"2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games took place on the evening of Friday 27 July 2012 in the Olympic Stadium, London. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal ceremonial opening of this international sporting event (including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes) with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture. The 2012 Games were formally opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The spectacle was entitled Isles of Wonder and directed by Academy Award-winning British film director Danny Boyle. Prior to London 2012"
"then became the first Winter Games to hold competitions before the opening ceremony. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the Opening Ceremonies of a celebration of the Olympic Games. Most of these rituals were canonized at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium. The artistic program is what creates the idiosyncratic element of each ceremony. Coubertin's initial vision of the Modern Olympics featured both athletic competitions and artistic achievements. 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"
"cycling, and the Zappeion for fencing. The opening ceremony was held in the Panathenaic Stadium on 6 April, during which most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games. Afterwards, nine bands and 150 choir singers performed an Olympic Hymn, composed by Spyridon Samaras, with words by poet Kostis Palamas. The 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. The Panathenaic Stadium, the"
"opening ceremony of the Olympic Games at the site of the ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. Eleven women, representing the Vestal Virgins, perform a celebration at the Temple of Hera in which the first torch of the Olympic Torch Relay is kindled by the light of the Sun, its rays concentrated by a parabolic mirror. After the ceremony at Olympia, the Olympic flame first travels around Greece, and is then transferred during a ceremony in the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens from the prior Olympic city to the current year's host city. The Olympic torch relay in the host country ends"
"1992 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 1992 Summer Olympics took place in the evening on Saturday 25 July in the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Spain. 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 and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation’s culture and history. Greek mezzo-soprano, Agnes Baltsa, sang ""Romiossini"" as the Olympic flag was taken around the stadium. Alfredo Kraus later sang the Olympic Hymn in both Catalan and Spanish"
"the first games in 1896. A decision was made to hold the first Olympic Games in 1896 in Athens and that Paris would host the second celebration. Most of the winners in 1900 did not receive medals, but were given cups or trophies. Professionals competed in fencing and Albert Robert Ayat (France), who won the épée for amateurs and masters, was awarded a prize of 3000 francs. Some events were contested for the only time in the history of the Games, including automobile and motorcycle racing, ballooning, cricket, croquet, Basque pelota, and 200m swimming obstacle race and underwater swimming. This"
"2015 European Games Opening Ceremony The Opening Ceremony of the 2015 European Games was the official opening ceremony held in the afternoon at 9:00PM Baku Time (GMT+4) on June 12, 2015 in the Baku Olympic Stadium in Baku, Azerbaijan. It was attended by the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, the President of the International Olympic Committee, Thomas Bach, the chairman of the and the Vice President of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva, and the President of the European Olympic Committee Patrick Hickey.The ceremony was attended by 68,000 spectators gathered at the Olympic Stadium, as well as hundreds of millions of online viewers."
"with Greece first, the rest of the nations proceeding by Norwegian alphabetical order, with the host nation last. The British, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand teams all wore black arm bands at the opening ceremonies in memory of their monarch. After the parade of nations the Olympic flame was lit. On 13 February, at the start of the inaugural Winter Olympics torch relay, the torch was lit in the hearth of the Morgedal House, birthplace of skiing pioneer Sondre Norheim. The torch relay lasted two days and took place entirely on skis. At the opening ceremonies the final torch bearer,"
"event), but this was rejected by the IOC at the 49th Session in Athens in 1954. The opening ceremonies took place on Thursday, 26 January 1956 in the Olympic Ice Stadium. Temporary seating was added to boost the stadium's capacity to 14,000 people. Athletes representing 32 nations marched in the ceremony and Mr Giovanni Gronchi, President of the Italian Republic, declared the Games open. At this point, speed skater Guido Caroli skated into the stadium with the Olympic flame. While he was on a circuit of the Ice Stadium he tripped and fell over a television cable; he regained his"
"1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad, was the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which had been created by Pierre de Coubertin, it was held in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. Winners were given a silver medal, while runners-up received a copper medal. Retroactively, the IOC has converted these to gold and silver, and awarded bronze medals to third placed athletes. Ten of the 14 participating nations earned medals. The United States won the most gold medals,"
"the birthplace of the Olympics, Greece entered the stadium first. The host nation, Germany entered last. Some nations' athletes purposefully gave the Nazi salute as they passed Hitler. Others gave the Olympic salute (a similar one, given with the same arm), or a different gesture entirely, such as hats-over-hearts, as the United States and China did. All nations lowered their flags as they passed the Führer, save the United States. (The United States doing this was explained later as an army regulation.) Writer Thomas Wolfe, who was there, described the opening as an ""almost religious event, the crowd screaming, swaying"
"events vs. the 10 from Greece. Ancient Greece was the birthplace of the Olympic Games, consequently Athens was perceived to be an appropriate choice to stage the inaugural modern Games. It was unanimously chosen as the host city during a congress organised by Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in Paris, on 23 June 1894. The IOC was also established during this congress. Despite many obstacles and setbacks, the 1896 Olympics were regarded as a great success. The Games had the largest international participation of any sporting event to that date. Panathinaiko Stadium, the first big stadium in"
"2016 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on the evening of Friday 5 August 2016 in the Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, starting at 20:00 BRT (23:00 UTC). As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal ceremonial opening of this international sporting event (including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, as well as a new feature—the presentation of the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Laurel distinction) with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. The ceremony reportedly cost under $6,526,500 (£5"
"were officially opened; it was Easter Monday for both the Western and Eastern Christian Churches and the anniversary of Greece's independence. The Panathenaic Stadium was filled with an estimated 80,000 spectators, including King George I of Greece, his wife Olga, and their sons. Most of the competing athletes were aligned on the infield, grouped by nation. After a speech by the president of the organising committee, Crown Prince Constantine, his father officially opened the Games with the words (in Greek): ""I declare the opening of the first international Olympic Games in Athens. Long live the Nation. Long live the Greek"
"2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games was held on August 13, 2004 at the Olympic Stadium in Maroussi, Greece, a suburb of Athens. 72,000 spectators attended the event, with approximately 15,000 athletes from 202 countries participating in the ceremony as well. It marked the first-ever international broadcast of high definition television, undertaken by the U.S. broadcaster NBC and the Japanese broadcaster NHK. The opening ceremony began with a twenty-eight second countdown—one second per Olympics held since Athens last hosted the first modern games—paced by the sounds of an amplified heartbeat played by"
"votes. The other cities competing to hold the games were Alexandria, Buenos Aires, Cologne, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Lausanne, Nuremberg, Rio de Janeiro, Budapest, and Rome. Helsinki, Rome, Barcelona and Rio de Janeiro would go on to host the Olympic Games in 1952, 1960, 1992 and 2016, respectively. The selection procedure marked the second and final time that the International Olympic Committee would gather to vote in a city which was bidding to host those Games. The only other time this occurred was at the inaugural IOC Session in Paris, France, on 24 April 1894. Then, Athens and Paris were chosen"
"Olympian Games, which were an inspiration to Pierre de Coubertin for the Olympic Games. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. This ceremony takes place before the events have occurred. Most of these rituals were established at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp. The ceremony typically starts with the hoisting of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem. The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theatre representative of its culture. The artistic presentations have grown in scale and complexity as successive hosts"
"in italics competed under the Olympic flag (or, in the cases of New Zealand, Portugal and Spain, under the flags of their respective National Olympic Committees): 1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event held in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia. The 1980 Games were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Eastern Europe, and remain the only Summer Olympics held there, as well as the first Olympic Games to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the first Olympic Games"
"1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event held in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russia. The 1980 Games were the first Olympic Games to be staged in Eastern Europe, and remain the only Summer Olympics held there, as well as the first Olympic Games to be held in a Slavic language-speaking country. They were also the first Olympic Games to be held in a socialist country, and the only Summer Games to be held in such a country until 2008 in Beijing, China. These were"
"first gold medal of the Games in the men's 56 kg event. The opening ceremony officially began at 9:00 pm Central European Summer Time () on 26 June 2009 in the Stadio Adriatico. Italian entrepreneur Marco Balich, who coordinated the opening ceremony of the 2006 Winter Olympics, held in Turin, was its producer and director, with ""music moments and stage actions"" were developed by the choreography director Doug Jack. K-events (now Filmmaster Events), subsidiary of the Italian holding company Filmmaster Group, was responsible for the organisation of the opening and closing ceremonies. The ceremony, among other dignitaries and guests, included"
"basic events of each ceremony have remained unchanged. The presentation of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies continue to increase in scope, scale, and expense with each successive celebration of the Games, but they are still steeped in tradition. The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics organisers propose that the opening and closing ceremonies will each, for the first time, be staged across two different stadiums. The Ancient Games, held in Greece from ca. 776 BC to ca. 393 AD, provide the first examples of Olympic ceremonies. The victory celebration, elements of which are in evidence in the modern-day medal and closing ceremonies,"
"in unison and begging for Hitler. There was something scary about it; his cult of personality."" After a speech by the president of the German Olympic Committee, the games were declared open by Adolf Hitler: ""I proclaim open the Olympic Games of Berlin, celebrating the Eleventh Olympiad of the modern era."" Hitler opened the games from his own box, on top of others. Writer David Wallechinsky has commented on the event, saying, ""This was his event, he wanted to be glorified."" Although the Olympic flame was first introduced in the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, this was the first instance"
"sports (eight disciplines). The opening ceremonies were held in Bislett Stadium on 15 February. King George VI of Great Britain had died on 6 February 1952 with his daughter Elizabeth II took the throne as queen, eight days before the start of the Games. As a result, all national flags were flown at half-mast, and Princess Ragnhild opened the Games in place of her grandfather, King Haakon VII, who was in London attending the funeral. This was the first time an Olympic Games had been declared open by a female official. The parade of nations was held according to tradition,"
"all athlete registration go through the NOCs. They were the first to have the Opening of the Games as a separate event: an event at which for the first time the athletes marched into the stadium in national teams, each following its national flag. They were also the first with an Olympic Village, at the Zappeion. They introduced the closing ceremony, the raising of national flags for the victors, and several less visible changes now accepted as tradition. The Games were held from 22 April to 2 May 1906, in Athens, Greece. They took place in the Panathenaic Stadium, which"
"the marathon course on her own, saying ""If the committee doesn't let me compete I will go after them regardless"". The 1896 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in Athens, Greece, from 6 to 15 April 1896. It was the first Olympic Games held in the Modern era. About 100,000 people attended for the opening of the games. The athletes came from 14 nations, with most coming from Greece. Although Greece had the most athletes, the U.S. finished with the most champions. 11 Americans placed first in their"
"agreed to represent the association. Following the congress it was decided to recreate the Olympic Games and to organise them in Athens. Originally, it had been De Coubertin's idea to hold the first celebration of the modern Olympics in Paris in 1900, but Vikelas convinced him and the newly created International Olympic Committee that they should be held in Athens, in order to symbolically link them to the original Games. As the constitution of the IOC at that time required the IOC president to be from the country which would host the next Games, Vikelas became the IOC's first president."
"Olympic Games, the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, and they have participated in every Summer Olympiad since. Despite this, they did not enter the Winter Olympic Games for the first time until these Oslo Games, and it would be 36 years until the nation would return to the Winter Olympics, at the 1988 Calgary Olympics. The 1952 Winter Olympics were held in Oslo, Norway from 14–25 February 1952; a total of 694 athletes representing 30 National Olympic Committees took part. Portugal was represented in Oslo by a single alpine skier, Duarte Silva, who was selected as the flag-bearer for the opening ceremony."
"event at the 1948 Games in Switzerland. It included cross-country skiing, shooting, downhill skiing, fencing and horse riding. The table below uses official data provided by the IOC. Bibliography Winter Olympic Games The Winter Olympic Games () is a major international sporting event held once every four years for sports practised on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympics, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held in Chamonix, France. The modern Olympic games were inspired by the ancient Olympic Games, which were held in Olympia, Greece, from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD. Baron Pierre de Coubertin founded"
"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 and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation’s culture and history. The Olympic cauldron was lit by former gold medalist and boxing champion Muhammad Ali. The ceremony features Award-winning and Grammy Award-time nominated film composer, John Williams, French"
"from the Olympic Games, most of the sporting facilities differed from those used in the Olympic Games. The National gymnasium and the National Gymnasium Annexe were the only venues used for both games. Overall, the sports were spread across seven venues. These included: The opening ceremony was held on Sunday 8 November at 10.00 am on the 'Oda' Track and Field stadium. Emperor Akihito (who was the Japanese Crown Prince in 1964) and his wife Empress Michiko (who was the Japanese Crown Princess) attended the opening ceremony and officially opened the Games. The ceremony began with a colourful, flag-waving procession"
"tournament marked the early start of the Games. Held in the ""Palais de Glace"" or Ice Palace in Antwerp, it was the first time that ice hockey was an Olympic sport. The first stone of the new Olympic Stadium at Beerschot was laid on 4 July 1919 by Jan De Vos, mayor of Antwerp, and inaugurated less than a year later on 23 May 1920 with a gymnastics demonstration. The nautical stadium or Stade Nautique d'Antwerp was built at the end of the Jan Van Rijswijcklaan, using the city ramparts there as a spectator's stand. Other events, like shooting, boxing,"
"Games, the first modern Olympics took place at Athens in 1896. The main stadium, Panathinaiko, served as host of the athletic, gymnastic, weightlifting, and wrestling events. The city of Marathon served the start point for the sport of the same name and the starting and finishing point of cycling's Individual road race. Between the 1896 and 2004 Summer Olympics, Greece underwent a series of events that created political instability in the country. This included the Balkan Wars of 1912-3, World War I, the Greco-Turkish War (1919-1922), a creation of a Second Hellenic Republic of 1924-35, the Axis Occupation of Greece"
"the next games host (in 2000) and in 2004, because Greece was hosting the games. Then, while the Olympic Hymn is played, the Olympic flag that was hoisted during the opening ceremonies is lowered from the flagpole and carried from the stadium. In what is known as the Antwerp Ceremony (because the tradition began at the Antwerp Games), 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 city hosting the next Olympic Games. The receiving mayor then waves the"