13. Zeke
THE DAY OF THE OPENING CEREMONY
The Olympic opening ceremony was always a spectacle, and Athens 2024 was no exception. In fact, because Greece was the birthplace of the Olympics, the Greek committee had stepped up their game more than any other host country before them. The Olympic Stadium had cost just south of a billion pounds to build, and when people around the world, across all twenty-four time zones, turned on their TV screens to watch that very first night, they could instantly tell why.
It was eight a.m. in Honolulu, and a woman had just come home from her morning swim. She turned her laptop on as she cut up a bowl of fruit and ran to her sofa as the first beats of the introduction music start to play.
It had just hit one a.m. in Jakarta, and three generations of a family were gathered together in their living room. The youngest son, a five-year-old who’d started learning how to play football just the week before, watched in awe as the first flash of color appeared on the TV screen.
At nine p.m. in Nairobi, a group of university students gathered around an outdoor screen. At three p.m. in S?o Paulo, a man who’d once dreamed of becoming a gymnast turned the orientation lock on his phone. And at six p.m. in Reykjavík, two newlyweds looked for the remote to turn on their hotel room TV. They were all there, waiting with bated breath, ready to watch the opening ceremony.
The stadium dissolved into complete darkness, and their TV screens went quiet. The commentators stopped speaking, and everyone looked up in anticipation. Then it began.
A bright flash of light leaped out onto the stadium as a golden bolt of lightning began to form on the ground, crackling and spreading across the floor until it exploded and filled the stadium with light. The light revealed a gorgeous stage in the shape of a mountain. It was Mount Olympus, the home of the Greek gods. And as music began to fill the stadium, people dressed in white and wearing green leaf wreaths began to walk out of hidden doors and make their way onto the stage, forming a crowd of people playing the role of ancient Athenians.
Zeke Moyo had stayed up late or woken up early to watch every Olympic opening ceremony since he was eight years old. But watching this one, knowing that he’d be inside the stadium by the end of the night, made the whole thing feel even more magical.
Zeke, Team GB, and all the other Olympic teams couldn’t enter the stadium until it was time for the athletes’ parade. So, they were sitting in a field outside the stadium watching it on a set of big screens.
A man dressed as Zeus, the Greek god of sky and thunder, walked out onto the stage version of Mount Olympus that had been created in the middle of the stadium. He had a long white beard and the regal demeanor of a king. What followed was a majestic performance portraying the beginning of the ancient Olympic Games through stories, songs, and meticulously choreographed dance.
Zeke kept asking one of the Greek volunteers what it all meant. But he didn’t have to understand every detail of the story unfolding before him to be completely mesmerized. It was the most incredible performance he’d ever seen.
People of all ages, races, and appearances began to fill the stage as the music grew louder and more ethereal. The audience watched in wonder as they heard stories about ancient Greece, learned about the country’s history, and discovered the city’s role in the creation of the ancient Olympics.
Zeke watched gravity-defying stunts, marveled at all the incredible layers of the set, and clapped after each song, dance, and performance that made up the first third of the ceremony.
Once the performances were done and the crowd got up to applaud the show they’d just seen, Zeke and the rest of Team GB formed an excited line behind their flag bearers to join the athletes’ parade. As each team walked in, the audience welcomed them with rolls of applause, whether they had over six hundred athletes like Team USA or a small but powerful delegation like the Refugee Olympic Team. When it was time for Team GB to go in, Zeke and his teammates walked out into the stadium to an even louder round of applause than Zeke remembered hearing in Tokyo.
Zeke’s eyes widened; he could feel the goosebumps springing up across his skin. The audience was a glittering wave of colorful shirts and beaming smiles. He could see the flags of every country he could possibly imagine hanging down from the rafters. The energy was infectious. As he walked, ran, and danced around the perimeter with his teammates and oldest friends, for a few minutes all his worries and questions about what came next melted away. All he could do was hold his friends tight and stare out at the stadium in awe. If this was the pinnacle, it would be more than enough.
Once each country’s team had walked in and the athletes were seated around the stage, the stadium dimmed to complete darkness. Classical music filled the air, and the screens lit up with a live video of one man running through Athens with a flaming torch in his hand. Then he was surrounded by a sea of excited children, running alongside him with their own makeshift torches. He passed the torch on to an older woman, whose eyes filled with tears as she approached the stadium. The world watched as nervous local heroes, famous athletes, and legendary Athenians passed on the torch, until at last they entered the stadium. The final link in the chain walked up onto the stage and lit the fire. The crowd erupted into applause.
The 2024 Athens Olympic Games had officially begun.