athletes, referees, and coaches as they stood under the banner of the Olympic Games. They raised their right fists, solemnly swearing the Olympics Oath.
“In the name of the athletes.”
“In the name of all judges.”
“In the name of all the coaches and officials.”
“We promise to take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules and in the spirit of fair play. We all commit ourselves to sports without doping and cheating. We do this, for the glory of sports, for the honor of our teams and in respect for the Fundamental Principles of Olympism”
Under everyone’s watch, the Olympic flame was lit.
The last performance and fireworks decorated the night sky and brought the opening ceremony to a close.
Rows of artificial meteor showers crossed the dark night sky.
No matter what would happen after tonight, at least at this moment, most people were praying for the same word…
Peace.