Olympic Opening Ceremonies Through The Years

In 2004, Athens hosted the Games in a stadium by Spanish architect Calatrava.

Australia focused on its aboriginal culture for the opening ceremony in 2000.

Atlanta hosted the 100th Olympiad in 1996.

The Olympic flame was lit by firing a flaming arrow at it during the 1992 Olympics opening ceremony in Barcelona.

The opening ceremony of the 1988 summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, was the last Olympic Games in which live doves were released as a symbol of peace.

The official mascot specially designed for the 1984 games, in Los Angeles was Sam the Olympic Eagle. Many eastern bloc countries boycotted the event.

The 1972 Munich olympics were intended to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world. The Games were marred by the massacre of Israeli athletes.

The 1968 games, held in Mexico City, were notable for the problems athletes faced with altitude.

At the 1964 opening ceremony in Tokyo, the Olympic flame was lit by Yoshinori Sakai, who was born in Hiroshima the day the atomic bomb was dropped.

At the opening ceremony in Rome in 1960, the Olympic team from Formosa, now Taiwan,protested after they were forced to change their name from the Republic of China to Formosa.

The 1948 Olympics were held in London's Wembley stadium and were the first games since the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Credit:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/2523192/Olympic-opening-ceremonies-through-the-years.html