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
1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony 1982 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The Opening Ceremony of the 1982 Commonwealth Games was held on 30 September 1982 at the QEII Stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The ceremony was directed by Ric Birch. The chairman for the XII Commonwealth Games was Sir Edward Williams, KBE, KCMG. <br>Sir Edward was later decorated Australian of the Year for 1982. Tony Machin walked in the ceremony. The opening ceremony was held during the afternoon of a fine and sunny, but extremely windy and somewhat cool, afternoon. The starting of the Opening Ceremony was signaled with a kookaburra's call, followed by the traditional