Olympic Games ceremony

The Olympic Games ceremonies of the ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of the games; modern Olympic Games have opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies date back to the ancient games from which the modern Olympics draw their ancestry. An example of this is the prominence of Greece in both the opening and closing ceremonies. During the 2004 Summer Olympics, the medal winners received a crown of olive branches, which was a direct reference to the ancient games, in which the victor's prize was an olive wreath. The various elements of ceremonies are mandated by the Olympic Charter, and cannot be changed by the host nation. Host nations are required to seek the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for ceremony elements, including the artistic portions of the opening and closing ceremonies.
The ceremonies have evolved over the centuries. Ancient games incorporated ceremonies to mark the beginning and ending of each sporting event. There are similarities and differences between the ancient Olympic ceremonies and their modern counterparts. While the presentation of the games has evolved with improvements in technology and the desire of the host nations to showcase their own artistic expression, the basic events of each ceremony have remained unchanged. The presentation of the opening and closing ceremonies continues to increase in scope, scale, and expense with each successive celebration of the games, but they are still steeped in tradition.
The ancient games, held in Greece from c. 776 BCE to c. 393 CE, provide the first examples of Olympic ceremonies. The victory celebration, elements of which are in evidence in the modern-day medal and closing ceremonies, often involved elaborate feasts, drinking, singing, and the recitation of poetry. The wealthier the victor, the more extravagant the celebration. The victors were presented with an olive wreath or crown harvested from a special tree in Olympia by a boy, specially selected for this purpose, using a golden sickle. The festival would conclude with the victors making solemn vows and performing ritual sacrifices to the various gods to which they were beholden.
There is evidence of dramatic changes in the format of the ancient games over the nearly 12 centuries that they were celebrated. Eventually, by roughly the 77th Olympiad, a standard 18-event programme was established. In order to open the games in ancient Greece, the organizers would hold an Inauguration Festival. This was followed by a ceremony in which athletes took an oath of sportsmanship. The first competition, an artistic competition of trumpeters and heralds, concluded the opening festivities.
While the Olympic Mass has inaugurated the Olympic truce since 1896 to include the religious dimension of the Olympic Games, the Olympic opening ceremony represents the official commencement of an Olympic Games and the end of the current Olympic cycle. Due to the tight schedule of the games, it is normal for some sports events to start two or three days before the opening ceremony. For example, the football competitions for both men and women at the 2008 Summer Olympics began two days prior to the opening ceremony.
This has also been the case in the Winter Games, where ice hockey has sometimes begun on the eve of the opening ceremony.
As mandated by the Olympic Charter, various elements frame the Opening Ceremony of a celebration of the Olympic Games. Most of these rituals were canonized at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp, Belgium.
It is common for tickets for the opening ceremony to be the most expensive and sought-after of the games. Unsurprisingly, this did not happen during the 2020 Summer Olympics and the 2022 Winter Olympics as the games were held behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In accordance with strict pandemic protocols, the opening ceremonies took place with only invited guests in attendance.
Since the 1996 Summer Olympics, the opening ceremony has been required to occur on a Friday evening. The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow took place at sunset and marked the first time the opening ceremony was held in the evening. Eight years later, to facilitate a live, prime-time broadcast on Friday night in the Americas, the 1988 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in Seoul, South Korea, was held in the morning, a move that faced criticism from athletes due to excessive heat. Generally, no competition is scheduled on the day of the opening ceremony; between 1992 and 2020, this practice was codified in the Olympic Charter. However, several times, this rule has not been followed, due to the tight calendar of the games and the preliminaries of some longer events taking place before the opening ceremony. The most recent example of this situation took place during the 2022 Winter Olympics when the curling mixed doubles event preliminaries first rounds were held on the same day as the opening ceremony.
The last opening ceremony held during daytime hours was that of the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. CBS, which held the broadcast rights for the United States, demanded the opening ceremony coincide with prime-time television viewing in New York, so the ceremony, originally planned for evening, was rescheduled to start at 11:00 am local time. However, these changes facilitated a grand finale which, for the first time in history, featured a live and synchronized performance by six international choirs, linked to the venue via satellite.
The artistic programme is what creates the idiosyncratic element of each ceremony. Olympic founder Pierre de Coubertin's initial vision of the modern Olympics featured both athletic competitions and artistic achievements. As the modern Olympics has evolved into a celebration of sport, it is in the opening ceremony that one can most clearly see Coubertin's ideal.
The artistic programme of the opening ceremony allows the host country to showcase its past, present, and future in a comprehensive way. All protocols, artistic presentations, elements, and rituals must be approved by the IOC Executive Board.
In accordance with current Olympic protocol, the opening ceremony typically begins with the entrance of the host nation's head of state or other representative, and the president of the IOC followed by the raising of the host nation's flag and the performance of its national anthem. The host nation then presents artistic displays of music, singing, dance, and theater representative of its culture, history, and the current Olympic motto. It is a custom among host nations to bring their culture to the opening festivities of the games, with the opening representing a unique opportunity to promote the country among the thousands of spectators who will follow the Games. Since the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, the artistic presentations have continued to grow in scale and complexity. The 2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, for example, reportedly cost US$100 million, with much of the cost incurred in the artistic portion of the ceremony.
Each host nation selects a theme that is incorporated into its opening ceremony’s elements and artistic program. For example, in the 2008 Summer Olympics held in Beijing, the theme was "Unity in China". On 12 May 2008, only four months before the 2008 games, a devastating earthquake occurred in Sichuan. For the 2008 Opening Ceremony, Chinese basketball legend Yao Ming was chosen to be China's flagbearer, and entered the stadium hand-in-hand with Lin Hao, a nine-year-old boy who saved some of his classmates following the earthquake.
The 2024 programme stirred controversy and drew criticism from some religious groups. According to Newsweek, the groups contended that the performance "appeared to reflect the Last Supper, invoking sacred Christian imagery with dancers, drag queens, and a DJ (Barbara Butch) in poses that resembled Jesus Christ's final meal with His Apostles." Theater director Thomas Jolly responded that his plan was for a "big pagan party linked to the gods of Olympus" and not to mock anyone. The organizers of the show apologized to those who were offended by the "tableau that evoked Leonardo da Vinci's 'The Last Supper'" but defended the ideas behind it. The Olympic World Library later published the media guide (written before the ceremony) which mentioned it being a homage to cultural festivities and according to Georgian fact checking website, Myth Detector, many experts had pointed out the differences between the fresco and the segment.
The Olympic Charter also determines that the Olympic Games Opening had to be another protocolar segment, called the"Parade of Nations", during which most participating athletes march into the stadium, delegation-by-delegation. It is not compulsory for athletes to participate in any ceremonies (opening and closing). It is common that some events of the Games may start before the opening ceremonies and athletes competing in these early events may elect not to participate. Each delegation is led by a sign with the name of their nation or team, and by their flagbearer—typically a notable athlete of the delegation. Although both women and men can be appointed to such an honor, women only started to consistently appear as flagbearers from 1952 onwards and—despite increasing inclusion throughout the years—they were outnumbered by their male counterparts (both in total and relative numbers) in all the Games until Tokyo 2020. As an act of gender equality, beginning in 2020, the IOC has allowed the participating National Olympic Committees to have the option of having both a male and female as flagbearers (before this option some countries had already done it this way).
The parade of nations was added to the Olympic Games opening ceremonies in 1908. Since the 1928 Summer Olympics, Greece has traditionally entered first and leads the parade in honor of their role in the ancient Olympic Games, while the host nation has entered last. The 2004 opening ceremony provided a relaxtion of this practice due to the Games being hosted by Greece; its flagbearer Pyrros Dimas led the parade on his own followed by Saint Lucia, while the rest of the Greek team entered last. Beginning with the 2020 Summer Olympics, the Refugee Olympic Team enters second after Greece, while the host nations of the next two Olympics enter in descending order as the final two teams before the host nation (in this case, the US, France, and Japan were the final three countries, as hosts of the 2028, 2024, and 2020 Games, respectively).
The remaining delegations enter after Greece and before the host nation in alphabetical order, based on their name in the host nation's official language.
For example,at the three Olympics held in Canada have used either English or French (as both are considered official languages of Canada and also IOC). While in the 1976 Summer Olympics held in Montreal, the National Olympic Committees entered respecting the French language protocol order, as French is the first language at the city. This was reversed at the 1988 and 2010 Winter Olympics when English is the primary language in Calgary and Vancouver, respectively. The 1980 Summer Olympics in the then-Soviet Union (now Russia), the 1984 Winter Olympics in the then-Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina), and 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia used Cyrillic script. The 2004 Summer Games in Greece used Modern Greek script.
Host nations whose official languages do not use Latin script—especially Games held in Asia—have used different collation methods for the Parade of Nations. The 1988 Summer Olympics and the 2018 Winter Olympics were sorted by traditional Korean Hangul script, while the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2022 Winter Olympics held in Beijing sorted by the number of strokes used to write their name using Simplified Chinese characters, and the 2020 Summer Olympics used the Gojūon ordering of Japanese kana.
There have been exceptions to this practice. In the 1964 Summer Olympics, 1972 Winter Olympics, and 1998 Winter Olympics, the Japanese organizers decided to use the English language protocol order, as due to the Japanese grammar in use, certain IOC protocol rules would be broken, among this was seen a goodwill signal by the Japanese society. National and internal questions led Spain to also make exceptions during 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, due to the Catalan independence movement, and concerns over the Spanish language being given undue prominence over the Catalan language; all official announcements during the 1992 Games were conducted in French, Spanish, Catalan, and English (with the order of the latter three languages interspersed), and the Parade of Nations was performed based on their French names.
The organizing committee for the 2024 Summer Olympics broke with the tradition of the ceremony being held in a stadium and took it to the city streets.The parade of nations was made along a boat parade on the Seine (with cultural presentations staged along the route), as part of their goals for the opening ceremony to be a public, non-ticketed event rather than be held in a traditional stadium setting;The protocolar acts were held at the Jardins du Trocadéro .
After all nations have entered, the President of the Organizing Committee makes a speech, followed by the IOC president. At the end of his or her speech, he or she 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. 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 US alone in which the Games were not opened by the head of state.
The Olympic Charter provides that the person designated to open the Games should do so by reciting whichever of the following lines is appropriate:
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.
There have been 10 times the official has modified the wording of the said opening line. Recent editions of the Winter Games have seen a trend of using the first version instead of the second, which happened in the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Winter Games. Other modifications include:
Next, the Olympic flag is carried horizontally (since the 1960 Summer Olympics) or vertically (when the ceremonies are held indoors) into the stadium and hoisted as the Olympic Hymn is played. In 2024, the flag was accidentally raised upside-down. 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". At most games, the flag has been carried into the stadium by prominent athletes of the host nation. Following the changes made during the 112th IOC Session held in 2001, there is permission for the Olympic flag to be carried during the opening ceremony by people who are not athletes, but who promote Olympic values. This permission also includes Paralympic athletes.
Until the 1988 Summer Olympics, 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. 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.
Since the 1992 Summer Olympics, the climax of an opening ceremony is the arrival of the Olympic flame, as the conclusion of the torch relay: the torch is typically passed a group of final torchbearers—typically reflecting the host nation's most prominent Olympic athletes. The final torchbearer(s), in turn, lights a cauldron inside or near the stadium—signifying, in earnest, the beginning of the Games. The final torchbearer was often kept unannounced until the last moment. There have been exceptions to the final torchbearers being prominent sports figures: in 2012, to reflect the Games' slogan "Inspire a Generation", the cauldron was lit by a group of seven young athletes, each nominated by a notable British athlete. Due the lack of tradition in Winter Sports, the final torchbearers at the 2022 Winter Olympics reflected the history of China at the sports with athletes from different decades (beginning with the 1950s), the cauldron was lit by two Chinese skiers who was to compete on that Games.
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 also be witnessed outside by the residents of the entire host city. This rule was first made evident for the first time during the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Vancouver, which was the first held in a closed venue: the BC Place—then a domed, indoor stadium. While a scenic cauldron was jointly lit by Nancy Greene Raine, Steve Nash, and Wayne Gretzky during the opening ceremony (due to a malfunction, a fourth arm meant to be lit by Catriona Le May Doan did not rise), Gretzky was escorted outside to light a second, public cauldron at Jack Poole Plaza.
During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the cauldron located inside the Olympic Stadium 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 and when the athletics competitions were over at the second week. and a live footage feed was available to broadcasters.
The notion of a public cauldron displayed outside of the ceremonies venue, and lit following the opening ceremony, was adopted by several subsequent Olympics since Vancouver. This rule became more evident in 2016, when two cauldrons were lit at the opening ceremony: a scenic one inside Maracanã Stadium that was used during the ceremonies and a permanent one on the Candelária Church plaza,who burned during all the games duration. Since the Japan National Stadium is made of recycled wood and Japanese law did not allow the cauldron to be placed inside it, the same resource was used with the permanent cauldron in Ariake, Tokyo and 2024,placed at the Tuileries Garden, Paris. The 2022 Winter Olympics had three public cauldrons located, the main outside of the Beijing National Stadium, another one at the Yanqing District, and a one at Zhangjiakou—reflecting the three main zones of the Games' venues.
Beginning at the post-World War I Summer Olympics of 1920, the lighting of the Olympic flame was followed by the release of doves, symbolizing peace. (Experienced athletes brought newspapers to cover themselves because of the birds' droppings.) The release was discontinued after several doves perched themselves at the cauldron's rim and were burned alive by the Olympic flame during the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. It was later replaced with a symbolic release of doves after the flame has been lit. These symbolic releases have used a variety of alternatives to actual doves.
After each Olympic event is completed, a medal ceremony is held. The Summer Games usually conduct medal ceremonies immediately after the event at the respective venues. Winter editions, however, would present the medals at a nightly victory ceremony held at a medal plaza, excluding the indoor and specific events. This is because, due to the altitude of some Winter events, presenting medals may be difficult in said environments. A three-tiered rostrum is used for the three medal winners, with the gold medal winner ascending to the highest platform, in the centre, with the silver and bronze medalists flanking. The medals are awarded by a member of the IOC. The IOC member is usually accompanied by a person from the sports federation governing the sport (such as World Athletics in athletics or World Aquatics in swimming), who presents each athlete with a small bouquet of flowers. Citizens of the host country also act as hosts during the medal ceremonies, acting as flagbearers and aiding the officials presenting the medals. When the Games were held in Athens in 2004, the medal winners also received olive wreaths in honor of the tradition at the Ancient Olympics. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, for the first time in history, the flowers were replaced by a small 3D model of the Games' logo. At the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, the flowers were replaced by a special version of the plush toy of the mascot dressed in historical Korean clothing.
After medals are distributed, the flags of the nations of the three medalists are raised. The flag of the gold medalist's country is in the center and raised the highest while the flag of the silver medalist's country is on the left facing the flags and the flag of the bronze medalist's country is on the right, both at lower elevations than the gold medalist's country's flag. The flags are raised while the national anthem of the gold medalist's country plays. Should there have been multiple athletes tied for gold medal (as it was the case for examples like the two gold medalists for men's high jump at the 2020 Summer Olympics), the national anthems (if from multiple NOCs) will be played in the alphabetical order according to the medalists' surnames.
Strict rules govern the conduct of athletes during the medal ceremony. For example, they are required to wear only preapproved outfits that are standard for the athlete's national Olympic team. They are not allowed to display any political affiliation or make a political statement while on the medal stand. The most famous violation of this rule was the Black Power salute of Tommie Smith and John Carlos at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
For their actions, IOC president Avery Brundage demanded their expulsion from the Olympics. After the US Olympic Committee (USOC) refused to do so, Brundage threatened to remove the entire US track and field team from the Olympics. Following this, the USOC complied, and Smith and Carlos were expelled.
As is customary, since the 2020 Summer Olympics men's and women's marathon medals (at the Summer Olympics) and since the 2014 Winter Olympics, men's 50 km and women's 30 km cross-country skiing medals (at the Winter Olympics) are awarded as part of the Closing Ceremony, which take place on the penultimate and the last days, in the Olympic Stadium, and traditionally are the last medal presentation of the Games.
Traditionally more relaxed and festive, many elements of the closing ceremony ended up evolving historically through traditions rather than official rules and procedures.
The closing ceremony has been required to occur on a Sunday evening.
Between 1896 and 2000, it was common for, in addition to the anthem of the host country, the Greek anthem and the anthem of the next host country to be played in this opening segment. Due to changes implemented in 2005, it is common that the closing ceremony begins with the entrance of the president of the IOC and the head of state or representative of the host country followed by the raising of the host country's flag and a performance of its national anthem, followed by an artistic programme.
Because of its flexibility, it is common for the duration to be shorter than the opening ceremonies.
Usually, the protocolary part of the closing ceremony starts with the "Parade of Nations", where flagbearers from each participating country enter at the main entrance to the stadium field. Since the 2002 Winter Olympics, it is up to the Organizing Committee to make the decision whether or not the athletes will enter the protocolary order used during the opening ceremonies. The only requirement is that the Greek flag leads the parade and the flag of the host country is last. An example of this flexibility in this rule occurred at the 2012 Summer Olympics when, during the closing, the flags of Great Britain as host country and Brazil as the next host entered together at the end of this segment. If the circumstances permits them, all the athletes march without any distinction or grouping by nationality. This "Parade of Athletes", the blending of all the athletes, is a tradition that began during 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". Prior to the 1956 Summer Games, no Olympic Team had ever marched in the closing ceremony of the modern or ancient Games. It was the very first International Peace March ever to be staged.
Starting at the 2004 Summer Olympics, after all the flags and athletes enter the stadium, the final medal ceremony of the Games is held. The organizing committee of the respective host city, could, consulting with the IOC, determine which event will have its medals presented. During the Summer Olympics, this place is reserved for the men's marathon awarding ceremonies (starting in 2020 Summer Olympics the women's marathon had to be their awarding ceremonies also during the closing). Traditionally, the men's marathon is held in the last day of competitions, and the race is finished some hours before the start of the closing ceremony. However, in recent Summer Olympiads in Atlanta, Beijing, Rio and Tokyo (although 2020's marathons were held in Sapporo, 800 kilometers (500 mi) away) staged the men's and women's marathon in the early morning hours due to the climate conditions in the host city. This tradition was adapted for the Winter Games starting in the 2006 Winter Olympics, the medals for the men's 50 km cross-country skiing event and starting on 2014 the woman's 30 km cross-country skiing event were presented at the closing ceremony.
Another obligatory moment is when the newly elected members of the IOC Athletes' Commission then present a bouquet of flowers to a representative of the volunteers, as a thank-you to them for their work during the Games.
After changes held during the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Antwerp ceremony starts with two another national flags hoisted on flagpoles one at a time while the corresponding national anthems are played: first, on one of the masts located at the rostrum tip, the flag of Greece to honor the birthplace of the Olympic Games is played first; and, second, the flag of the country hosting the next Summer or Winter Olympic Games. "Hymn to Liberty", the national anthem of Greece, has been performed at every closing ceremony of the Olympic Games since the current rules were adopted. This protocol segment won more highlight during the closing ceremonies of the 1980 Summer Olympics, as the US was scheduled to host the next Summer Olympics, was the time of the US anthem being played while its flag was raised, the flag of Los Angeles was raised with the Olympic Anthem played instead of The Star-Spangled Banner as consequence of the constraints who led to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. In Sydney and Athens, two Greek flags were raised because Greece was hosting the 2004 games.
Then, while the Olympic Hymn is played, the Olympic flag that was hoisted during the opening ceremony 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 current mayor of the city that organized the Games transfers the official Olympic flag to the president of the IOC, who then passes it on to the current mayor of the city hosting the next Olympic Games. The receiving mayor then waves the flag eight times. During the ceremony, the mayor of the current host city stands on the left, the president of the IOC stands in the middle, and the mayor of the next host city stands on the right. Until the 1984 Summer Olympic Games, this ceremony was held during the Opening Ceremonies. During the modern Olympic history, five protocolar flags are used:
This portion of the ceremony actually took place at the opening ceremony until the 1984 Summer Games and 1988 Winter Games.
The next host city then introduces itself with a cultural presentation. This tradition began with the 1976 Summer Olympics and was modernized several times until the recent rules were applied in 2020.
Afterward, the President of the Organizing Committee makes a speech. The IOC President then makes a speech before closing the Olympics by saying:
If the next Olympic Games is not scheduled for four years after the current one, the IOC president will instead reference the different timeframe. For instance, the 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so IOC President Thomas Bach instead stated "I call upon the youth of the world to assemble, three years from now, in Paris." A similar situation occurred at the 1992 Winter Olympics, which were held only two years before the next Winter Olympics in 1994 so that the Summer and Winter Games would be in different years moving forward. Unlike the opening ceremony, the head of state or representative of the host country does not give a speech at the closing ceremony.
Finally, the Olympic cauldron is extinguished, marking the end of the current Games and the start of a new cycle.
Following the conclusion of the ceremony protocol, it is not uncommon for the ceremony to continue on with an "afterparty" of concert performances as a finale; the 2000 Summer Games closing ceremony features various Australian musicians, the 2010 Winter Games closing ceremony featured various Canadian musicians, the 2016 closing ceremony featured a tribute to the Rio Carnival, and the 2018 Winter Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies were focused on the Korean Wave movement, with boy group Exo as performers. The IOC also added a performance by the Dutch DJ Martin Garrix.