Olympic Games ceremony a standard 18-event program was established. In order to open a Games in ancient Greece the organizers would hold an Inauguration Festival. This was followed by a ceremony in which athletes took an oath of sportsmanship. The first competition, an artistic competition of trumpeters and heralds, concluded the opening festivities. The Olympic opening ceremonies represent the official commencement of an Olympic Games. In recent Olympics, athletic competition began prior to the opening ceremonies. For example, the football competitions for both men and women at the 2008 Summer Olympics began two days prior to the opening ceremonies. The 2014 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony Button. They passed it to other pairs U.S. Olympians, who either ran or skated their short relay. Gold medalists in Nagano 1998 Picabo Street and Cammi Granato carried it up the steps to the towering torch where they were met by Mike Eruzione, captain of the miracle on ice hockey team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1980. Eruzione summoned the other members of the team, who together lit the Olympic torch. The Opening Ceremony would win seven Emmy Awards. While there was a lot of international sympathy for the US in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, there