Friday's opening ceremony for the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan, cost a "staggering" $95M, officials said on Saturday, "making it more expensive than most Olympic Games curtain-raisers," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS. The two-hour long ceremony at Baku's Olympic stadium "deployed about 2,000 volunteer cast members and 350 production staff but was far smaller in size, personnel and duration than the gigantic Olympic productions at summer Games." Azerbaijan Sports Minister Azad Rahimov said, "There are some invoices still to be paid, but the cost will be about 100 million manat ($95M)." The "extravaganza" included a "one-song appearance by pop star and six-times Grammy award winner Lady Gaga." Rahimov: "All the efforts which were made over the last two years have yielded good results. There has been a very positive impression in general and we are very glad" (REUTERS, 6/13). Grohmann reported in a separate piece Lady Gaga sang John
Lennon's "Imagine" sitting at a flower-covered piano as the inaugural
European Games got off to a "glamorous start." In a two-hour curtain-raiser produced
by Dimitris Papaioannou, who was in charge of the Athens 2004 Olympics
ceremonies, "the history of the nation on the shores of the Caspian sea
unfurled in a kaleidoscope of colors and sounds." European Olympic Committees President Patrick Hickey said, "This
is the proudest moment in the history of the European Olympic
Committees." The 6,000 athletes entered the
stadium with Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev watching from the stands,
along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, sitting next to
IOC President Thomas Bach, and 35 other
heads of state (REUTERS, 6/12). The AP reported organizers also said that Lady Gaga "spent several days hiding in a hotel
in the capital Baku to keep her presence a secret before she performed
at the ceremony." Representatives of the Games' operation committee and the EOC suggested that Rahimov "may have been mistaken and
that the true cost could be much lower." However, Rahimov's spokesperson
Samaya Mammadova said that the ministry "stood by
its estimate." Catherine Ugwu, who coordinated the ceremony for Games organizers,
said that they had to "work very hard on keeping it a secret" and that the
singer "was kind enough to stay in a hotel and not move for several
days" (AP, 6/13).
