Olympic ceremonies Opening

Opening ceremonies climax with the lighting of the Olympic Flame. For lighting the torch, modern games feature elaborate mechanisms such as this cauldron-spiral-cauldron arrangement lit by the 1980 U.S. Olympic ice hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics. Apart from the traditional elements, the host nation ordinarily presents artistic displays of dance and theatre representative of that country.^[28] Various traditional elements frame the opening ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games. The ceremonies typically start with the hoisting of the host country's flag and the performing of its national anthem.^[29] The traditional part of the ceremonies starts with a "parade of nations" (or of athletes), during which most participating athletes march into the stadium, country by country. One honoured athlete, typically a top competitor, from each country carries the flag of his or her nation, leading the entourage of other athletes from that country.^[30] Traditionally (starting at the 1928 Summer Olympics) Greece marches first, because of its historical status as the origin of the Olympics, while the host nation marches last. (Exceptionally, in 2004, when the Games were held in Athens, Greece marched last as host nation rather than first, although the flag of Greece was carried in first.) Between these two nations, all other participating nations march in alphabetical order of the dominant language of the host country,^[30] or in French or English alphabetical order if the host country does not write its dominant language in an alphabet which has a set order. In the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, both Spanish and Catalan were official languages of the games, but due to politics surrounding the use of Catalan, the nations entered in French alphabetical order. The XVIII Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan saw nations entering in English alphabetical order since the Japanese language grouped both China and Chinese Taipei together in the Parade of Nations. After all nations have entered, the president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president who, at the end of his speech introduces the person who is going to declare the Games open. Despite the Games having been awarded to a particular city and not to the country in general, the Opener is usually – but not always – the host country's Head of State. So it is this Opener, in turn, who formally opens the Olympics, by reciting the formula: «I declare open the Games of (name of city) celebrating the (adjectival numeral) Olympiad of the modern era/Olympic Winter Games.»^[29] Since Adolf Hitler at both the Garmisch Partenkirchen Winter Olympics and at the Berlin Summer Olympics – both in 1936 – the Openers have unswervingly stuck to this formula. Before 1936, however, the Opener often used to make a short Speech of Welcome before declaring the Games open. There have been very many cases where the country's Head of State did not open the Olympics at all. The first example was at the Games of the II Olympiad in Paris in 1900 when there wasn't even an Opening Ceremony. There are five examples of this from the United States alone, beginning with the Games of the III Olympiad in St Louis, Missouri where – on 1 July 1904 – Mr David Francis, President of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, performed the ceremony, nobody having even thought of inviting US President Theodore Roosevelt. Then, on 4 February 1932 the then Governor of the State of New York, Franklin D. Roosevelt, opened the III Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, New York and later that year, on 30 July 1932, the Vice-President of the United States, Charles Curtis opened the Games of the X Olympiad in Los Angeles, California, stating, however, that he was doing so on behalf of the President, Herbert Hoover. In 1960, the Vice-President of the United States Richard Nixon was sent by President Dwight Eisenhower to open the VIII Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley, California, and finally, in 1980, Vice President Walter Mondale, stood in for President Jimmy Carter to open the XIII Olympic Winter Games, also in Lake Placid. The most recent example was at the Games of the XXVII Olympiad in Sydney, Australia, where, at the insistence of the Australian Government, it was the Governor-General of Australia Sir William Deane who opened the Games and not Queen Elizabeth (who as Queen of Australia is the Australian Head of State). Throughout the 20th century there were numerous other such instances. Next, the Olympic Flag is carried horizontally (since the 1960 Summer Olympics) into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Anthem is played. The flag bearers of all countries circle a rostrum, where one athlete (since the 1920 Summer Olympics) and one judge (since the 1972 Summer Olympics) speak the Olympic Oath, declaring they will compete and judge according to the rules.^[29] Finally, the Torch is brought into the stadium, passed from athlete to athlete, until it reaches the last carrier of the Torch, often a well-known athlete from the host nation, who lights the fire in the stadium's cauldron.^[29] The Olympic Flame has been lit since the 1928 Summer Olympics, but the torch relay did not start until the 1936 Summer Olympics. Beginning at the post-World War I 1920 Summer Olympics, the lighting of the Olympic Flame was for 68 years followed by the release of doves, symbolizing peace.^[29] This gesture was discontinued after several doves were burned alive in the Olympic Flame during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics.^[31] However, some Opening Ceremonies have continued to include doves in other forms; for example, the 2002 Winter Olympics featured skaters holding kite-like cloth dove puppets. Opening ceremonies have been held outdoors, usually on the main athletics stadium, but those for the 2010 Winter Olympics will be the first to be held indoors, at the BC Place Stadium.^[32]

Closing

Various traditional elements also frame the closing ceremonies of an Olympic Games, which take place after all of the events have concluded. Flag bearers from each participating delegation enter the stadium in single file, but behind them march all of the athletes without any distinction or grouping of nationality.^[33] This tradition began at the 1956 Summer Olympics at the suggestion of Melbourne schoolboy John Ian Wing, who thought it would be a way of bringing the athletes of the world together as "one nation".^[34] (In 2006, the athletes marched in with their countrymen, then dispersed and mingled as the ceremonies went on). Three national flags are each hoisted onto flagpoles one at a time while their respective national anthems are played: The flag of Greece on the righthand pole (again honoring the birthplace of the Olympic Games), the flag of the host country on the middle pole, and finally the flag of the host country of the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games, on the lefthand pole.^[33] (Exceptionally, in 2004, when the Games were held in Athens, only one flag of Greece was raised.) In what is known as the "Antwerp Ceremony" (because the tradition started during the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp), the mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers a special Olympic Flag to the president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the mayor of the next city to host the Olympic Games.^[33] The receiving mayor then waves the flag eight times. There are three such flags, differing from all other copies in that they have a six-coloured fringe around the flag, and are tied with six coloured ribbons to a flagstaff:

• The Antwerp flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1920 Summer Olympics by the city of Antwerp, Belgium, and was passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics until the Games of Seoul 1988.
• The Oslo flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1952 Winter Olympics by the city of Oslo, Norway, and is passed on to the next organising city of the Winter Olympics.
• The Seoul flag: Was presented to the IOC at the 1988 Summer Olympics by the city of Seoul, South Korea, and is passed on to the next organising city of the Summer Olympics, which was Barcelona, Spain, at that time.

After these traditional elements, the next host nation introduces itself with artistic displays of dance and theatre representative of that country. This tradition began with the 1976 Games. The president of the host country's Olympic Organising Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president, who at the end of his speech formally closes the Olympics, by saying:

«I declare the Games of the ... Olympiad/... Olympic Winter Games closed and, in accordance with tradition, I call upon the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in ... to celebrate the Games of the ... Olympiad/... Olympic Winter Games.» The Olympic Flame is extinguished, and while the Olympic anthem is being played, the Olympic Flag that was hoisted during the opening ceremonies is lowered from the flagpole and horizontally carried out of the stadium.^[33]

Olympic sports

Currently, the Olympic program consists of 35 different sports, 53 disciplines and more than 400 events. The Summer Olympics includes 28 sports with 38 disciplines and the Winter Olympics includes 7 sports with 15 disciplines.^[35] Nine sports were on the original Olympic programme in 1896: athletics, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, weightlifting, shooting, swimming, tennis, and wrestling. If the 1896 rowing events had not been cancelled due to bad weather, they would have been included in this list as well.^[36] At the most recent Winter Olympics, seven sports were conducted, or 15 if each sport such as skiing and skating is counted. Of these, cross country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping, and speed skating have been featured on the programme at all Winter Olympics. In addition, figure skating and ice hockey also have been contested as part of the Summer Games before the introduction of separate Winter Olympics. In recent years, the IOC has added several new sports to the programme to attract attention from young spectators. Examples of such sports include snowboarding and beach volleyball. The growth of the Olympics also means that some less popular (modern pentathlon) or expensive (white water canoeing) sports may lose their place on the Olympic programme. The IOC decided to discontinue baseball and softball beginning in 2012. Rule 48.1 of the Olympic Charter requires that there be a minimum of 15 Olympic sports at each Summer Games. Following its 114th Session (Mexico 2002), the IOC also decided to limit the programme of the Summer Games to a maximum of 28 sports, 301 events, and 10,500 athletes. The Olympic sports are defined as those governed by the International Federations listed in Rule 46 of the Olympic Charter. A two-thirds vote of the IOC is required to amend the Charter to promote a Recognised Federation to Olympic status and therefore make the sports it governs eligible for inclusion on the Olympic programme. Rule 47 of the Charter requires that only Olympic sports may be included in the programme. The IOC reviews the Olympic programme at the first Session following each Olympiad. A simple majority is required for an Olympic sport to be included in the Olympic programme. Under the current rules, an Olympic sport not selected for inclusion in a particular Games remains an Olympic sport and may be included again later with a simple majority. At the 117th IOC Session, 26 sports were included in the programme for London 2012. Until 1992, the Olympics also often featured demonstration sports. The objective was for these sports to reach a larger audience; the winners of these events are not official Olympic champions. These sports were sometimes sports popular only in the host nation, but internationally known sports have also been demonstrated. Some demonstration sports eventually were included as full-medal events.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1072