Secrets of the Olympic Ceremonies. Myles Garcia

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СКАЧАТЬ following also shows Opening and Closing Ceremony staging particulars as spelled out in the IOC Charter. The section below is from the 1980 version prescribing that (for the Summer Games) “…the athletes must leave the infield after all the Protocol portions have been satisfied…”--and only then may the ‘artistic programme’ take place or continue. The rule for an exception immediately follows:

      XV. TO RULE 63

      Opening ceremony

      The sovereign or Head of State who has been invited to open the Olympic Games shall be received at the entrance of the stadium by the President of the IOC and by the President of the OCOG. The two Presidents shall conduct the sovereign or Head of State and his retinue to his box at the stand of honour where he shall be greeted with his anthem.

      The parade of the participants shall then follow. Each delegation dressed in its official uniform must be preceded by a name-board bearing its name and must be accompanied by its flag.

      No participant in the parade is permitted to carry cameras, flags, banners, etc., on the field during the opening and closing ceremonies. Any participant committing a breach of the above regulations, will be liable to sanctions according to Rule 23. The OCOG shall see that these provisions are carried out.

      [See last paragraph above: No participant in the parade is permitted to carry cameras, flags or banners, etc. on the field during the opening and closing ceremonies. Of course, they should have added: “…no chewing gum, camera-hugging or mugging either.”] It continues…

      The contingent shall parade in alphabetical order according to the language of the country organising the Olympic Games, except that Greece shall lead the parade and the organizing country shall bring up the read. Only those who are competing in the Olympic Games, and no more than four non-competitors in each delegation, shall parade.

      The delegations shall salute the sovereign or Head of State of the country by turning their heads toward his box, with no other demonstration. The flags of the participating delegations, as well as the name-boards and their bearers, shall be furnished by the OCOG and shall all be of equal size. Each contingent, after completing its march around the stadium, shall line up in the center of the field and maintain its position in a column behind its name-board and flag facing the stand of honour.

      The President of the OCOG, accompanied by the President of the IOC, shall then proceed to the rostrum placed in the field in front of the stand of honour where he shall introduce the President of the IOC in the following words:

      “I have the honour to introduce . . ., President of the International Olympic Committee, to whom I extend the warmest welcome.”

      The President of the IOC shall then mount the rostrum, and deliver a brief speech of welcome, of not more than three minutes, concluding with the words:

      “I have the honour to invite . . . (the sovereign or Head of State) to proclaim open the Games of the . . . Olympiad of the modern era, initiated by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896 (or of the . . . Olympic Winter Games).”

      A symbolic release of pigeons precedes the arrival of the Olympic flame, brought from Olympia by a relay of runners, the last of whom, after circling the track, shall light sacred Olympic fire which shall not be extinguished until the close of the Olympic Games.

      The solemn Olympic oath shall be then taken in the following ceremony:

      The flag bearers of all countries shall advance and form a semicircle around the rostrum; an athlete of the country where the Olympic Games are taking place shall then advance to the rostrum accompanied by the flag bearer of his country; he shall mount the rostrum and, holding a corner of the flag in his left hand, and removing his hat, shall raise his right hand and take the following oath on behalf of all the athletes:

      “In the name of all the competitors, I promise that we shall take part in these Olympic Games, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship, for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams.”

      Immediately after, a judge of the host country shall then advance to the rostrum and similarly take the following oath on behalf of all the judges and officials: “In the name of all the judges and officials, I promise that we shall officiate in these Olympic Games with complete impartiality, respecting and abiding by the rules which govern them, in the true spirit of sportsmanship.”

      The anthem of the organizing country shall then be played or sung. The participants shall then leave the arena by the shortest route. The official ceremony according to the protocol described above so comes to an end. Only then may any artistic programmer and the competitions take place.

      In the case of an opening ceremony being authorized by the IOC to be held at a secondary Olympic venue, the rules of protocol described above shall not apply, but the OCOG must submit details of the ceremony in advance to the IOC (at least one year).

      Of course, most of what has been stipulated above has changed and been altered as needed, but it still provides the basic framework for the spine of today’s Olympic ceremonies. In July 2007, the Olympic Charter clarified the subject matter further on page 103 and this is currently in force:

      “(Rule) 56. Opening and Closing Ceremonies:

      1.The Opening and Closing Ceremonies shall be held in strict compliance with the IOC Protocol Guide.

      2.The contents and details of all scenarios, schedules and programmes of all ceremonies must be submitted to the IOC for its prior approval.

      3.The Olympic Games shall be proclaimed open by the Head of State of the host country by pronouncing either of the following sentences as the case may be:

       - if at the opening of the Games of the Olympiad: “I declare open the Games of … [name of the host city] celebrating the … [number of the Olympiad] …Olympiad of the modern era.

      - if at the opening of the Olympic Winter Games: “I declare open the ...[number of the Winter Olympic Games] Winter Olympic Games of … [name of the host city].”

      During the entire period of the Olympic Games, including all ceremonies, no speeches of any kind may be held by any representative of any government or other public authority, nor by any other politician, in any venue placed under the responsibility of the OCOG. During the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, only the IOC President and the President of the OCOG are entitled to deliver short addresses.”

      Thus, the above documents spell out the IOC’s complete control over the Ceremonies connected with their Olympic Games.

      Global Reach. The Olympic telecasts are among a handful of global events that anyone can watch with some planning and in good spirits. Together with the Oscars, the World Cup and the Misses International, Universe and World pageants, the Olympics (or summer at least) are one of the truly worldwide telecasts that are beamed to every country on earth and making the planet a proverbial “media village’ and one family. A famed Broadway set designer, in anticipation of his first Academy Awards-design assignment, called the Oscars as “…one of the great communal rituals of the world,” …just like the Olympics.

      From the first Games (Squaw Valley 1960) which sold television rights to subsidize staging costs, to the XXIXth Summer Games in Beijing, U.S. and worldwide viewership has grown exponentially with the increased costs of television rights and the virus-like proliferation of television and the internet. In 1960, CBS (the Columbia Broadcasting System of the U.S.) paid $50,000 for the (b&w) rights to the СКАЧАТЬ