The Vancouver Paralympics 2010 opening ceremony stirred many, when a tribute was paid to Terry Fox, a paralympic marathon legend. His parents Betty Fox and Rolly Fox were proud torchbearers, bearing the flame inside BC Place Stadium.
MANY WERE stirred by the moving Terry Fox tribute which occurred at the Vancouver Paralympics 2010 opening ceremony on Friday. His parents Betty Fox and Rolly Fox walked proudly into the BC Place Stadium, holding the Paralympic torch high, as two of the five final torchbearers.
Betty Fox said, "Carrying the flame in meant so much to both of us because we were carrying it for Terry, not for us or our family, but for our son. I have to say that I know Terry's watching and he would be so proud of all these athletes for the Paralympics 2010."
The Paralympics 2010 opening ceremony was a solemn one, with no star power as compared to the earlier Vancouver Olymoics 2010 ceremony, which featured Bryan Adams and Nellie Furtado. When the final torchbearer Zach Beaumont lit the symbolic legless cauldron.
Singer Nikki Yanofsky, who sang "O Canada" at the Vancouver Olympics 2010 opening, sang "We Rise Again" alongside a mass choir of 2,010 local school kids. An audience of 60,000 welcomed the 1,350 athletes from 44 countries, for the Paralympics 2010, with the biggest roar of the crowd going to Team Canada, which was led by sledge-hockey captain Jean Labonte.
Videos of the Paralympics 2010 opening ceremony, Terry Fox tribute and a spontaneous break dance routine can be viewed on several websites.