Olympic Games ceremony

The artistic program is what creates the idiosyncratic element of each ceremony.[10] Coubertin's initial vision of the Modern Olympics featured both athletic competitions and artistic achievements.[11] As the modern Olympics have evolved into a celebration of sport, it is in the opening ceremonies that one can see the most of Coubertin's ideal. The opening ceremonies are an important ritual of the Olympic games that represent a wide variety of features such as similar qualities and messages that link together local and global issues, as well as cultural similarities at the same scopes.[12] The artistic program of the ceremonies allows the host country to showcase its past and future in a comprehensive way.[12] The ceremonies typically start with the raising of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem.[7][8] The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture, history, and the current Olympic game motto.[9] Since the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, the artistic presentations have continued to grow in scale and complexity. The opening ceremony at the Beijing Games, for example, reportedly cost US$100 million, with much of the cost incurring in the artistic portion of the ceremony.[13]

The traditional part of the ceremonies start with a "Parade of Nations", during which most participating athletes march into the stadium, country by country. It is not compulsory for athletes to participate in the opening ceremonies. Because some of the first events of the Games may start on the day before, on the day, or the day after the ceremonies, athletes competing in these early events may elect not to participate.

For every Opening Ceremony, each host country has a theme. During the "Parade of Nations", the host country's goal is to represent their cultural identity and to show the world their place in society. For example, in the 2008 Beijing Olympics the theme was “unity”. On May 12, 2008, a devastating earthquake erupted in Sichuan. As the host country, China wanted to remember this tragic event by having Yao Ming, a Chinese basketball legend, walk hand-in-hand with Lin Hao, a nine-year-old boy who saved some of his classmates during the earthquake.[12]

Each country's delegation is led by a sign with the name of their country and by their nation's flag.[7][8] Traditionally, since the 1928 Summer Olympics Greece always enters first and leads the parade due to the historical status as the progenitor of the Olympics, and the host nation enters last.[9][14] All other participating teams enter after Greece and before the host nation, in alphabetical order according to a language selected by the organizing committee for those games, which is usually the dominant language in the area of the host city. Announcers announce each country's name in English, French and the dominant language of the area of the host city, if neither English nor French is the dominant language. Beginning with the 2020 Summer Olympics, the succeeding hosts of the respective Olympic Games (Summer or Winter) will march immediately before the current host in descending order. Therefore (for example), the host nation (Japan) will follow the United States and France respectively as the final three nations to march. Also, the Refugee Olympic Team will now follow Greece as the second team to enter.[15]

In the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the Greek flag led the parade, while the Greek team entered last, as the host nation; Saint Lucia (Αγία Λουκία in Greek) then entered first. In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, both Spanish and Catalan were official languages of the games, but due to the political sensitivity surrounding the use of Catalan, the nations entered in French alphabetical order. In the first three games taking place in Japan, due to Japanese pronunciation issues, the nations entered in English alphabetical order instead of Japanese characters. In the upcoming 2020 Summer Olympics, Japanese will be used as an official language as teams will be ordered in a traditional Katakana script. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, teams were ordered by the number of strokes in the Chinese translation of the team name; this is expected to happen again in the 2022 Winter Olympics.[16] In the 2010 Winter Olympics, teams entered in English alphabetical order, although the languages of the Olympics are also the languages of the host country, Canada, because English is the more dominant of the two in Vancouver and in the host province of British Columbia. In the 1980 Summer Olympics and the 2014 Winter Olympics, the countries entered in the Cyrillic alphabetical order, which is the Russian language's official script, while in the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Winter Olympics, the countries entered in the Hangul alphabetical order, which is Korean language's official script.

After all nations have entered, the President of the Organizing Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president. At the end of his speech, he introduces the representative or head of state of the host country who officially declares the opening of the Games. Despite the Games having been awarded to a particular city and not to the country in general, the Olympic Charter presently requires the opener to be the host country's head of state.[17] However, there have been many cases where someone other than the host country's head of state opened the Games. The first example was at the Games of the II Olympiad in Paris in 1900, which had no opening ceremony before as part of the 1900 World's Fair. There are five examples from the United States alone in which the Games were not opened by the head of state.[18]

The Olympic Charter provides[17] that the person designated to open the Games should do so by reciting whichever of the following lines is appropriate:

• If at the Games of the Olympiad (Summer Olympics): I declare open the Games of [name of the host city] celebrating the [ordinal number of the Olympiad] Olympiad of the modern era.
• If at the Winter Games: I declare open the [ordinal number] Olympic Winter Games of [name of the host city].

Before 1936, the opening official would often make a short welcoming speech before declaring the Games open. However, since 1936, when Adolf Hitler opened both the Garmisch Partenkirchen Winter Olympics and the Berlin Summer Olympics, the openers have used the standard formula. Recent editions of the Winter Games have seen a trend of using the first version instead of the second, which happened in both the 2002 and 2010[19] Winter Games. There have been seven further exceptions to the rule:

• In 1976, Elizabeth II, as Queen of Canada, opened the Montreal Olympics (first in French followed by the English) with:

I declare open the Olympic Games of 1976, celebrating the XXI Olympiad of the modern era.[20]

• In 1984, U.S. President Ronald Reagan opened the Los Angeles Summer Olympics with:

Celebrating the XXIII Olympiad of the modern era, I declare open the Olympic Games of Los Angeles.[21]

• In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush opened the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which took place five months after the September 11 attacks, with:

On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation..., then the standard opening formula followed.

• In 2004, President of the Hellenic Republic, Konstantinos Stephanopoulos open the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens by speaking in Greek:

I declare, the opening of the Olympic Games in Athens...and the celebration of the XXVIII Olympiad of the modern era.

• In 2006, President of the Italian Republic Carlo Azeglio Ciampi opened the Winter Olympics in Torino by speaking in Italian:

I declare open, in Turin, the celebration of the XX Winter Olympic Games.[22]

• In 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao opened the Summer Olympics in Beijing by speaking in Mandarin:

I declare, the XXIX Olympic Games of Beijing ... open![23]

• In 2012, Elizabeth II, as Queen of the United Kingdom, opened the London Summer Olympics with the same fashion in English, making it the second time that she opened the Games.[24]

• In 2016, Brazilian Acting President Michel Temer opened the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics in Brazilian Portuguese, contrary to usual practice, he was not introduced at the beginning of the ceremony, nor was he introduced at the end of President Bach's speech, with:

After this wonderful show, I declare open the Rio Olympic Games, celebrating the XXXI Olympiad of the Modern Era.[25]

Next, the Olympic flag is carried horizontally (since the 1960 Summer Olympics) into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Hymn is played. The Olympic Charter states that the Olympic flag must "fly for the entire duration of the Olympic Games from a flagpole placed in a prominent position in the main stadium".[17] At most games, the flag has been carried into the stadium by prominent athletes of the host nation, but in 2012, it was carried by an international group of athletes and non-athletes famous for promoting Olympic values, including Muhammad Ali as a symbolic flag-bearer.

The flag bearers of all countries then circle a rostrum, where one athlete of the host nation (since the 1920 Summer Olympics), and one judge of the host nation (since the 1972 Summer Olympics) speak the Olympic Oath, declaring they will compete and judge according to the rules of their respective sport.[17] Since the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, continuing with the tradition started at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics a coach from the host nation speaks out the Olympic Oath. For the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, the three oaths are merged into one as the Unified Oath where one athlete, judge, and coach recite one line of the oath respectively before the athlete finishes it.

Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei de Lima lights the Olympic cauldron during the opening ceremony of the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics

Finally, the Torch is brought into the stadium, passed from athlete to athlete during the torch relay, until it reaches the last carrier; often a well-known athlete from the host nation, who lights the fire in the stadium's cauldron.[7][8] Under IOC rules, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron must be witnessed by those attending the opening ceremony, implying that it must be lit at the location where the ceremony is taking place. Another IOC rule states that the cauldron should be witnessed outside by the entire residents of the entire host city. This was made evident during the opening ceremony for the 2010 Games in Vancouver. The venue chosen as the Olympic Stadium was BC Place, which at the time was an air-supported domed stadium. Since there was no way the cauldron could be displayed outside and also be seen at the stadium, two cauldrons were used. For the first torch lighting inside the stadium the organizers chose three-time speed skating medalist Catriona Le May Doan, Canadian Senator Nancy Greene, who won two medals for Canada at the 1968 Games, NBA star Steve Nash, a native of nearby Victoria, and hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, to each light one of four arms of the torch. Notably, Le May Doan's arm failed to rise; this was later rectified during the closing ceremony when she got a second chance to light her part of the torch and succeeded.

After the official conclusion of the Opening Ceremony, Gretzky was whisked away to a waiting car which took him to the secondary cauldron. Once there, he lit it to correspond with the tradition of Olympics past.

During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the cauldron located inside Olympic Stadium (London) was not visible from outside of the stadium. The image of the lit cauldron was projected on the stadium's rooftop screens during the first week of competition,[26] and live footage was available to all broadcast right holders.[26] See List of 2012 Summer Olympics broadcasters.

Dove performance from the Sochi 2014 ceremony

Beginning at the post–World War I 1920 Summer Olympics, the lighting of the Olympic flame was followed by the release of doves, symbolizing peace.[27] (Experienced athletes brought newspapers to cover themselves because of the birds' droppings.)[28] The release was discontinued after several doves perched themselves at the cauldron's rim and were burned alive in the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.[27] It was later replaced with a symbolic release of doves after the flame has been lit.[7][8]

In the 2000 ceremony, a dove image was projected on an enormous white cloth held by the athletes on the stadium floor. In 2004, an LED screen was used. In 2006, acrobats formed the shape of a dove. The 2008 ceremony had yellow fireworks representing doves. In 2010, dove figures were projected on the stage floor. The 2012 ceremony had bicyclists with dove-wings, lit by LEDs. In the 2014 ceremony several dancers, holding strands of blue LED lights, danced on the shape of a dove projected on the stadium floor. In the 2016 ceremony, children with dove shaped kites were seen running with the first Olympic Laurel winner, Kipchoge Keino.