Inline Skating Notebook

あの開会式で見た炎のスケーターは何！・・・素朴な疑問から調べてみました。名前は Sparks of Passion と言うトリノのオリンピックテーマと同じ Sparks of Passion Skater のようです。詳しい事は下記の通りです。

The technical project was entrusted to Vittorio Comi, one of the major European experts in special effects; he was given the task of developing a propulsion system that would produce trails of fire from the helmets of a group of very fast skaters in a line. The solution was reached after long testing, and it will be tested for the first time ever, at these Olympic Winter Games.

Sparks of Passion Red is the color of life, fire, love, passion. It is also the colour of courage and of upward tension.
Technical Data: Materials: titanium, carbonium, nomex. Flame: ecological with pulverised spores of Lycopodium Clavatum, a wild plant of the Appennines and the Alps, also found in the Areas of the Olympic System. Propulsion: miniaturised, compressed air system. Maximum Speed: up to 70 km/h with push start.
6 speed skaters in red skinsuits dash down the ramps.	The heart opens up, one of the skaters passes through it. The heart breaks up, the performers leave the stage.
While the heart breaks apart, the skaters keep going round the Mosh-pit, accompanied by the musical jingle.	The 6 skaters, thanks to the flames that now blaze from their helmets, become the 6 Sparks of Passion, symbol of the Ceremony.
Rhythm, Passion, Speed. Three apexes of a concept that the Creative Group wanted to emphasize. To give shape and a physical dimension to an idea. If Passion is a fire, its sparks could evoke it and express it during the Ceremonies, transforming a primeval force into a narrative element that accompanies the progress of the story. Once the concept was selected, we needed to express it with a strong, immediately understandable and spectacular icon.
The Sparks of Passion are the icon of these Games: we will see them at the Stadium, at the Competition Venues, at Medals Plaza. As a consequence, the concept of Speed has also taken front stage: a basic element of sport (timing, records, limits to be overcome) but also a stylistic element that evokes the beat of a great metropolis with a glorious industrial history and a symbol that can best represent athletic performance in Winter sports.
Hence, speed: a catchword of the Futurist movement, the last great Italian avant-garde, which visually cuts across the performances of speed skating and speed skiing, mixing Daredevil with the structure-clothes of Italian design. Creating superheroes, athletes able to dash followed by a trail of fire, linking together the different artistic segments. Because passion burns, but above all, it lights you up.
Sparks Credits Cast of Sparks of Passion: 6 speed skaters Creative concept: Marco Balich Art director: Lida Castelli Authorial supervision: Alfredo Accatino	Choreography: Giuseppe Arena Costumes: Lino Dainese Original score: Michele Centonze Music: Jingle - “Sparks of Passion”