RIO DE JANEIRO
Bryan Pinkall was a 7-year-old visiting his grandparents in Salina, Kan., as the opening ceremony of the Barcelona Olympics was unfurled to the world on July 25, 1992.
Long before he earned his doctorate at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance and became a Grammy-winning soloist and chorist with Kansas City Chorale, the Great Bend native was riveted that night by the operatic elements and stars.
More than that, though, he was mesmerized by a sheer spectacle that was punctuated by Antonio Rebollo shooting a flaming arrow to light Olympic cauldron.
Which explains how he came to put together a remarkable database of Olympic history, highlighted by facts about and footage from opening ceremonies:
“Witness the World’s Largest Art Form,” he labels it.