The opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics was held on February 12, 2010, beginning at 6:00Â pm PST (02:00 UTC, February 13) at BC Place Stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This was the first Olympic opening ceremony to be held indoors. It was directed by David Atkins.
The event was officially opened by Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, the representative of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada. The opening ceremony was dedicated by the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) to Nodar Kumaritashvili, a Georgian luger who had died earlier in the day in a training run. An audience of 61,600 was in attendance at the venue, and there were an estimated 4,500 performers.