The big moment: Will holograms be part of Olympic opening ceremonies?

VANCOUVER – An Avatar-style hologram of Terry Fox running round B.C. Place Stadium.

A film of him projected onto 60,000 spectators.

These are just two of the theories popping up in water-cooler conversations about the identity of the final Olympic torchbearer to light the cauldron at B.C. Place Friday.

The projection theory was spawned after news leaked out that spectators will be asked to don white ponchos as part of the ceremony. And Olympic sponsor Samsung used hologram technology to introduce its "Jet" phone last summer.

According to widespread speculation, an image of Terry Fox will be used – and his mother will then carry in the torch.

The Fox connection was refuelled after the one-legged hero’s mother, Betty Fox, failed to run in the torch relay in Coquitlam on Thursday.

Earlier this week, 2010 CEO John Furlong had told a news conference that she would run there.

Up until then, Wayne Gretzky, hockey’s Great One, was being touted as the front-runner, with rumours of assists from Bobby Orr and Gordie Howe.

Thursday, Furlong was being coy about the choice, which he said was made four months ago.

Furlong said only four people, plus the torchbearer, know the secret.

He said he’s delighted it hasn’t got out.

"We made a decision that if it got leaked, for some reason, we would change it," said Furlong. "We wouldn’t allow the surprise of the Games to be ruined by something like that. Frankly, it’s been great that the media hasn’t overdone the investigation to figure it out."

He said 2010 organizers had lots of choices "and we wanted to have one that reflected the whole story of what we were trying to do and have people think, ‘Wow, that was impressive, that was great, and it was connected to everything else.’"

Furlong said he’s looking forward to people’s reactions.

"I will say one thing about it," he said. "You can sit and try to figure out exactly how this is all going to play out – and, good luck to you, you’re not going to."

The list of musical guests at the opening ceremony will include Bryan Adams, Celine Dion and Sarah McLachlan.

People who attended Wednesday night’s preview said that there was a spot where a French-Canadian song was sung, which seemed to be the perfect place for Dion’s appearance.

The Quebec multi-platinum recording star is rumoured to be singing Leonard Cohen’s song "Hallelujah," which she performed recently with The Canadian Tenors on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

There is also likely to be a big First Nations component to the opening ceremonies, and rehearsal previews have included spectacular musical dance numbers.

dinwood@theprovince.com