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1,218 Military-Grade Drones Used To Create Giant, Flying Snowboarder Above The 2018 Olympic Opening Ceremony

The top-secret display stunned onlookers as they watched the Opening Ceremony in the freezing South Korean night

The snowboarder made of 1,218 drones during the Opening Ceremony on the 2018 Olympics – Screen grab: BBC iPlayer

The 2018 Olympic Opening Ceremony took place this morning, and it wasn’t short of weird happenings. However, one of the most spectacular sights was the amazing light show, that called upon 1,218 military-grade drones to fly in unison to create a giant snowboarder in the night sky above the Olympic arena in Pyeongchang.

Winter Olympics 2018 | Everything You Missed from the Opening Ceremony

The staggering display set a new Guiness World Record for the most amount of drones flown at the same time. The previous record was a comparatively measly sounding 500 drones.

The Intel drones also formed the iconic Olympic Rings – Screen grab: BBC iPlayer

The Shooting Star Drones, fitted with bright LED lights to illuminate the sky, formed the shape of a snowboarder, a bird and, of course, the Olympic rings. Although controlled by an automated software program, there was one lone person also on hand should something have gone wrong. Perhaps the only thing higher than the drones was his or her levels of anxiety during the flight.

The whole effect was genuinely spectacular, and looked like something straight out of a Disney movie (although at times it did rather take on the appearance of a strange hybrid between a Daft Punk video and 1980’s Arnie classic Running Man).

Somme of the Olympic Ceremony in Pyengchang got a little Daft Punk – Screen grab: BBC iPlayer

At risk of killing some of the magic, the drone flight wasn’t live, rather pre-recorded in advance, although around 300 drones were also flying live above the event on the night. But, come on, it looked good.

Natalie Chung, from Intel – the company that created the drones – said “It’s something that we wanted to integrate, that experience into the Olympics on a daily occasion, because not everyone is going to be at the opening ceremony, and we want to give everyone in Korea a chance to see these shows,” making it clear that this spectacle won’t only be reserved for the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Olympics.

We’ll be covering all the action sport highlights of the 2018 Olympic Games on Mpora, so make sure you check back every day. We’ve also dedicated out entire February Issue to the Olympic Games, which you can read here.

Suffering from a real bad case of Olympic fever? You’ll be pleased to hear that we’ve joined forces with Ubisoft, the folks behind ‘Steep: Road To The Olympics’, to provide you with the very best coverage of the PyeongChang action.

While many of us will never even get close to attempting a switch triple cork 1440 Octo grab in real life, thanks to the magic of video games, and in particular ‘Steep: Road To The Olympics’, that possibility is much closer than you think.

Get STEEP & the Road To The Olympics add-on in the STEEP: Winter Games Edition. Available now.

You May Also Like:

What Is Big Air? | Winter Olympic Event Guide And Preview For Pyeongchang 2018

From Underdogs to Overachievers | The Secret Story Behind Britain’s Winter Olympians

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