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Opening Ceremony


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I LOVE that idea for the roll call with London X 3. FYI, as far as I am aware this tradition began with Atlanta in 1996, and was then seen seen again in Salt Lake 2002, then Athens 2004 (which added an acknowledgement of the 2 World Wars and their disruption to the Olympic schedule) and most recently with Vancouver 2010. I don't recall seeing this done in Nagano or Beijing, nor am I aware of it being done before Atlanta. Although I have seen many prior ceremonies online, my real 'memory' of the ceremonies does not extend back beyond Barcelona 92 (at which time I was 9, going on 10 in October), so if it was done prior to 1992, please let me know ;)

I am also looking forward to seeing this as a major ceremonial role for Her Majesty the Queen.

LA saluted the previous cities at its Closing with a 25-minute fireworks show (all detailed in my book.) Barcelona had kids who had connections with the previous ex-host cities, come out with white Oly flags just before the gran bandera was rolled out.

Atlanta saluted ex-hosts in a segue from the "Temple of Zeus" scrim show in the lead-up to the Entrance of the Nations. (Nagano did not salute previous Winter host cities). And then for Salt Lake, they started the show with "Continuing the tradition started 78 years ago, then the lightning...," and then skaters came out with the banners.

After London next year, it's going to get tedious.

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I think it's fine to jettison the acknowlegemwnt of previous hosts. Lists are boring and this list is getting too long. It made sense in Athens (having hosted the first Games and bringing such a sense of history), but I don't think it needs to happen again. The ceremony is long enough without reiterating something anyone can see on Wikipedia.

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Coldplay part own the company who produce the radio controlled glow bands and director is also quoted about them being perfect for the Olympics

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2073124/Coldplay-light-Wembley-giving-X-Factor-audience-radio-controlled-glow-bands.html

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Coldplay part own the company who produce the radio controlled glow bands and director is also quoted about them being perfect for the Olympics

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2073124/Coldplay-light-Wembley-giving-X-Factor-audience-radio-controlled-glow-bands.html

So it's all automated and controlled, what a briliant invention

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I think it's fine to jettison the acknowlegemwnt of previous hosts. Lists are boring and this list is getting too long. It made sense in Athens (having hosted the first Games and bringing such a sense of history), but I don't think it needs to happen again. The ceremony is long enough without reiterating something anyone can see on Wikipedia.

Playing devil's advocate for a minute, we cannot take 3-4 minutes to salute past host cities plus the one to join the Olympic family, but we must have three to four HOURS to make sure every athlete, coach, official and IOC Members' grandson gets to walk into the stadium?

Don't misunderstand, I am not for cutting the Parade of Nations, I am just saying these ceremonies are not going to get any shorter anytime real soon, so why not spare five minutes for the roll call? At least with the next two SOGs (London hosting the third time, then Rio being the first South American city to host), I do not see the roll call ending just yet. If anything and I believe I said this earlier, the roll call is almost part of the protocol now.

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Don't misunderstand, I am not for cutting the Parade of Nations, I am just saying these ceremonies are not going to get any shorter anytime real soon, so why not spare five minutes for the roll call? At least with the next two SOGs (London hosting the third time, then Rio being the first South American city to host), I do not see the roll call ending just yet. If anything and I believe I said this earlier, the roll call is almost part of the protocol now.

Solution: KEEP the roll-call, DROP the athletes. :lol: They take up too much space and time.

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Why does everyone find the parade of nations so boring? I remember this being mentioned during the Vancouver Games. It's one of the best parts of the OC.

I'll restate: I was kidding. I have no problem with the Parade of Nations, but was rather joking that it does take quite a while, especially during the Summer Games. Beijing seemed incredibly long, for example. But for me, I like it for two reasons: a.) it is overhyped by the US broadcasters from time to time, but I believe it is true that most of the athletes come in to the Games knowing that realistically their chances of walking out with a medal are not great. For them, their medal, their moment, is being able to walk in in front of the world and be salute, be they from Azerbaijan or Zimbabwe. b.) Yes, I am an American, but I have heritage from other countries (specifically France and Ireland, among others), so it is a nice feeling to see countries of my roots march in and to politely clap for them and wish them well.

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Why does everyone find the parade of nations so boring? I remember this being mentioned during the Vancouver Games. It's one of the best parts of the OC.

Totally agree. It symbolises the whole point of the Games!

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Why does everyone find the parade of nations so boring? I remember this being mentioned during the Vancouver Games. It's one of the best parts of the OC.

I guess when you've sen lots of them (like "oldies" such as Baron and I) it all starts to get a bit same old, same old.

That said, I do remember back from the games of the 70s, that it was one if the features that fired my interest in the games. So I guess I can put up with it - good time for me to have snack and bathroom breaks and post on the live chat threads here.

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Solution: KEEP the roll-call, DROP the athletes. :lol: They take up too much space and time.

Brilliant! Lets just drop them altogether! Get rid of the athletes and the events. Think how much money could be saved on not having an athletes village, arenas, etc. All that money could be shifted to the ceremonies budget and it could just be one massive 2 week opening ceremony and a 2 hour closing ceremony. I LOVE it! :D

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Brilliant! Lets just drop them altogether! Get rid of the athletes and the events. Think how much money could be saved on not having an athletes village, arenas, etc. All that money could be shifted to the ceremonies budget and it could just be one massive 2 week opening ceremony and a 2 hour closing ceremony. I LOVE it! :D

U're my kinda guy!! A kindred spirit!! ;):lol:

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I am not totally against the parade of nations, they should just do it more quickly, and have countries enter from multiple entrances.

It's a good idea, but you run into logistical problems with multiple entrances and things can get confusing very quickly. And I think any idea of limiting the number of athletes allowed to parade in would get shot down very quickly as most would want the chance.

It's funny, but I remember in Barcelona and Atlanta, for the Closing, they eliminated the mass parade following the flags and I HATED that. I cannot imagine the Parade of Nations being done away with, but I really do not know what can be done to hurry things along.

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U're my kinda guy!! A kindred spirit!! ;):lol:

The ceremonies are mostly the only part of the summer games I watch with any real interest anyway.... Now as for the Winter Games, I watch with rapt attention from the Opening Countdown to the closing fireworks... and everything in between... the summer sport event mostly bore me... diving is kinda interesting to watch, but gets boring fairly quickly too... the summer events just cant compare to the speed, skill, and risk involved in the luge, bobsled, snowboarding, ski-jump, speed skating, figure skating, snow-cross, etc...

I agree with Soaring. I really like the parade of nations, but it takes HOURS. They need to find a way to pick up the pace.

I was watching that clip of the Seoul 1988 opening and they seemed to move the parade of nations along quite quickly... The ting I have noticed is that 20+ years ago the athletes seemed to actually 'march' into the stadium in unison, in nice neat rows and stayed in formation whereas now the teams stagger in, not in rows, some walking, some running about, jumping around for the cameras, and it has become a mess that really slows the parade down... I suppose on some esoteric level it is really just a reflection of society in general in this twitterfied world we now live in...

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Good point. Part of the problem is that the track lanes used to be visible for the parade. Now that everyone's gone artsy and theatrical, the track lanes are hidden because they don't fit the aesthetic. There are still guides for the performers, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect the athletes to follow them. The only way to bring back an orderly parade is to expose the track.

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