Salt Lake City ? Michelle Kwan has often drawn inspiration from fellow Olympian Lance Armstrong’s autobiography, “It’s Not About the Bike.”

After a chance meeting at the opening ceremony, the U.S. figure skater was drawing inspiration from Armstrong himself.

A spectator waves an American flag as Derek Parra, of the United States, races to set a world record in the men's 5,000-meter speedskating competition. Parra's mark later was eclipsed, but he earned a silver medal Saturday at the Utah Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City.

“I didn’t know he was going to be there,” Kwan said Saturday about their encounter in Rice-Eccles Stadium. “I saw a bunch of people marching in, including Cal Ripken, and then I saw Lance.”

Armstrong came back from a life-threatening bout with cancer to win a bronze medal in Sydney and the Tour de France the last two years.

“It struck me he’s not a big guy,” Kwan said. “But then I said, ‘Hey, that’s Superman.”‘

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Oops: Jamie Sale and David Pelletier of Canada, the 2001 world champion in pairs skating, ended their short program Saturday night by slowly toppling over onto the ice.

They laughed about the fall, which didn’t hurt their score because it happened just after their music stopped

“It was the weirdest thing. I didn’t even know it was happening until I was on the ice,” Sale said. “I just thought, ‘I didn’t come all the way to Salt Lake City to do that.”‘

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Faces in the crowd: Former Salt Lake bid leaders Tom Welch and Dave Johnson were just another couple of spectators at the opening ceremony.

Still under a cloud for their roles in the Olympic bid scandal, Welch and Johnson sat with their families in the stands while current Salt Lake City Olympics officials watched the ceremony from suites high in the stadium.

“I thought when we came it would be hard to watch,” Johnson said. “But I enjoyed every minute of it. I was proud to be there. I was proud to be part of making it all happen.”

The Justice Department has appealed a local federal judge’s dismissal of bribery, fraud and racketeering charges against Welch and Johnson, and state and Olympics officials have distanced themselves from the pair.

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Screaming at scalpers: City officials say they tried to be nice to ticket scalpers. But Saturday afternoon, John Sittner, Salt Lake City’s chief of Olympic planning, stood on a planter downtown and screamed at unlicensed ticket brokers.

“Do not sell tickets without a license,” Sittner yelled to about 100 brokers on the busy sidewalk. “Do not buy tickets from people without a license,” he said to everyone else.

The city rented office space in a building specifically for people to buy, sell, and exchange tickets and pins. But to get a stall, brokers had to register, submit to a background check and pay $750.

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Olympic aid: The Dutch government made a $5.7 million donation to Olympic Aid at a charity program Saturday. Olympic Aid runs immunization and sports programs in refugee camps.

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Flame scare: The 55,000 fans who packed Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium and billions watching worldwide on television probably noticed a brief flicker by the flame just before the cauldron lit.

No, it wasn’t supposed to do that, officials admitted Saturday.

“There was a gust of wind,” said Scott Givens, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee’s creative group managing director. “It looked like it might have gotten us, but the cauldron lit just in time.

“We were definitely holding our breath,” Givens said.