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OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
UPDATE â FEBRUARY 2008
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
The modern Olympic Games encompass more
than just the drama and excitement of a sporting
competition. Thanks to the vision of their
founder, Pierre de Coubertin, and the creative
efforts of various host city organisers, the
ceremonial aspects of the Olympic Games have
served to set them apart from other international
sports competitions. The protocol and splendour
of the Olympic ceremonies, which go hand-in-
hand with the celebration of the Games as
everyone knows them today, make this event a
unique and unforgettable festival. Although
there was an Opening Ceremony at the Games
of the Olympiad in 1896 in Athens, it bore only
the slightest resemblance to todayâs
ceremonies. In fact, some of the elements of
Olympic protocol that have become a part of
todayâs traditions were only gradually
established over time through a series of
adaptations to the ceremonies of early editions
of the Games.
MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE
OPENING CEREMONY
Today, Rule 58 of the Olympic Charter briefly
mentions the protocol that must be observed at
the Opening Ceremony of the Games, as well
as the opening speech by the host countryâs
Head of State. The other important features of a
ceremony are:
â˘
The parade of the participants;
â˘
The speech by the President of the
Organising Committee of the Olympic
Games;
â˘
The speech by the IOC President;
â˘
The playing of the Olympic anthem and the
entry and raising of the Olympic flag;
â˘
The last stage of the Olympic torch relay and
the lighting of the Olympic cauldron;
â˘
The symbolic release of pigeons;
â˘
The taking of the Olympic oath by an athlete;
â˘
The taking of the Olympic oath by an official;
â˘
The national anthem of the host country;
â˘
The artistic programme.
PROTOCOL ELEMENTS OF THE
OPENING CEREMONY:
1. THE PARADE OF PARTICIPANTS
The parade of the participants reflects both the
changing world and the growth of the Olympic
Movement.
The number of National Olympic Committees
(NOCs) present at the Opening Ceremony has
increased from 22 in 1908 to 202 in Athens in
2004. According to tradition, the delegations
parade in alphabetical order according to the
language of the host country, except for Greece,
which leads the parade, and the host country,
which brings up the rear.
In Athens, a bearer with the Greek flag entered
the stadium first, in front of all the other
delegations, while the Greek team concluded
the parade. Each delegation is preceded by a
board bearing its countryâs name, and by its
flag. The usual practice is for the athletes to
march behind the flag of their country, but there
are sometimes exceptions. For example, the
Olympic flag has been used by some nations,
such as Great Britain in 1980 in Moscow, the
Unified Team in 1992, and Timor-Leste in 2000.
On other occasions, a special flag has been
used by delegations, such as the two Koreas
which marched together in Sydney in 2000, and
again in Athens.
2. THE HEAD OF STATE DECLARES
THE GAMES OPEN
According to the Olympic Charter protocol that
has existed for many years, the duty of
declaring the Games officially open falls to the
Head of State of the host country. Among the
personalities that have performed this task are
royalty and presidents, and, in accordance with
acceptable political protocol within the country
and with IOC approval, their representatives,
whether it be a vice-president, a member of the
royal family, or a governor-general.
Since the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens in
1896, a total of 18 Heads of State have opened
the Games of the Olympiad.
See table A.
3. THE OLYMPIC ANTHEM
The Olympic anthem, with music by the Greek
composer Spiros Samaras and words by Kostis
Palamas, was officially adopted by the IOC in
1958 at its Tokyo Session. This anthem was
created in 1896 for the first Games of the
Olympiad in Athens, but for the Olympic Winter
Games it was played for the first time in Squaw
Valley in 1960.
4. THE OLYMPIC FLAG
Officially presented at the 17th IOC Session in
June 1914 in Paris, the Olympic flag was raised
for the first time at the Olympic Games in
Antwerp in 1920. The original flag was designed
by Pierre de Coubertin. It included the Olympic
symbol â the five rings â and the Olympic motto,
Citius Altius Fortius. However, the motto quickly
disappeared and only the Olympic symbol
remained on the flag. Contrary to what is
sometimes written, it is the five rings themselves
that represent the five continents, and not the
colours of these rings. In fact, the six colours
represented on the Olympic flag â the white
background, plus the blue, black, red, yellow
and green of the rings â were chosen because
of the fact that at least one of these colours can
be seen in the flag of every nation.
5. THE OLYMPIC FLAME AND
TORCH RELAY
Today, the Olympic flame and torch relay are
inextricably linked. However, although the flame
made its appearance at the Winter Games in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 1936, the relay as
we know it today was introduced only in 1952 in
Oslo. There were however torch races
(lapadedromia) in Ancient Greece. The
ceremonial aspect of the Olympic flame has not
always been linked to Olympia, Greece. In fact,
for the Olympic Winter Games in 1952 and
1960, the flame was lit in the hearth of the home
of a Norwegian skiing pioneer, Sondre Norheim,
in Morgedal. And in 1956, it was lit in the Capitol
in Rome. Innovation and symbolism often play
an important role in the choice of the last torch-
bearers â those who will be remembered forever
as having lit the cauldron in the Olympic
stadium.
See table B.
The arrival of the flame at the Opening
Ceremony in Athens was more than merely a
part of the protocol that symbolises the start of
another celebration of the Games. It also
marked the end of a unique journey. More than
11,000 torchbearers had carried the flame for
the first time to all the summer host cities as well
as to all five continents.
6. THE SYMBOLIC RELEASE OF
PIGEONS
As doves are the symbol of peace, it is no
surprise that the Opening Ceremony protocol
calls for a symbolic release of these birds. In
fact, from the time that this element was
officially introduced into Opening Ceremony
protocol at the Games of the VII Olympiad in
Antwerp in 1920, it has always been stipulated
in subsequent editions of the Olympic Charter
that it would be a symbolic release of pigeons.
From 1936 to 1988, the release of the pigeons
used to take place before the arrival of the
Olympic flame. However, following the
unfortunate demise of several pigeons sitting on
the edge of the Olympic cauldron at the
Opening Ceremony of the Games in Seoul, this
part of the protocol was moved, but not
eliminated. Today, the symbolic release of the
pigeons follows the lighting of the Olympic
cauldron.
Opening ceremony of the Summer olympic Games/ February 2008
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7. THE TAKING OF THE OLYMPIC
OATH BY A COMPETITOR
First pronounced by Belgian athlete Victor Boin
(water polo, swimming, and fencing) at the 1920
Games of the Olympiad in Antwerp, the Olympic
oath of modern times was similar to that taken
by the Olympic athletes of ancient times - but at
the modern Olympic Games, the athletes swear
on the Olympic flag, not on the entrails of a
sacrificed animal. The modern Olympic oath
was originally written by Pierre de Coubertin,
and has been modified over time to reflect the
changing nature of the sporting competition. The
current version of the oath, which was sworn by
the Greek swimmer ZoĂŻ Dimoschaki in Athens,
was introduced in 1999.
See table C.
âIn the name of all competitors I promise that we
shall take part in these Olympic Games,
respecting and abiding by the rules which
govern them, committing ourselves to a sport
without doping and without drugs, in the true
spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and
the honour of our teams.â
Opening ceremony of the Summer olympic Games/ February 2008
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(Olympic Charter, 2003, p. 104)
8. THE TAKING OF THE OLYMPIC
OATH BY AN OFFICIAL
Since 1972, a judge or official from the host
country also takes an oath. In Athens in 2004,
Lazaros Voreadis, a basketball official,
pronounced the following oath: â
In the name of
all the judges and officials, I promise that we
shall officiate in these Olympic Games with
complete impartiality, respecting and abiding by
the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of
sportsmanship
.â
(Olympic Charter, 2003, p. 104)
See table D.
9. THE ARTISTIC PROGRAMME
Once the national anthem of the host country
has been played, the show begins. Usually, the
content is kept secret until the last minute. Over
the years, Games organisers have managed to
find creative ways to combine Olympic protocol
with just the right amount of entertainment,
cultural references, technological innovations
and festive atmosphere. The Sydney 2000
presentation covered the history, nature and
culture of the whole of Australia. In Turin in
2006, the organisers offered spectators and
television viewers a ceremony in which the
athletes were at the heart of things, with an
unforgettable show illustrating the values of
brotherhood and dialogue between peoples and
cultures, to show that âpassion lives hereâ. For
its part, the Opening Ceremony of the 2004
Games in Athens, produced by Dimitris
Papaioannou, offered a memorable mix of
Olympic protocol and Greek culture. The various
scenes depicted 3,000 years of this historical
legacy, highlighting the links between the
Ancient Games and this first Olympiad of the
21
st
century.
SOURCE
www.olympic.org/uk/games
Miquel de Moragas i SpĂ , John MacAloon and
Montserrat LlinĂŠs (eds), Olympic Ceremonies:
Historical continuity and cultural exchange,
Lausanne: ComitĂŠ International Olympique,
1996.
Table A: Heads of State who have declared the Games of the Olympiad open
Athens 1896
HM King George I
Paris 1900
No official opening
Saint Louis 1904
David Francis
London 1908
HM King Edward VII
Stockholm 1912
HM King Gustav V
Antwerp 1920
HM King Albert I
Paris 1924
President Gaston Doumergue
Amsterdam 1928
HRH Prince Hendrick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Los Angeles 1932
Vice-President Charles Curtis
Berlin 1936
Chancellor Adolf Hitler
London 1948
HM King George VI
Helsinki 1952
President J.K. Paasikivi
Melbourne 1956
HRH the Duke of Edinburgh
Rome 1960
President Giovanni Gronchi
Tokyo 1964
HM Emperor Hirohito
Mexico City 1968
President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz
Munich 1972
President Gustav Heinemann
Montreal 1976
HM Queen Elizabeth II
Moscow 1980
President Leonid Brezhnev
Los Angeles 1984
President Ronald Reagan
Seoul 1988
President Roh Tae Woo
Barcelona 1992
HM King Juan Carlos
Atlanta 1996
President Bill Clinton
Sydney 2000
Sir William Deane
Athens 2004
President Kostis Stephanopoulos
Table B: The last torchbearers in the Olympic relay
Berlin 1936
Fritz Schilgen
Athletics
London 1948
John Mark
Athletics
Helsinki 1952
Hannes Kolehmainen
Athletics
Melbourne 1956
Ron Clarke
Athletics
Rome 1960
Giancarlo Peris
Athletics
Tokyo 1964
Yoshinori SakaĂŻ
Schoolchild
Mexico City 1968
Norma Enriqueta Basilio de Sotelo
Athletics
Munich 1972
GĂźnter Zahn
Athletics (junior)
Montreal 1976
Sandra Henderson and StĂŠphane PrĂŠfontaine
Athletics (juniors)
Moscow 1980
Sergei Belov
Basketball
Los Angeles 1984
Rafer Johnson
Athletics
Seoul 1988
Chung Sun-Man, Kim Won-Tak, Sohn Mi-Chung
Athletics
Barcelona 1992
Antonio Rebollo
Archery
Atlanta 1996
Muhammad Ali
Boxing
Sydney 2000
Cathy Freeman
Athletics
Athens 2004
Nikolaos Kaklamanakis
Sailing
Opening ceremony of the Summer olympic Games/ February 2008
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Table C: Competitors who have taken the oath
Antwerp 1920
Victor Boin
Fencing
Paris 1924
Georges AndrĂŠ
Athletics
Amsterdam 1928
Henri Denis
Football
Los Angeles 1932
George Calnan
Fencing
Berlin 1936
Rudolf Ismayr
Weightlifting
London 1948
Donald Finlay
Athletics
Helsinki 1952
Heikki Savolainen
Gymnastics
Melbourne 1956
John Landy
Athletics
Rome 1960
Adolfo Consolini
Athletics
Tokyo 1964
Takashi Ono
Gymnastics
Mexico City 1968
Pablo Lugo Garrido
Athletics
Munich 1972
Heidi SchĂźller
Athletics
Montreal 1976
Pierre Saint-Jean
Weightlifting
Moscow 1980
Nikolay Andrianov
Gymnastics
Los Angeles 1984
Edwin Moses
Athletics
Seoul 1988
Hah Jae et Son Mi Na
Sailing
Barcelona 1992
Luis Doreste Blanco
Sailing
Atlanta 1996
Teresa Edwards
Basketball
Sydney 2000
Rechelle Hawkes
Hockey
Athens 2004
ZoĂŻ Dimoschaki
Sailing
Table D: Officials who have taken the oath
Munich 1972
Heinz Pollay
Equestrian
Montreal 1976
Maurice Forget
Athletics
Moscow 1980
Aleksandr Medved
Wrestling
Los Angeles 1984
Sharon Weber
Gymnastics
Seoul 1988
Lee Hak Rae
Judo
Barcelona 1992
Eugeni Asensio
Aquatics
Atlanta 1996
Hobie Billingsly
Aquatics
Sydney 2000
Peter Kerr
Aquatics
Athens 2004
Lazaros Voreadis
Basketball
IMPRINT
February 2008
OPENING CEREMONY OF THE
GAMES OF THE OLYMPIAD
A publication of the
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Opening ceremony of the Summer olympic Games/ February 2008
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