When I entered the square, I was given a goody bag filled with an Austrian flag, rain poncho, loaf of bread and one Mozart Drink (tastes like rich chocolate milk). Classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg 250 years ago, so for the entire year the city will celebrate this anniversary. But more about that in another post.

I proceeded to the crowd of joyous Austrians gathered in front of the stage. Fans of all ages attended – toddlers, teenagers, middle-aged parents and elderly citizens waved their flags in the air.

Even amid the doping scandal involving the Austrian men’s cross country ski team coach, the nation’s athletes still brought home 23 medals (just 2 behind the United States).

The emcee kicked off the festivity by leading the crowd into cheers for the returning athletes and then unveiled the city’s proposal for the 2014 Olympics.

A multimedia presentation showed improvements made from the 2010 bid plan, which Salzburg lost to Vancouver. According to the 2014 plan, the entire span of sporting venues is only 55 minutes from end to end. Salzburg is easily accessible to the mountains and I can testify to this, as I have already taken multiple snowboarding day trips in the Alps.

The International Olympic Committee will decide the 2014 host city in July 2007.

After the presentation, a Salzburg cover-band called Straight Up played Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman.” It was strange to me that a city with so much pride would start off a rally concert with an American pop-country song from a Canadian-born artist. But American music is prevalent in the local bars and clothing stores.

The band finished playing and the medal-winning athletes were interviewed on stage. Unfortunately my German is nicht gut, so I didn’t understand everything that was said. Nonetheless, it was still an electrifying atmosphere.

Austrian Olympic medal-winners on stage at the rally.