Danny Boyle is up against faked footprint-shaped fireworks, aliens in flying saucers and spectacles with artillery fire and pigeons
Anyone concerned that Danny Boyle faces a daunting, Newton-like climb on to the shoulders of choreographic giants in his role as the Olympic opening ceremony organiser needs only to glance at some of his predecessors' efforts for reassurance.
Beijing 2008 saw computer faked footprint-shaped fireworks trek across the sky from Tiananmen Square to the Bird's Nest stadium, and a seven-year-old singer's vocals mimed by a more aesthetically-pleasing girl.
In 1984, not content with sending torch-bearer Rafer Johnson up the longest, steepest staircase imaginable and having an Evel Knievel lookalike in a jetpack buzz the crowd, the LA games organisers decided for the closing ceremony that nothing embodied the Olympic spirit quite as potently as a big alien in a flying saucer.
Hitler's ambitious plans for the 1936 Berlin Olympics – complete with Leni Riefenstahl's famous film of the games – were heroically undermined by Jesse Owens' victories. However, the games did produce one major legacy: the torch relay. Less tradition-setting were the Austrian and French teams' Nazi salutes at the Berlin ceremony, though some French athletes later claimed they were giving the not wholly dissimilar Olympic salute. Eight years earlier, the Amsterdam games kicked off with a spectacle involving pigeons, artillery fire and the Olympic flame being lit for the first time. Sadly, Queen Wilhelmina missed the extravaganza. Either furious at the organisers' failure to consult her or disapproving of the fact it was held on a Sunday, she became the first host head of state not to attend the opening ceremony, remaining in the isolated splendour of her Norwegian holiday retreat.Doubtless much to the relief of the planning committee, the Queen managed to overcome her umbrage, or principles, in time to make the closing ceremony, also on a Sunday.
But if it's a masterclass in feelgood internationalism that Boyle seeks, he may wish to look all the way back to the 1896 Athens games: 80,000 people joined the Greek royal family at the Panathinaiko stadium to usher in the first modern Olympics, where the Danish-born King George (watched by his Russian wife Olga) patriotically declared: "Long live the nation. Long live the Greek people."
The ceremony clearly met with the approval of Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics. Watching the crowds stream into the stadium, he was delighted to witness the "joyous and motley concourse".
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jan/27/past-olympic-games-opening-ceremonies
analysis and opinion Anand Patwardhan Anastasia Blue ancient
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