The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games is the first event that sets the tone for one of the most anticipated sporting events in the world. Each year it becomes more grandeur as it provides a platform for the host nation’s to showcase their art, culture and history. This event has captured the attention of people around the world as the subsequent host nation tries to top what came before. With the 2018 Winter Olympics kicking off in Pyeongchang, all eyes will be focused on the medley of musical performances, stunning spectacles, light shows, beautiful fireworks, culture, and athletics.
So in honour of the first Nigerian team, the Bobsled & Skeleton team, in history competing at the Winter Olympics we will take a look back at some of the greatest and most memorable opening ceremonies in history:
London 2012
The London opening ceremonies were beautiful and intimate; the complete opposite of the 2008 Beijing ceremonies. It featured quaint English villages, industrial mills, Mary Poppins, Harry Potter, and the famed British multiculturalism. It wasn’t as much of a spectacle as Beijing but it used some of the most popular cultural references including the Spice Girls, to connect to viewers emotions. If the Beijing opening ceremony was a big budget blockbuster film then the London ceremony was a really good indie film.
Beijing 2008
Even after a decade, the opening ceremony of Beijing games is still regarded as one of the greatest in the Olympics history. It featured beautiful fireworks, performances by pop stars, light shows, digital projection, thousands of dancers, martial arts performers, and drummers performing in unison. The event which cost about $100 million was directed by the Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and till date, no opening of the Olympic ceremony has beaten the spectacle, scope, grandeur and sheer audacity of both vision and precision of the 2008 games opener.
Athens 2004
Athens opening ceremony showed a great artistic representation of Greek history! From the moment, gigantic Olympic rings were set ablaze, you knew the ceremony was going to do its best to out-spectacular Athens. The actors told the journey of life through interpretive dance, via statues that came “alive,” and it was the first ceremony to use visual projection on floating objects, to stunning effect. Splendid!
Barcelona 1992
The opening ceremony of the 1992 Olympic games was one of the most creative events in history, and it was the very first moment that set the tone. For the first time a flaming arrow was shot over the assembled crowd to land perfectly (well, to the naked eye, at least) into the arch’s cauldron and set alight the Olympic flame.
With the 2018 Winter Games opening happening today, all fingers are crossed that probably the Pyeongchang will make it to the list as one of the best opening ceremonies. It has for Nigeria, as the Winter Olympic team supported geles on top of their Winter jackets.
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