The Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games is among the world's largest theatrical and artistic events. This live event inevitably contained some of high-stakes moments that ended up in failure. Let's take a look at the top 10 failures in Olympic Ceremony history!
And if you're interested in further information, please visit www.olympicceremony.org for more history about the Olympic Ceremonies. Some of these videos may require you to view them on youtube instead of this blog.
At the opening ceremony in Tokyo, the cauldron entered the stadium carried by a survivor born in Hiroshima on the day of the Atomic Bomb blast. For many in the stadium and as described by athletes in attendance, the cauldron lighting would be far more memorable not as the climatic moment we see on television, but they described it as a "perfume explosion" and "gas attack" when ceremony organizers decided to mass disperse chrysanthemum perfume to coincide with the entrance of the torch.
The Rio Opening Ceremony in 2016 was smaller in scale than the several prior games, but one oddity occurred after the athletes entered. Many abruptly left! Without volunteers to keep athletes in the middle of the stadium floor, the extremely long parade of nations left many athletes bored and tired leaving around 2,000 of originally over 10,000 to watch the end of the ceremony.
Bjork performed at the 2004 opening ceremony in Athens during the Dove of Peace segment. She was to be raised by an hydraulic lift several stories above the athletes on the field while her skirt extended over the entire field where a dove would be projected onto it. The hydraulic lift failed leaving Bjork awkwardly drowning in a mass of white curtains.
As the torch entered the stadium in the 1984 Opening Ceremony in Los Angeles, the athletes weren't surrounded by enough volunteers and they swarmed onto the track impeding the torchbearer, slowing her down to a walk as she tried to round the track.
6. St. Moritz 1948 - Sexism
The official video of the 1948 Olympic Games in St. Moritz included a male narator and a female commentator. The video is filled entirely with extremely sexists comments especially during the lighting of the cauldron.
On the entrance of the Norwegians:
Female: "Look, they're still wearing the old style of trousers!"
Male: "Trust a female to notice that!"
On the entrance of the Italians:
Female: comments on the "handsome boys"
Male: scolds her for the comments and concludes, "you're very embarrassing"
On the cauldron lighting:
Male: "...and the Olympic Fire blazes up!"
Female: "Well it's nothing more than a gas burner!"
Male: "That, my dear, is a symbol. But who could expect women to have an understanding of abstract things."
Near disaster hit in 2000, when the cauldron was lit in water, rose above the torch bearer and became stuck for several minutes until a worker hit a straining bar, freeing the cauldron to rise up above the stadium.
A devastating moment to begin Russia's massive ceremony, one mechanical ring failed to open, leaving the look of an asterisk. An auspicious symbol for the criticism surrounding the bribing and doping scandals which would see Russian athletes banned from future games. On Russian TV, the rings were shown to work perfectly, using video from dress rehearsals.
2. Seoul 1988 - Burning Doves
In 1988, the Olympic cauldron was placed in an unusual spot, alongside the track. Before the lighting, thousands of doves were released, and conveniently, the edge of the cauldron provided the perfect place for the birds to perch. When the cauldron was lit, the birds lit up in flames flying into the stands, falling upon the athletes below, and subsequently, live doves were banned from use after 1992.
The biggest failure in the history of the Olympic Opening Ceremony must be the cauldron lighting in 2010 in Vancouver. The cauldron was to be formed by four arms hydraulically controlled and emerging from the ground - one of the arms did not cooperate.
Opening Ceremony Records
First Opening Ceremony in South America
First Presentation of an Olympic Laurel
First Two-piece Olympic Cauldron
First Kinetic Sculpture Cauldron
VIDEO CEREMONY OVERVIEW
Rio exhibited the party culture of carnival with a serious message of becoming an eco-conscious planet. The ceremony used nearly 5,000 performers and exhibited much of the same technology that had been used in previous ceremonies, but a tiny budget especially compared to Beijing and Sochi. What Rio lacked in monetary support, it made up for in joyful spirit. The following is the ceremony overview from the official event guide:
Welcome to Brazil
Countdown: "The countdown is an Olympic celebration of gambiarra, the spirit of improvisation: the Brazilian way of making the most of almost nothing. A sheet of paper becomes a musical instrument and triggers and enormous batucada"
Brazilian National Anthem: "An artist alone on stage presents the national anthem in all its poetry. The anthem is yours, you can sing along. Athletes who gave us joy and medals at the Olympic Games encounter athletes of the new generation. They carry the Brazilian flag, great companion of their victories. The environmental police of Rio de Janeiro, guardian of the largest urban forest in the world, hoists the flag.
The Beginning of Life:
"A storm announces the forces of nature and the beginning of life on Earth. Microscopic beings appear and transform themselves. Organic lines, intertwined, tell of the birth of the immense forest. Each species is a triumph of life, a DNA that prevails in a process taking billions of years.
The Forest People: "Four million descendants of the first people who inhabited this forest were here when the Portuguese arrived, 500 years ago. Today there are 800,000 Indigenous people. As all around the globe, traditional cultures are the greatest protectors of millenary DNA. In Brazil, it is no different: Indigenous people protect 13% of our territory.
Geometrisation: "Over time, in Brazil and across the world, the process of civilization redesigned nature. Forests gave way to agriculture and pasturage, to mining, to the generation of power, to urbanization and industrialization, to what we are today. We built our identities replacing nature's complex geometry with our own.
The Old World Leaves it Mark on Pindorama: "In 1500, after a long journey across unknown waters, the Portuguese found 'the land where everything grows', the paradise to be conquered. From there, they extracted many riches. The first one was a tree, the 'pau brasil', that gave its name to the country. Thirty years later Africans disembarked, having been taken from their land to work as slaves. The great Brazilian riches that marked the colonial period, such as sugar cane, gold, silver, and diamonds were the product of black slave labor. Slavery lasted 388 years in this country, and as a result African culture has had a deep effect on Brazilian culture. From the 19th century, Brazil began to welcome large waves of migration from Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia. We incorporated traces of their cultures without asking their permission. The Brazilian identity is the mix of those cultural traces.
Bossa -
A Brazilian Announces Modern Brazil: Santos Dumont: "It is true that many have contributed to the invention of the aeroplane, but it was Santos Dumont who made the first flight on a plane with his 14 bis, in Paris, in front of journalists and a large audience. According to the Aero-Club de France, he was the first man in the world to take off with a machine heavier than air. Before him others flew launched by catapults or down slopes or without witnesses." *these statements are factually incorrect as documented by many scholars of the Wright Brothers ability to take off many times prior to the 14 bis. This was added as "our patriotic licence" by the committee.
Modern Brazil or When Brazil was Born to the World: "Disregarding the straight lines of urbanization, the curves of Bossa Nova cross the seas. Through architecture, music, painting and literature, Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Oscar Niemeyer, Burle Marx, and Jorge Amado, among others, created the image of a cool, sensual land with its beaches, music, colors, and curves. The mythical Girl from Ipanema "goes walking" all over the planet."
Pop: "What identifies us as Brazillians comes from popular culture. This is the force that takes over the stadium. Through music and dance, Brazilian culture is reborn every day, absorbing and recreating the influences of the global pop scene with an exuberant creativity. We celebrate this vibration without hiding our differences in a country still striving for social balance. We do not want a divided country or world, and for this reason we propose the harmony of a huge Brazilian soul party. Stadium, Brazil, the whole world: let's dance together!"
After the Party: "The party was good, but we've gone too far. We are beginning to pay the bill. After all, everything we buy contains a piece of the world we live in. Science shows us maps that are like x-rays of our illness. Oil and coal use is increasing the greenhouse effect. The planet is warming up faster than expected. The Arctic and glaciers are melting. Droughts last longer and deserts are expanding. Coastal cities are threatened by the sea level rise. A message that the world knows but pretends not to know: Re-thinking our way of life and adapting ourselves to climate change is the greatest challenge facing humanity now."
A Simple Solutions/Parade of Nations
But Wait, There Is a Light At the End of the Tunnel: "Trees capture the main gas that traps heat in the atmosphere - carbon - and reduce its concentration. Replanting forests is the fastest, most efficient and cheapest way to revers global warming. And on top of that, it brings back shade and fresh water, the song of birds, the multitude of life. There are large reforestation projects taking place around the world. It's a big movement. We invite everyone to join in: where there is room fro a tree, plant a seed.
One Athlete = One Tree: "207 delegations, 207 species. Upon entering the stadium, each athlete will receive the seed of a native Brazilian tree specie to plant in a tube filled with soil. Over 10,000 seedlings will be planted in the "Athletes' Forest" at the X-Park in Deodoro: a legacy for the city of Rio de Janeiro."
Peace: "The white dove has been a symbol of peace since Ancient Greece. in the Olympic Ceremonies, the flight of doves marks the commitment to peace among peoples. We went to the children of public schools in Rio de Janeiro to ask what peace meant to them."
Speeches, Laurel, Oaths
Olympic Flag and Anthem: "Carriers of the Olympic flag unite their ideals for the promotion of a better world. Brazilians, leaders in sport and life, symbolize and inspire our commitment to the Olympic values. The Olympic anthem is performed by the More Project NGO children choir. The organization works among communities in Niteroi promoting cultural and sport activities for children. The children were invited to sing the anthem after the ceremony's music composers saw a video fo the choir, that had gone viral on the internet, produced by the children themselves."
Apotheosis: "We will give the athletes the party that they have traveled thousands of miles for! A carnival powered by the percussionists of Rio's 12 main samba schools and the colors and shapes of carioca contemporary artist Beatriz Milhazes."
Troika pulling the sun, thawing the ice in the Opening Ceremony segment "Rite of Spring"
Olympic Ceremony Records italics indicate records at the time
First entrance of the Parade of Nations from below the stadium floor
Most Nations Competing in an Olympic Winter Games - 88 (previous 82 Vancouver)
First continuous use of projections
First use of prop trains above the stadium floor
Most expensive Olympic stadium (est. $750 million - $1 billion)
First stadium specifically built for an Olympic ceremony
Opening Ceremony
Fisht Olympic Stadium (40,000)
February 7, 2014
Official Report
No Official Report ... yet
Official Video (no commentary)
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Opening Ceremony Highlights
The Sochi opening ceremony was one of the most elaborate in the history of the Olympic Games. Notably, the enormous props, guided through the stadium with the help of a train system on the roof provided some of the most elaborate scenes in Olympic ceremony history. The ceremony was a tribute to the history of Russia as told through its various rich art traditions including ballet, music, and literature. Concerning the size of the ceremony, with a custom built stadium with a custom built roof for moving props held in massive containment buildings adjacent to the stadium, the Sochi opening ceremony was the most expensive ceremony ever produced. With reported stadium costs and ceremony budgets, the production easily exceeds $1 billion; if true, it would be the first in history to break that mark.
A malfunctioning Olympic ring blighted an otherwise emphatic reception of the ceremony, which featured world famous musicians, thousands of dancers and volunteers, and a massive recounting of the history of Russia. Sochi took much of the recent evolution of the Olympic ceremony to massive proportions, and although few true innovations occurred, the Sochi ceremonies perfected the projection techniques first implemented by Vancouver in 2010, the suspension of massive props first implemented by Sydney 2000, and narrative film elements first implemented by London 2012. With Sochi, the Olympic Ceremonies are now trending toward productions of living cinematic art.
Viewers' Guide
0:00:00 - Pre-Ceremony Entertainment
0:20:39 - Opening Flyover
0:34:40 - Cyrillic Alphabet Countdown Film
0:38:44 - Artistic Segment - Flight through Russia
0:45:00 - Introduction of the Presidents of the Russian Federation and IOC
0:46:00 - Russian National Anthem
0:50:30 - Olympic Torch Relay Film
0:52:30 - Parade of Nations
1:49:00 - Giant animatronic mascots of Sochi 2014
1:51:07 - History of Russia Film
1:54:00 - Artistic Segment - Rite of Spring
2:02:00 - Artistic Segment - Peter the Great
2:06:30 - Artistic Segment - War and Peace
2:13:00 - Artistic Segment - Russian Revolution
2:21:00 - Artistic Segment - 20th Century
2:29:00 - Olympic Torch Relay Film
2:31:00 - Speech by SOCOG President
2:37:30 - Speech by IOC President
2:47:00 - Vladimir Putin Opens the Games
2:48:00 - Artistic Segment - Doves of Peace
2:52:00 - The Olympic Flag and Anthem
3:00:00 - Olympic Oaths
3:03:30 - Artistic Segment - Olympic Gods
3:08:45 - The Olympic Flame
3:14:00 - Firebird, Finale, Fireworks
Photos
Sochi Olympic Medals
Sochi Olympic Logo
Sochi Olympic Torch
Sochi Olympic Stadium and Cauldron
Girl flies through the topography of Russia
Malfunctioning Olympic Ring
Opening Ceremony segment remembering those lost in WWII
14 days until our first complete dress rehearsal (with audience!)
Police Horses walk along the beach outside of the Olympic Stadium
After an early morning, I ventured to the Olympic Credentials Center, and received my new all access pass! At the same time, my own rehearsal was running - with me absent obviously. I caught up to my rehearsal, and was there for the next 9 hours. By the end of my rehearsal, I was told that for the entire preparation of the games, it was the first and only rehearsal to begin and end exactly on time! I was proud of that, but it is a cultural anomaly here in Russia to have anything on time.
My credentials - I had to cover up some sensitive (secret) info about my position
I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!
To give you an idea of the organization, this is by far the most complicated and most massive and most secretive organizational structure with which I have been consumed. I will give you an aerial shot of the complex. Below, there are enormous garages that house many of our props and special equipment, tents that are specially designed and the exact size of the stadium floor, dining rooms, and security checkpoints.
The Olympic Stadium is the upper left corner, the large boxes are enormous. They surround the stadium and off to the far top left is a field of 10 tents each the same size of the stadium field so we can rehears all the segments simultaneously.
Just to give you some historical perspective of this event, it unequivocally will be the most technical event in Olympic history. Being a true historian of the Olympic Ceremonies, I will be able to make a better judgement on its place in Olympic history as we lead up to the opening night - many aspects are bound to change. But secretly, our budget is about 4 times larger than the second most expensive Opening Ceremony (Beijing) and about 10 times larger than the third most expensive (London). In addition, our audience base has escalated to over 4 billion people!!! There is a lot on the line!
The garages to help move our technical equipment throughout the ceremony are ENORMOUS. They move pieces in and out just like the Space Shuttle complex - and are similarly large.
The rehearsing tents are the exact size of the stadium floor. They are gridded like a graphing field in mathematics, each line receiving a different letter of the Cyrillic Alphabet on the x axis, and numbers across the y axis. We skipped the Cyrillic letters that were too similar for us English speakers, since most of the organizers are fluent in English. Even though I won't be participating, I learned choreography with everyone and participated in the rehearsals as much as I could...before I twisted my knee!
These lunches are evidently adequate for Russians, but for Westerners they are a challenge. Too small of portions, nearly no vegetables, high in fat, and usually over-processed. Imagine instant turkey gravy on top of Vienna sausages, with a salad of pickled beets, pickled root of some sort, pickled peas, and hard bread. They consume a dangerously small amount of water as well!
The rehearsal went very well, I was so curious to check out all of the other simultaneously run rehearsals, but I will have time for that at a later date. I will also be able to divulge more information about my exact roles in the ceremony soon. I found out yesterday some amazing news, that I am one of 9 members of the organizing committee to have a seat for a portion of the ceremony with the invited dignitaries! Much more exciting news to come!
The best part of my day though was a full 8 hour sleep, with the balcony door open. I haven't had to close it once since I've arrived; the temperature has been too perfect.
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