1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony 1996 Summer Olympics opening ceremony The opening ceremony of the 1996 Summer Olympics took place in the evening on Friday 19 July in the Centennial Olympic Stadium, Atlanta, United States. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation’s culture and history. The Olympic cauldron was lit by former gold medalist and boxing champion Muhammad Ali. The ceremony features Award-winning and Grammy Award-time nominated film composer, John Williams, French
2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony were in attendance at the stadium with an estimated 2,000 performers. The site of the opening ceremony, Fisht Olympic Stadium was built specifically for the games. Fisht Stadium seats 40,000. No Olympic or Paralympic competitions were held there; it was only used for the opening and closing ceremonies during the respective Games. Television producer Konstantin Ernst was the main Creative Head in charge of the opening ceremonies. Andrei Nasonovksy was the Executive Producer of record; and Andrei Boltenko was the writer and director of the ceremony. A different team was in charge of the Closing Ceremony as well as the