Olympian2004 Posted June 1, 2013 Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 Ah, thank you for the information, Durban! I have to admit that I had never heard before that Moscow staged that kind of "alternate Olympics" in that Olympic summer of 1984. That explains why the pictures in that clip above are much fuller of Soviet symbolism, starting already with that huge hammer and sickle symbol pushed around the track. And interesting that the British delegation was represented by the Union Jack in that opening ceremony of those maybe not totally uncontroversial Games - contrary to how they did it four years earlier at the controversial Olympics, where they marched and competed under the Olympic Flag. Addendum: "That explains why the pictures in that clip above are much fuller of Soviet symbolism than at Moscow 1980's Olympic opening ceremony..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 Now this is a very mysterious clip. It's entitled "Olympics Soviet Union 1980 Opening" but it clearly does not show the Moscow 1980 Olympic opening ceremony - the parade of nations seems to consist only of the national flagbearers there and while the cauldron looks like the real Olympic one, it is lit by three igniters and in totally different fashion. So what does this clip show then? Of course, a very prominent, renowned Kazakh figure was missing from that clip and event. Here is missing footage of that famous Kazakh!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pv5jLsLoYcE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 Finally watched all of that 1984 Alternate-O's Opening C. I was falling asleep but it sounded so much like an entry into imperial Rome done by Hollywood and again, all the Soviets were taking themselves so seriously. I didn't see ONE smile in all that footage. Compare it to the other post-Soviet videos we've also posted so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted June 1, 2013 Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 The Soviets sure did take themselves seriously in these endeavours, and there existed elements that instantly remind us of Moscow's Opening and Closing Ceremonies four years earlier. But these were more or less their (and the fellow Communists) games and not the Olympics, they could do and present themselves whatever they liked. Matter of fact, Soviet sports authorites asked Ted Turner to broadcast the 1984 Friendship Games on his Superstation WTBS, but he declined. However, highlights were shown. Thus that paved the way for the Goodwill Games. I'll discuss this not-well-known Friendship Games (at least to many of us outside of that block)--not many clips from that exist on YouTube--next week. Makes you wonder why didn't the 1980 boycotting nations organized their own games like the Soviets did? Check this out! The Opening Ceremony of the now-historic 1995 Rugby World Cup Final at Johannesburg's Ellis Park Stadium is now here in full! Everything all starts with the referee coin toss in the Ellis Park bowels. PJ Powers with Ladysmith Black Mambazo playing the official Rugby World Cup theme song, "World In Unison", concluding the ceremony as the All Blacks and Springboks came out early. Not only that, you get to see the entire historic final there, the Springboks famously won in a tournament they weren't expected to win, then as it does now, goes far beyond rugby, as South Africa's new emergence into the international arena as "the new South Africa"! Including NZ's haka and big, bad Jonah Lomu. Yes, the real thing, not the dramatization from the Clint Eastwood film "Invictus" and more something you may have seen on ESPN's 30 For 30's "The 16th Man". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 1, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2013 (edited) Makes you wonder why didn't the 1980 boycotting nations organized their own games like the Soviets did? They tried. I think Jimmy Carter had put Sec of State Cyrus Vance in charge of trying to organize a counter set of Games, and Freiburg, Germany was going to host. But then the Iran hostage crisis and Carter's reelection campaign intervened...so his Administration had to divert their attention to matters other than upstaging the IOC. Edited June 2, 2013 by baron-pierreIV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 Finally watched all of that 1984 Alternate-O's Opening C. I was falling asleep but it sounded so much like an entry into imperial Rome done by Hollywood and again, all the Soviets were taking themselves so seriously. I didn't see ONE smile in all that footage. Compare it to the other post-Soviet videos we've also posted so far. You fell asleep within only 5:41 minutes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 2, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 You fell asleep within only 5:41 minutes? I was so tired; indeed I was dozing off early. And all those heavy trumpets and flourishes couldn't keep me awake. One other comment I have though on that faux 1984 OGs; they didn't attempt anything as ambitious for the Torch Lighting as the 'human bridge" they used for the actual Games in 1980. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olympian2004 Posted June 2, 2013 Report Share Posted June 2, 2013 They tried. I think Jimmy Carter had put Sec of State Cyrus Vance in charge of trying to organize a counter set of Games, and Freiburg, Germany was going to host. But then the Iran hostage crisis and Carter's reelection campaign intervened...so his Administration had to divert their attention to matters other than upstaging the IOC. Really? That's the first time I've heard of that. And are you sure it was Freiburg? It's not a big city and they hadn't had the facilities to host possibly thousands of Western athletes. Munich as former Olympic host would have been more capable of that, theoretically speaking - but I doubt that on such notice, any city in the world could have staged such alternate Games on such short notice. I mean, the first time the US government thought about an Olympic boycott was in January 1980, with only a few months to go till the Olympic summer. That's why it was wise by the organisers of the 1984 Friendship Games to spread them out over several countries. One city alone could have hardly staged all those events on such short notice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTHarner Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 Lloyd Cutler was actually Carter's man responsible for the alternate games of 1980. Several individual sports meets were held for athletes of boycotting nations, but they received very little publicity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Olympics Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 3, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 Lloyd Cutler was actually Carter's man responsible for the alternate games of 1980. Several individual sports meets were held for athletes of boycotting nations, but they received very little publicity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_Olympics That's right. It was Cutler...but it never really got very far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted June 3, 2013 Report Share Posted June 3, 2013 That's the thing about staging mass sports events on short notice, with precious little to prepare. Munich could, as you say Olympian2004, but the venues could very well be booked with so many events going on. The Friendship Games, which was smart to spread the sports out among the participating nations, had table tennis started in North Korea, the gymnastics and handball in Czecholsovakia (now the Czech Republic part), Cuba hosted the boxing and volleyball, Hungary had the diving, fencing, and sailing, East Germany hosted the cycling and canoeing/rowing, and Bulgaria featured the rhthymic gymnastics. For many Americans then, the Olympics remain the thing for mass international competitions. Anything alternative in those years won't get that pub, and I think there was some bitterness then at the boycott (with some support) from the American public back then and US TV networks and other media institutions weren't as interested to give that pub. Still, it wasn't the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 14, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Found this. It's almost as spectacular as any Olympic opening ceremony (i.e., think Athens or Torino)! Quiz: anyone know who the giant figure is and was inspired by what painting?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMarkSnow2012 Posted June 14, 2013 Report Share Posted June 14, 2013 Quiz: anyone know who the giant figure is and was inspired by what painting?? Nice! I knew there was a famous play about him, but I hadn't realised there was an opera too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 An addendum to the Andrea Chenier production of Bregenz. Note Athens 2004 phans: http://www.kuriositas.com/2011/04/face-for-opera.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkam9tQVkNs A bit of the opening ceremony of the Confed Cup, which seemed like a shoot out of Beijing 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Btw the 2014 WC ceremonies will be done by former member of Cirque du Soleil and owner of Franco Dragone Productions (a company based in Belgium) Franco Dragone (Euro 2000, South American Games in 2010), so expect to see surrealist shows for the World Cup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 Opening Ceremony of the Confederations Cup in full http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64tO140v_CU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utiwpB6wm4U Dilma Rouseff, president of Brazil, got booed during the opening speech. I wonder if the same will happpen in 2014 and 2016 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 15, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 (edited) Is that artificial turf they have used at the Brasilia Estadio Nacional? The ground looks so solid--almost like it's concrete. Not too many people came for the Ceremony. It's well done...for a daytime ceremony. Edited June 16, 2013 by baron-pierreIV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 15, 2013 Report Share Posted June 15, 2013 ^^ They use a huge canvas over the grass (probably to protect the grass during the acts) which was designed also after a football field. The same trick was done in the opening ceremonies of the 2006 WC. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baron-pierreIV Posted June 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2013 (edited) ^^ They use a huge canvas over the grass (probably to protect the grass during the acts) which was designed also after a football field. The same trick was done in the opening ceremonies of the 2006 WC. I know that from Barcelona '92 and my actual experience in Atlanta, etc. But that tarp in Brasilia is so well stretched and flat that it was deceiving. Edited June 16, 2013 by baron-pierreIV Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJxLq2LJ3xI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmwHHj3Y1NI Some excerpts from the 2013 Mediterranean Games opening. There's more in the uploader's account. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 20, 2013 Report Share Posted June 20, 2013 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyy5HSjLcG8 Countdown and beggining of the Med Games ceremony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durban Sandshark Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 Not really the full ceremony of the Mediterrean Games. Also noticed the Parade of Nations used some of the same music from its London Olympic counterpart last year in its Parade of Nations. Considering the social unrest present in Turkey, do you think plenty of spectators were whistling the Turkey flag when it entered? Sounded like some were whistling from the broadcast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ikarus360 Posted June 21, 2013 Report Share Posted June 21, 2013 ^^ Erdogan wasn't booed, surprisingly (he even gave a long speech about how he wanted also Istanbul to host the 2020 games). Although he received some cold applause's from the public. Oh, btw, Durban, this is the whole cultural show. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHTRR12HoRI&feature=player_embedded Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afiqnadzir Posted June 28, 2013 Report Share Posted June 28, 2013 card formation 1998 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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