"towards the northern end of the stadium. The identity of the final torchbearer had been kept secret and was only revealed when Muhammad Ali appeared at the top of the ramp. Ali, who had won gold at the 1960 Games in Rome and later developed Parkinson's disease, lit a mechanical torch which then travelled along a wire, lighting the cauldron at the top of a tower. His appearance has been referred to as being one of the most inspiring, poignant, and emotional moments in Olympic history. 1996 Summer Olympics torch relay The 1996 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from"
"time, entered the stadium first. The torch was passed on, in sequential order, to Greek football legend Mimis Domazos, 1992 Hurdles champion Voula Patoulidou, 1996 Olympic weightlifting champion Kakhi Kakhiashvili, and 1996 Olympic gymnastics champion Ioannis Melissanidis. The torch was finally passed to the 1996 Olympic sailing champion Nikolaos Kaklamanakis, who lit a giant cigar-shaped tapered column resembling a torch—not, as usual, a cauldron—to burn during the duration of the 2004 Summer Olympics. As Kaklamanakis ascended the steps to light the cauldron, the cauldron seemed to bow down to him, symbolizing that despite advance of technology, technology is still a"
"against poverty""), Leymah Gbowee (as ""a great peacemaker""), Shami Chakrabarti (for ""her integrity""), Daniel Barenboim (for bringing ""harmony in place of discord""), and Marina Silva (as UN Champion of the Earth). The flag paused in front of Muhammad Ali (invited to represent 'respect, confidence, conviction, dedication, generosity and spiritual strength'), who held it for a few moments. Ali, who had lit the flame at the 1996 Atlanta Games, was accompanied by his wife Lonnie and appeared frail. The flag was received by a colour guard of Her Majesty's Armed Forces and hoisted to the Olympic Hymn, performed by the LSO"
"Announcers in the stadium read off the names of the marching nations in Greek, French, and English (the official languages of the Olympics) with the music, performed and played by Dutch musician Tiësto, accompanying the athletes as they marched into the stadium. Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: Three-time Grand Slam champion and tennis player Roger Federer (Switzerland), NBA basketball player Yao Ming (People's Republic of China), six-time Olympians and Star sailors Colin Beashel (Australia) and Torben Grael (Brazil), triple Olympic weightlifting champion Pyrros Dimas (Greece), show jumper Ludger Beerbaum (Germany), two-time Olympic sprint freestyle"
"Also recognized was the symbolic unified march of athletes from North Korea and South Korea under the Korean Unification Flag. The country of Kiribati made a debut at these games and East Timor made a debut under its own flag. After the Parade of Nations, during which the Dutch DJ Tiësto provided the music, the Icelandic singer Björk performed the song Oceania, written specially for the event by her and the poet Sjón. The Opening Ceremony culminated in the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron by 1996 Gold Medalist Windsurfer Nikolaos Kaklamanakis. Many key moments in the ceremony, including the lighting"
"1996 Summer Olympics torch relay The 1996 Summer Olympics torch relay was run from April 27, 1996, until July 19, 1996, prior to the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The route covered across the United States and included a trek on the Pony Express, a ride on the Union Pacific Railroad, and a torch was taken into space for the first time. The relay involved over 12,000 torchbearers, including Muhammad Ali, who was chosen to light the Olympic cauldron. The torch was designed by Malcolm Grear and featured 22 aluminum ""reeds"" intended to represent the number of times that the"
"of 30,000 spectators. Seven athletes took part in the torch lighting ceremony, including Olympic gold-medal-winner swimmers American Anthony Ervin and Frenchman Fabien Gilot. Five Israelis participated in the torch lighting ceremony: Olympic medalists in judo Ori Sasson and Yarden Gerbi, three-time Olympic gymnast Neta Rivkin, National Basketball Association player Omri Casspi, and Paralympic world champion rower Moran Samuel. The delegation march took place before Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and others. British Prime Minister Theresa May and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to the crowd by means of pre-recorded videos. Canadian ice hockey player Avi Steinberg"
"Basil Poledouris. Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic cauldron and later received a replacement gold medal for his boxing victory in the 1960 Summer Olympics. For the torch ceremony, more than 10,000 Olympic torches were manufactured by the American Meter Company and electroplated by Erie Plating Company. Each torch weighed about and was made primarily of aluminum, with a Georgia pecan wood handle and gold ornamentation. The 1996 Summer Olympic programme featured 271 events in 26 sports. Softball, beach volleyball and mountain biking debuted on the Olympic program, together with women's football and lightweight rowing. In women's gymnastics, Lilia Podkopayeva became"
"U2 were a major feature, and Nelson Mandela officially opened the games. Other performances included The Corrs and the largest Riverdance troupe ever assembled on one stage. 75,000 athletes and spectators were in attendance at the opening ceremonies. Irish and international celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jon Bon Jovi walked with the athletes, with Muhammad Ali as a special guest and Manchester United and Republic of Ireland football player Roy Keane taking the athletes oath with one of the Special Olympians. The Games Flame was lit at the culmination of the Law Enforcement Torch Run, which more than 2,000"
"1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on August 4, 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, United States at approximately 8:00 PM EDT (UTC -4). It was produced by Don Mischer. The official motto of the closing ceremony is ""An American Day of Inspiration"". The closing ceremony began after a 126-second countdown in tribute to all the past Summer Olympic Games with the Atlanta Olympic Band, led by John Williams, performing ""Summon the Heroes."" The R&B group Boyz II Men sang The Star Spangled Banner. The presentation of the medals"
"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."
"Committee) and George Killian (FISU President). Together they officially opened the Games: both greeted the Universiade and declared the event officially open. After the flag-raising ceremony Livio Berruti entered the Palasport Olimpico to complete the tour of the Flame of Knowledge, lighting at the same time the braziers of the stadium and the Piazza Vittorio Veneto. All sports to be held at the Games were introduced by a group of dancers and gymnasts. The ceremony ended with live music by Negrita. Other people who showed up in the opening ceremony were Gianluigi Buffon, Andrew Howe and Arturo Brachetti. The last"
"who lit the cauldron in the stadium are not famous, but nevertheless symbolize Olympic ideals. Japanese runner Yoshinori Sakai was born in Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, the day the nuclear weapon Little Boy destroyed that city. He symbolized the rebirth of Japan after the Second World War when he opened the 1964 Tokyo Games. At the 1976 Games in Montreal, two teenagers — one from the French-speaking part of the country, one from the English-speaking part — symbolized the unity of Canada. At the 2012 Games in London, the torch was carried by Sir Steve Redgrave to a group"
"shy man being approached by a young woman). Somluck Kamsing Somluck Kamsing (name used in the 1996 Summer Olympics) or Somrak Kamsing (; ; born January 16, 1973) is a Thai Muay Thai kickboxer and Olympic gold medal-winning amateur boxer. During the 1998 Asian Games in Bangkok, Thailand, Kamsing lit the torch during the Games' opening ceremony. Kamsing was born in Khon Kaen. His older brother Somrot Kamsing also competed at the highest level as an amateur boxer. At the 1996 Summer Olympics he won a gold medal in the men's Featherweight category, beating Ramaz Paliani and Serafim Todorov among"
"was also a debate over moving the inaugural date from November 1993 to the Summer of 1994, when the Government of Puerto Rico cut off funding for the Games in the last phase of the planning and actually organized a popular referendum over the issue just days prior to the opening ceremony of the Games. The controversies drained the organizers and athletes alike, but the Games took place nevertheless. The Games centered on the Francisco “Paquito” Montaner Stadium. It accommodated 31 countries and 20,000 spectators. The torch was lit by famed Ponce basketball player Juan “Pachín” Vicéns, having received the"
"to a thunderous ovation on the stage in the middle of the field. Holyfield ran the torch down to the track and was joined by Greek athlete Voula Patoulidou. They both held the flame and made a lap around the track. This symbolized the relationship between the first and current Olympic games. The pair then passed the flame to American swimmer Janet Evans, the penultimate torchbearer, carried it around a lap of the track and up a long ramp leading towards the northern end of the stadium. After more than 10,000 torch bearers, Muhammad Ali, who suffered from Parkinson's disease,"
"Opening Ceremony there were more than 75,000 people within the Olympic Stadium with a then record of 3,057 competitors from 61 nations. The President of South Korea, Roh Tae-Woo, presented the new Paralympic flag to the President of the ICC, Jens Bromann. Paul Croft, competing in his second Paralympic Games, was the flag bearer for Australia during the Opening Ceremony. Parachutists in the Paralympic colors of blue, black, red, yellow, and green swept down into the Olympic Stadium following a procession of children in wheelchairs. The Olympic Torch was carried in by a one-legged South Korean Paralympic volleyball player and"
"song was so moving that it became the unofficial anthem of the Atlanta games. At the Closing Ceremony, the children of Atlanta performed the song as their farewell to the world. To close out the ceremony, Jessye Norman performed the song ""Faster, Higher, Stronger."" 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place in the evening on Friday 19 July in the Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, United States. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags"
"quarter of the relay runners. They gave nomination forms away as part of a promotional deal with 12-packs of their cans with the entries largely being selected at random. The end of the relay took place on July 19, 1996, at the opening ceremony in Atlanta. Four-time gold medal-winning discus thrower Al Oerter carried the torch to the stadium, passing it to Evander Holyfield. Holyfield was then joined by Voula Patoulidou and the pair passed the flame to American swimmer Janet Evans, the penultimate torchbearer, who carried it around a lap of the track and up a long ramp leading"
"and Africa. 30,000 people came to watch the beginning of the gala sporting event. The ceremony, which was hosted by Bollywood actor Priyanka Chopra, was spread over a time period of two hours and forty minutes. Many celebrities, like actor Sanjay Dutt and tennis player Leander Paes graced the occasion. Also, six-time pole vault winner Sergey Bubka, along with his wife, attended the ceremony. Around 12,000 schoolchildren and college students came up with a show depicting the vast and vibrant culture of the two continents. Chief Guest L K Advani declared the Games open. Shooter Anjali Bhagwat took the Athlete's"
"The ceremony began with a 60-second countdown, which included footage from all of the previous Olympic Games. There was then a flashback to the closing ceremony of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, showing the then president of the IOC, Juan Antonio Samaranch, inviting the athletes to compete in Atlanta in 1996. Then, spirits ascended in the northwest corner of the stadium, each representing one of the colors in the Olympic rings. The spirits called the tribes of the world which, after mixed percussion, formed the Olympic rings while the youth of Atlanta formed the number 100. Famed film score composer"
"hand of Alberto Tomba, who then passed the flame to the hands of the 1994 men's Italian cross-country skiing relay team (Marco Albarello, Giorgio Vanzetta, Maurilio De Zolt, and Silvio Fauner). The flame was then passed to Piero Gros, then Deborah Compagnoni before the Olympic Flame was lit by former Italian cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo. Belmondo paused to show the torch to the cheering crowd one last time before placing it on the arched lighting apparatus. The flame initiated a series of fireworks before lighting the top of the 57-meter high Olympic Flame, the highest in the history of the"
"stadium of Lillehammer by a ski jumper. In Beijing 2008, Li Ning ""ran"" on air around the Bird's Nest and lit the flame. In Vancouver 2010, four athletes—Catriona Le May Doan, Wayne Gretzky, Steve Nash and Nancy Greene—were given the honour of lighting the flame simultaneously indoors before Wayne Gretzky transferred the flame to an outdoor cauldron at Vancouver's waterfront. Other famous last bearers of the torch include heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (1996), Australian aboriginal runner Cathy Freeman (2000), Brazilian marathon runner Vanderlei de Lima (2016), and South Korean figure skater Yuna Kim (2018). On other occasions, the people"
"cauldrons were lit prior to 1976 Games opening ceremony, where two cauldrons were lit. The 1964 cauldron was lit by Egon Zimmermann, Franz Klammer lit the 1976 cauldron and Paul Gerstgraser lit the 2012 cauldron. 2012 Winter Youth Olympics opening ceremony The 2012 Winter Youth Olympics opening ceremony, was held on 13 January 2012 at Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria. Over 15,000 people attended the ceremony. The parade of nations was held before the ceremony. The ceremony featured speeches about the 1964 and 1976 Games. Heinz Fischer, the President of Austria, declared the Games open before the Olympic Hymn was played"
"Nikolaos Kaklamanakis Nikolaos ""Nikos"" Kaklamanakis (, born August 19, 1968, in Athens) is the Greek Gold-medal winner who lit the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. One of the most popular athletes in Greece, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis is a three-time Mistral class windsurfing world champion and a gold medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Sailing. He won silver in the event at the 2003 World Championships in Cádiz, Spain, behind Przemek Miarczynski of Poland. In the 2000 Summer Olympics he took the 6th place, while in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Kaklamanakis"
"Button. They passed it to other pairs U.S. Olympians, who either ran or skated their short relay. Gold medalists in Nagano 1998 Picabo Street and Cammi Granato carried it up the steps to the towering torch where they were met by Mike Eruzione, captain of the miracle on ice hockey team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1980. Eruzione summoned the other members of the team, who together lit the Olympic torch. The Opening Ceremony would win seven Emmy Awards. While there was a lot of international sympathy for the US in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, there"
"1996 Summer Olympics national flag bearers During the Parade of Nations portion of the 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, athletes from each country participating in the Olympics paraded in the arena, preceded by their flag. The flag was borne by a sportsperson from that country chosen either by the National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves to represent their country. As the nation of the first modern Olympic Games, Greece entered the stadium first; whereas, the host nation of the United States marched last. Other countries entered in alphabetical order in the language of the host country (English), according"
"took the silver medal behind Gal Fridman of Israel. Four years later, in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games he finished 8th in the Men Sailing Race. Nikolaos Kaklamanakis Nikolaos ""Nikos"" Kaklamanakis (, born August 19, 1968, in Athens) is the Greek Gold-medal winner who lit the Olympic torch in the opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. One of the most popular athletes in Greece, Nikolaos Kaklamanakis is a three-time Mistral class windsurfing world champion and a gold medalist at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Sailing. He won silver in the event at the 2003 World Championships in"
"radio station covering the games. The Project & Artistic Director for the Opening Ceremony was David Zolkwer. Five-time Olympic champion Sir Steve Redgrave opened the two-and-a-quarter-hour opening ceremony by banging a large drum, which initiated a co-ordinated dance and fireworks act. The champion rower was joined on the stage by sporting stars including yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, heptathlete Denise Lewis, long-distance runner Moses Kiptanui, swimmer Susie O'Neill and sprinter Donovan Bailey. The Grenadier Guards shared the arena with pop band S Club and Salford-born opera singer Russell Watson sang the Games' theme, ""Faith of the Heart"", while the arrival of HM"
"had previously competed as part of the Unified Team in 1992. Czech Republic and Slovakia attended the Games independently for the first time since the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993, whereas Cambodia returned officially after its 24-year absence under the Khmer Republic. Notable flag bearers in the opening ceremony featured the following athletes: weightlifter Pyrros Dimas (Greece; eventing rider Andrew Hoy (Australia); nine-time Olympian and Star sailor Hubert Raudaschl (Austria); 1984 Olympic middle-distance champion Joaquim Cruz (Brazil) in the 800 metres; track sprinters Charmaine Crooks (Canada) and Marie-José Pérec (France); defending Olympic long-distance champions Derartu Tulu (Ethiopia) and Khalid Skah"
"and dance along with the music. Among the performers were: A fireworks display officially closed the segment, though the performers continued to play music. 1996 Summer Olympics closing ceremony The Closing Ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place on August 4, 1996, at the Centennial Olympic Stadium in Atlanta, United States at approximately 8:00 PM EDT (UTC -4). It was produced by Don Mischer. The official motto of the closing ceremony is ""An American Day of Inspiration"". The closing ceremony began after a 126-second countdown in tribute to all the past Summer Olympic Games with the Atlanta Olympic Band,"
"was lit by Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima, the men's marathon bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics who was also awarded the Pierre de Coubertin medal for sportsmanship by the IOC after being attacked by a spectator and losing his lead. The cauldron was originally expected to be lit by Brazilian footballer Pelé, but he declined to participate due to health problems. Following the opening ceremony, a public cauldron was lit in front of the Candelária Church by Jorge Gomes, a 14-year-old Brazilian athlete who had escaped from poverty to train as a runner. The 2016 Summer Olympic programme featured"
"and their processions, and vetter from Norse mythology. After speeches by Heiberg and IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch, the games were officially declared opened by King Harald V. The Olympic Flame was to be skied down the skijump before lighting the cauldron. Originally this task had rested upon Ole Gunnar Fidjestøl, but after he was injured in a practice jump, his back-up Stein Gruben received the honor. The cauldron was lit by Crown Prince Haakon Magnus. The Olympic oaths were issued by Vegard Ulvang for the athletes and Kari Kåring for the officials. Since the 1992 Games, the rules for"