Watch the live broadcast of Gay Games Opening Ceremony online from Cologne

On July, 31 the Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010 will start with a spectacular opening ceremony – and center.tv will broadcast it live. At 6:30 pm (Cologne Time) the Center.TV presentation duo of Uwe Lautenschläger and Stefan Sartorius will begin the pre-coverage from their glass-walled studio in the northern tower of RheinEnergie Stadium in Cologne. Guests will include sports men and women who will be participating in the Gay Games through August 7.

At 7:30 pm sharp the live broadcasting of the whole opening ceremony starts with the traditional entry of the 70 national teams, led by Team San Francisco, the birthplace of the Gay Games. Almost 10,000 participants will march into the stadium organized by country, state and province. Following this rousing start there will be a drummer’s show full of energy. At that point Center.TV's Uwe Lautenschläger will move to the main TV studio in the stadium where he will comment on the evening with Center.TV's Tina Stotz.

The highest ranking politician in the 30-year-long history of the Gay Games, openly gay Dr. Guido Westerwelle, vice chancellor and secretary of state of Germany and patron of the Gay Games, will declare the Games formally open. Then Australian Olympic gold medal diver Matthew Mitcham will deliver the oath to the participants. Matthew Mitcham was one of the few openly gay sportsmen at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Then the flame of the Gay Games and the International Memorial Rainbow Flag will reach the Stadium before the artistic part of the big event starts. Hundreds of musicians, performers, dancers and fire artists will deliver n impressive choreographed "Welcome to the Nations." Then the musical portion of the evening will start with performances by Swedish pop star “Agnes” with her hit “Release me…” and American diva Taylor Dayne, who will present the official anthem of Gay Games VIII Cologne 2010 “Facing a Miracle.”

Coverage will feature views from up to 9 cameras in stationery and mobile positions throughout the stadium. The complete broadcasting of the international opening ceremony can be followed via live stream at http://koeln.center.tv. For those in Germany, check your local Center.TV listings for TV broadcast and check www.games-cologne.com for any updates or additional websites.

Live broadcasting

Saturday, July, 31, 6:30 (LIVE) (Cologne Time)
US Eastern Time 12:30 pm
US Pacific time 9:30 am

Repetitions (all Cologne Time - 6 hours ahead of US Eastern Time)

Sunday, Aug, 1 12:00 pm
Sunday, Aug, 1 7:30 pm
Monday, Aug, 2 12:30 pm

Photo: Team San Francisco enters Chicago's Soldier Field during Gay Games Chicago 2006. Photo by Dmitriy Margoiln