2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
![]() Fisht Olympic Stadium being built | |
Date | 7 February 2014 |
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Time | 8:14pm - 11:02pm MSK (UTC+4) |
Location | Sochi, Russia |
Coordinates | 43°24′08″N 39°57′22″E / 43.4022667°N 39.9561111°ECoordinates: 43°24′08″N 39°57′22″E / 43.4022667°N 39.9561111°E |
Filmed by |
[One Channel Russia]][citation needed] OBS |
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Part of a series on |
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The opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics took place at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia, on 7 February 2014. It began at 20:14 Moscow Time (UTC+4) and finished at 23:02 Moscow Time (UTC+4).[1] This was the first Winter Olympics and first Olympic Games opening ceremony under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach.[2][3][4]
The event was officially opened by President Vladimir Putin. An audience of 40,000 were in attendance at the stadium with an estimated 2,000 performers.[5]
Proceedings
The Russian pop duo t.A.T.u. performed in part of the opening day festivities.[6]
The Olympic Oath on behalf of all athletes was Ruslan Zakharov (Short-track), Vyacheslav Vedenin took the oath for all judges and Anastasia Popkova took the oath for all coaches. The final six torch bearers in order of entrance were: Maria Sharapova, Yelena Isinbayeva (also the ceremonial mayor of Olympic Village), Alexander Karelin, Alina Kabaeva, Irina Rodnina and Vladislav Tretiak. Tretiak walked with the flame alongside Rodnina, and the two then jointly lit the Olympic cauldron installed at the Sochi Medals Plaza in the Sochi Olympic Park. [7] This was followed by a fireworks display across the area around Fisht Olympic Stadium, including the other sporting venues.
Program
Opening section
An on-screen video showed 11-year-old Liza Temnikova playing a character named Lyubov (Russian for 'love') reciting the Russian Alphabet with a reference to Russia with each letter. The scene then imagined Lyubov asleep and dreaming, then grabbing the tail of a kite and being lifted far off the stage. Nine different landscapes floated past her to represent the diversity of Russia. Five large snowflakes descended into the stadium which expanded and joined to form the Olympic rings. However, a malfunction meant that one of the snowflakes failed to open. Finally, three large renditions of the mascots representing the games entered the stadium.[8][9]
National anthem
A men's choir sang the Russian national anthem with 240 volunteers wearing glowing suits of red, white and blue to represent the Russian flag, they then moved up and down to create a waving flag motion.[10]
Parade of the Nations
The participating countries marched in, with Greece coming first, then the other nations ending with the host nation, Russia. The teams entered in alphabetic order of their country names in Russian. The names of the nations were announced first in French, followed by English and finally in Russian, representing the official languages of the Olympics and the language of the host nation.[11]
The floor of the stadium transformed into a large screen portraying a satellite map of the country parading, along with the name of the nation in the three languages. The teams entered the stadium from the ground and walked either left or right in order to speed up the parade.
Dignitaries and other officials in attendance
About 66 leaders from different states and organisations attended the ceremony according to the arrangers.[12] They include
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Afghanistan: President Hamid Karzai[12]
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Azerbaijan: President Ilham Aliyev, First Lady Mehriban Aliyeva[13]
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Belarus: Alexander Lukashenko[citation needed]
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People's Republic of China: President Xi Jinping[14]
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Estonia: Prime MinisterAndrus Ansip[15]
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Greece: President Karolos Papoulias
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Italy: Prime Minister Enrico Letta[14]
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Japan: Prime Minister Shinzo Abe[14]
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Latvia: President Andris Bērziņš[16]
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Lithuania: Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius[16]
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Macedonia: President Gjorge Ivanov[17]
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Monaco: Prince Albert and Princess Charlene[18]
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Morocco: President of the Government Abdelilah Benkirane[19]
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Netherlands: King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima, Prime Minister Mark Rutte[20]
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Romania: Prime Minister Victor Ponta[citation needed]
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Serbia: President Tomislav Nikolić, Minister of Youth and Sports Vanja Udovičić[21][22]
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Switzerland: President Didier Burkhalter[23]
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Turkey: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan[14]
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Ukraine: President Viktor Yanukovych[24]
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United Nations: Secretary General Ban Ki-moon[14]
Politicians declining to attend the ceremonies
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Canada: Prime Minister Stephen Harper, citing the fact that Canadian Prime Ministers do not typically attend the Winter Games outside of Canada[25]
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France: President François Hollande, not citing any reason.[26]
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Germany: President Joachim Gauck, not citing any reason. However the national human rights commissioner Markus Loening said that it a "wonderful gesture."[27]
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Lithuania: President Dalia Grybauskaite, citing Russia's "attitude toward Eastern partners and economic sanctions against Lithuania"[28]
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United Kingdom: Prime Minster David Cameron, citing a scheduling conflict and the fact that no British Prime Minister has attended the Winter Games[29]
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United States: President Barack Obama, citing a desire to not distract from competitions[30]
Anthems
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Moscow State Chamber Choir conducted by Vladimir Minin - National Anthem of Russia[citation needed]
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Anna Netrebko - Olympic Anthem[citation needed]
References
- ↑ Torre, Inez (31 October 2013). "Sochi 2014: Winter Olympic venues". CNN. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
- ↑ "Everything You Need to Know About The Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony". Time. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ "Russian city prepares for Olympic opening ceremony". BBC Sport. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ "Sochi opening ceremony: live". Daily Telegraph. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ Dassanayake, Dion. "Winter Olympics: Opening ceremony for Sochi 2014 kicks off with a bang | World | News | Daily Express". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ Jess Denham (7 February 2014). "Russian 'lesbian' duo t.A.T.u to perform at Sochi Olympics?". The Independent (London).
- ↑ http://sports.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/07/live-coverage-2014-winter-olympics-opening-ceremony/#updated
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/winter-olympics/25885398
- ↑ http://www.sochi2014.com/en
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter-olympics/10623697/Sochi-opening-ceremony-live.html
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter-olympics/10623697/Sochi-opening-ceremony-live.html
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Associated Press (7 February 2014) Afghan President Hamid Karzai heads to Sochi for opening ceremony of Winter Games Fox News. Retrieved 7 February 2014
- ↑ 1st news. "Президент Азербайджана прибыл с рабочим визитом в Российскую Федерацию - ФОТО". 1NEWS.AZ. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Shaun Walker (5 February 2014) Sochi Winter Olympics: who is going to the opening ceremony? The Guardian. Retrieved 7 February 2014
- ↑ 4 Feb 2014 From wire reports, RIGA. "Estonia PM defends going to Sochi Olympics". Baltictimes.com. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lithuanian PM leaves for Sochi to attend 2014 Winter Olympics Lithuania Tribune. Retrieved 7 February 2014
- ↑ "МРТ". Mtv.com.mk. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ THS the Prince and Princess at the opening ceremony for the Winter Olympics in Sochi Palais.mc. Retrieved 7 February 2014
- ↑ "Le Chef du gouvernement représente le Roi à la cérémonie inaugurale des jeux olympiques d'hiver de Sotchi". Lemag.ma. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ "Koning Willem-Alexander vijf dagen in Sotsji". Nusport.nl. 30 January 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014. (Dutch)
- ↑ "Sport - Rađenović: Uvek je lakše kad znaš stazu". B92. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ "Sport - Udovičić na otvaranju ZOI u Sočiju". B92. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ "Russie: Didier Burkhalter à Sotchi pour l'ouverture des Jeux - Suisse". lematin.ch. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ Сборная России. "Янукович планирует посетить Сочи во время Олимпиады - МИД Украины | «Сочи 2014». Зимние Олимпийские игры на «Р-Спорте»". Sochi2014.rsport.ru. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ "Prime Minister Stephen Harper announces he won’t attend Russia’s Winter Olympics in Sochi | National Post". News.nationalpost.com. 2013-12-18. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ "French President Francois Hollande to shun Sochi games". BBC. 15 December 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ "German President Gauck will not attend Sochi Games". Reuters. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- ↑ Associated Press (2013-12-19). "Sochi Olympics: Lithuanian president to skip Russia Games". TwinCities.com. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
- ↑ "Cameron won't attend Russia's Sochi Winter Olympics". Reuters. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- ↑ "Obama explains Sochi absence in interview with NBC’s Bob Costas". Politico. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
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