1988 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
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| Part of 1988 Winter Olympics | |
| Date | 13 February 1988 |
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| Time | 13:30 – 14:30 MST (UTC−7) \ venue = McMahon Stadium |
| Location | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Coordinates | 51°4′13″N 114°7′17″W / 51.07028°N 114.12139°W |
| Filmed by | 1988 Olympic Radio and Television Organization (ORTO '88) |
| Footage | Opening ceremony highlights on YouTube |
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| Part of a series on |
| 1988 Winter Olympics |
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The opening ceremony of the 1988 Winter Olympics was held on February 13, 1988, beginning at 1:30 p.m. MST (16:30 UTC, February 13) at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
The event was officially opened by Governor General Jeanne Sauvé on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II. An audience of 60,000 spectators was in attendance at the venue, with 2,600 athletes and officials.[1]
Planning for the opening ceremony was trusted to the head of the volunteer ceremonies committee Eddie Rogers.[2] Rogers had previously planned the Calgary Stampede's grandstand shows.[2] Rogers hired Paddy Sampson, a former CBC employee as the executive producer of the ceremonies.[2] Sampson had much of the music used in the games recorded in Calgary,[3] and had Tommy Banks brought in to direct the composition for the parade of athletes.[3] Sampson found volunteers for the country-western dancing by scouring country and western bars in Southern Calgary, and asking strong dancers to volunteer for the opening ceremonies.[3]
The 1988 Winter Olympic opening ceremonies were orchestrated differently to previous ceremonies. Previously, the parade of athletes took place partway through the ceremonies, stand during parts of the ceremony, and athletes departed prior to the end of the ceremonies.[4] Calgary organizers wanted the athletes to parade as early as possible, be seated to watch most of the ceremony, and leave closer to the end of the event.[4] This was intended to allow the athletes to watch the ceremony which was essentially held in honour of their participation in the Games.[4]
The Calgary organizers wanted the audience to be part of the visual spectacle, and provided each spectator with a coloured poncho to wear.[5] The ponchos were paid for by Coca-Cola, but after realizing the IOC's restriction on sponsorships during the opening ceremonies, the organizers sent the ponchos to a nearby prison where inmates were tasked with flipping the 62,000 ponchos inside-out and removing the labels.[5] Several of the ponchos were defaced by inmates with obscenities and other statements, leading organizers to sort through the ponchos to remove the offensive garments and order replacements.[5]
In preparations for the opening and closing ceremonies, temporary bleachers were installed in McMahon Stadium to increase the seated occupancy capacity to 60,000.[1] The Olympic cauldron was constructed out of copper with platforms created to hold the flame, a 65-meter teepee was built behind the cauldron.[1]
Approximately 8,000 volunteers were brought on to perform in the opening ceremonies, led by eight choreographers and one artistic director.[1] Rehearsals began for most volunteers 12 weeks in advance of the ceremonies and took place on average twice a week.[6]
The 1988 Winter Olympics were the first for many years to enforce the Olympic Charter rule limiting the attendance of the Opening Ceremony Parade to only athletes and four officials per team.[7] Each team was provided marching passes which allowed access for athletes and four additional passes for officials on February 11.[7] OCO'88 notes that some teams traded their marching passes to other teams who wanted more than four officials to participate in the opening ceremony.[7]
During the opening ceremonies, 850 pigeons were released at McMahon Stadium.[8] The temperature prior to the opening ceremonies was −9 °C (16 °F), with a brisk wind.[9]
