I haven't watched the opening and closing ceremonies for any Olympics in the past 15 years or so. So I can't comment.

But for Canada's 2010 version for opening ceremonies..methinks many Canadians who have lived here for several decades and have experienced Canada by travelling abit in different provinces, have read about Canada's history, (which can be quite contrasting in history, demographic composition, even wildlife and vegetation in different regions) would strongly identify some of the common themes, symbols and historic-cultural legacies.

I enjoyed the twinkling light Spirit Bear..which evokes the real-life rare albino bear inhabiting the wild uninhabited rugged coastline of British Columbia. This coastline is similar to the fjords of Norway if one takes a cruise through the Strait up to Alaska. I have taken a ferry 400 kms. up the coastline and was humbled/awed. So wild. It's so steep, rocky and dense of tall rainforest trees, that hardly anyway can live there. The road maps of British Columbia hardly show ANY roads leading to the whole rugged coastline. One would have fly in by seaplane.

The First Nations people (native Indians, but they are called/call themselves First nations, because they were the original inhabitants of Canada) does have a special place in their legends, etc. Spirit Bear at the opening ceremonies also evokes the wild polar bears that roam...in northern Ontario and further north all across the Canadian Arctic.

The imaginery of orca whales/whales, red salmon then transformed into the First Nations spiritual and artistic iconography, is VERY Canadian Northwest Coast. I realize salmon is found in Atlantic Ocean. But salmon here has a long cultural & spiritual significance to First Nations ..the image of salmon infiltrates the legends, major traditional cash crop/source of many things for the First Nations..which then in modern day transfers to our smoked salmon (hot smoked salmon as done by the First Nations, candied salmon, salmon jerky, etc....) Then if my memory can recall, the transition to the rainforest soaring heights of the Douglas fir trees, etc. Again, very, very Northwest Coast British Columbia..something alot of visitors want to see in our parks, wilderness, etc.

The allusion to CAnadian vast prairies as a sea is very much harkening to a whole genre of art and literature where prairies represents freedom of spirit, openness and all those romantic visions of Canada ...which is similar to the U.S. with their prairies Midwest. Not sure if we saw buffalo, caribou and muskox images in the opening ceremonies. I haven't seen live muskox yet since they hang out wild in the Arctic and probably might find a zoo in southern Canada just too stifling-hot. But hiking in the Canadian Rockies and driving through there, we have encountered wild black and brown bears, several caribou at different times, herds of wild bighorn sheep with curled back tusks...

it's all real too..I don't what to say. Alot of the European countries do not have the large wildlife anymore ..like what Canada and U.S. have in some regions. Nature truly rules Canada and our pscyhe. That includes the weather. It is vast, humbling and a person could be killed /lost in the wilderness if they don't have proper skills. People have to be rescued from our local mountains if they don't know the hiking trails,..only 20 kms., from our home..same mountains that I can see from our home right now. Black bears occasionally visit the backyards of people in th suburbs. In my last job, I worked in an area where there bears that did encroach our construction site.

Which probably explains why we have sprawled out suburbs in own large home lots and love our cars too much.

Most definitely the opening ceremonies to me, did convey a strong sense of vastness of Canada and regional differences. Celtic stuff is in Eastern Canada, as you may know.

I did like the use of the drum motif built into the stage set, where singers Nellie Furtado and Bryan Adams (both are from Vancouver) sang and whenever they danced, the drum floor vibrated. And carrying over the drum motif later on.
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They have recently cancelled 20,000 tickets for some of the events due to weather causing unstable viewing areas.
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/news-centre/newsid=43329.html
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The construction mess in your area...5 years..well I can relate to that. It wouldn't be surprising in Vancouver, it'll take at least 1 yr. for the temporary structures to be taken down, grass resodded, etc.
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Some of the country pavilions have been boring and not much to offer. More promoting trade /biz opportunities or offering liquor and snacks. Only one pavilion that I've seen that didn't rip people off with inflated prices..(Ontario pavilion did offer reasonably priced glass of wine..at least 15 choices to highlight wine region of Niagara-on-the-Lake). After seeing huge lineups for B.C. pavilion, I kinda gave up.
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Right now it is spring like. Some cherry trees have even started to bloom. Sunny. The city looks real beautiful on days like this..just like the postcards.

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We will be going to women's speedskating shorts next week.

On a different day we will also be going to the women's hockey game playoffs. Did I mention, that one of my nieces, 8- yrs. old is enrolled in ice hockey this year? I think she didn't want to be left out from her 2 brothers also in ice hockey.

When I grew up, we knew of no girl playing ice hockey. Certainly there were no girls' ice hockey teams in town. Things change. Canada's women's Olympic hockey team captain is a mother of 2 children, I believe she is in her early 30's.