NEWS
OTHER SPORTS
DIARY
PEOPLE
MATCH REPORTS
SLIDE SHOW
ARCHIVES

Seville set to go

The grandiose opening ceremony of the seventh IAAF World Athletics Championships, planned for tomorrow evening in Seville's Olympic Stadium, is fittingly entitled to evoke the Herculean tasks awaiting the 1952 athletes from 205 countries, who will compete here over the next ten days.

"Children of Hercules" is the name given to this grand show by its creator Manuel Coronado, who in the past was responsible for the opening and closing ceremonies of Seville's Expo '92.

Hercules was reputedly the founder of the City of Seville and the opening ceremony will emphasise his championing of health and physical endurance.

The Guadalquivir River, which flows through the centre of the Andalusan capital, is represented in the flowing form of the stage and carries the history of the city into the stadium.

Directed by stage co-ordinator José Carlo Plaza, who is a leading professional director at Spain's Teatro Nacional, "Los Hijos de Hercules", is produced on a stage designed by Mark Fisher - who has to his credit such productions as Pink Floyd's world-wide tour The Wall, the Rollings Stones' "Voodoo Lounge" and their 1997 tour "Bridges to Babylon".

One of the most talented Spanish dancers of recent decades, Joaquín Cortés will star in the show. Cortés made his first solo appearance in the National Ballet of Spain at just 15 years old and has appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. In 1992, he created his own ballet company, the "Joaquín Cortés Ballet Flamenco", which has given performances around the world.

Altogether, some 700 artists will perform in the ceremony, backed up by the 60,000 crowd in the stadium, with all seats sold out for the event.