SYDNEY — What is it about an Olympic Opening Ceremony that has the power to make the whole world stop and watch this four-hour event?

It’s not just the multitude of performers or the pop stars. It’s also the century of tradition, rituals, culture, Olympic protocol and ideals, plus the representatives from every country in the world who gather together in one celebration.

The Opening Ceremony is when culture and folklore, contemporary art and traditional arts join together to shape a spectacle which sets the tone for the next 16 days of sporting exploits. It’s a moment when a city and country display themselves to the whole world. An estimated television audience of three billion will be tuned into the Opening Ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

For the next couple of weeks the richness of Australia and its culture will be in the spotlight.

Although a host city tries to present a unique picture of its culture, there are traditional elements of an Olympic Games Opening Ceremony that must remain intact. The torch arrival and lighting of the cauldron, parade of athletes, Olympic oaths, anthems and raising of flags, have all evolved over the last century.

There is one man who is worthy of the credit of the Olympic Opening Ceremony, and he is Pierre de COUBERTIN, the founder of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

To COUBERTIN ceremonies were an important part of the Games. ‘Sport is the producer of art and an occasion for art. It produces beauty since it engenders the athlete who is a living sculpture. It is an occasion for beauty because of the buildings dedicated to him, the spectacles and festivals that he provokes,’ he said.

COUBERTIN commonly called the Olympic Games ‘the four-yearly universal festival of youth.’ He also stressed that the festival must be cultural.

From the start of the modern Olympic Games, an Opening Ceremony has existed in some form. In Athens in 1896, the King of Greece declared the Games officially open, and musicians and singers gathered in the centre of the stadium to perform the Olympic anthem composed by Spiros SAMARAS, with verses written by the poet Costis PALAMAS.

At Games that followed, elements were progressively introduced and developed into the Olympic protocol which is currently used.

The parade

The first formal parade of athletes and a parade of nations took place at the 1908 Olympic Games in London.

Twenty years later at the Amsterdam Olympic Games it was decided that Greece should lead the parade and the host National Olympic Committee (NOC) should march in last. The remaining countries appeared in alphabetical order, in line with each host NOC’s language.

The oath

COUBERTIN continued to play an active role in creating the ideals of Olympism. ‘We must fight with all our strength to retain the purity and loyalty of modern athletics. Among the best ways of doing that, I feel, is an instituted oath,’ he said in 1920.

The oath, which still exists today is: ‘We promise that we shall take part in the Olympic Games in the true spirit of sport, in honour of our teams and the glory of sport.’

Peace and freedom

After the setback of World War I, it was the Olympic Games of Antwerp in 1920 that took a major step toward Olympic ceremony design as we know it today. The elements introduced for the first time were the unveiling of the Olympic flag, used in both the Opening and Closing Ceremonies; the Olympic oath taken by athletes in the Opening Ceremony; and the setting free of pigeons, representing peace.

The flame and Torch Relay

At the Amsterdam Opening Ceremony in 1928, the flame was introduced. A torch was lit at one end of the stadium and remained alight for the duration of the Games. It was in 1936 at the Berlin Olympic Games that the first torch relay was run.

The anthem

From the Rome Olympics in 1960 it has been Olympic protocol that the original SAMARAS/PALAMAS composition be the official Olympic anthem.

Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Ceremonies Director Ric Birch, who has been involved with ceremonies production at the 1984 Los Angeles, 1992 Barcelona and now the Sydney Games, understands the role an Opening Ceremony plays.

‘Ceremonies are really a celebration of the people of the host city and host nation and form a welcome for the athletes of the world,’ he said. ‘So I think ceremonies will always be a homage to the idea of the Olympics and will reflect the host city and the host’s cultural values.’

Today, an Opening Ceremony is a powerful and symbolic event, using very dramatic and theatrical imagery. The host projects a message to the rest of the world. The message conveyed must be universal, simple and easily interpreted by all spectators and viewers.

National symbols and the symbols of the international human community are highlighted, while the symbolism of the individual athlete is formally underplayed.

The sequence of traditions begins with the athletes parading into the stadium in groups marked by their flags, emblems and costumes. The procession and arrangement of these groups on the field expresses a co-operative unity, but a unity of ordered segmentation.

The Olympic flag is then carried into the stadium and raised above all the NOC flags, the Olympic anthem is played, and the Olympic flame arrives to consecrate the festival. The third phase consists of a visually alluring pageant of music and dance.

With all the different elements of an Opening Ceremony, Birch says that the stars of the show are the athletes. ‘Viewers from all over the world want to see their athletes,’ he said. ‘It’s an emotional highlight of the ceremony.’

Research shows that the Olympic ceremonies attract the widest and most focused attention of any regularly scheduled cultural performance event in human history.

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Source: SOCOG