Five of the best and worst moments in Olympic Games Opening Ceremonies ahead of the start of the Rio Games today (Friday):
1936
The Berlin Olympics was used by Adolf Hitler as a showcase to promote his vision of Nazi Germany at what were the most notorious Games of the modern era.
With his propaganda minister Joseph Gobbels the Games’ arch architect the Opening Ceremony in the custom built 110,000 seaters Olympic Stadium saw over 5,000 athletes from 51 countries parading past the Fuhrer as the Hindenburg airship hovered overhead, trailing the Olympic flag.
Competitors had to decide whether to give the Hitler salute or not. Some countries performed it with enthusiasm, others avoided it, while the Bulgarians multi-tasked, giving the salute and goose-stepping.
1988
The Seoul Games got off to a sticky start for a flock of doves released into the night sky in the South Korean capital. The birds were still enjoying their view of proceedings high above the stadium, some fatally taking a breather, resting on the elevated cauldron, as three athletes rose with torches to light the Olympic flame.
One billion viewers watching on television were witness to a very public roasting. Former IOC chief Jacques Rogge recalled: “The doves went in the cauldron and tens of doves were burned alive and there was a lot of emotion from the World Wildlife Fund and animal protection and the IOC decided no doves would be released anymore.” Not since Seoul have white doves helped get a Game underway.
1992
There was an understandable sleight of hand employed at the climax to Barcelona’s opening party. With typical Catalan flair, organisers had arranged for Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo to fire a red hot arrow into the seven-story high cauldron to light the flame.
Except it missed its target, on purpose, thudding safely into a sandbox safely away from the crowd, the danger of a flaming arrow causing havoc amongst spectators too much to risk.
1996
The lighting of the Olympic flame in Atlanta by Muhammad Ali, his outstretched arms holding the torch shaking visibly from Parkinson’s disease proved an achingly emotional moment from Atlanta.
For most, this was the first glimpse of the late sporting legend for years, and the sight of the white-suited boxing legend in the grips of the disease broke hearts around the world. At the same time there was awe at his display of courage. It was the iconic moment of the 1996 Ceremony, if not the Games itself.
2012
Film director Danny Boyle served up a memorable mix of humour and history to kick off the London Games, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II leaping out of a helicopter with James Bond and parachuting into the stadium giving a majestic climax to proceedings.
Stuntman Gary Connery played the role of the British monarch, who was safely on terra firma watching from the royal box in the Olympic stadium.
IAAF president Sebastian Coe, in his then role as London 2012 chief, had plotted the Queen’s starring role, which had been kept secret even from her close family, including her son Prince Charles and grandsons William and Harry. “As she started her descent two voices shouted out in unison behind me, ‘go, Granny!’ Coe recounted in his autobiography.
