Olympic Games ceremony Olympic Games ceremony Olympic Games ceremonies of the Ancient Olympic Games were an integral part of these Games; the modern Olympic games have opening, closing, and medal ceremonies. Some of the elements of the modern ceremonies harken back to the Ancient Games from which the Modern Olympics draw their ancestry. An example of this is the prominence of Greece in both the opening and closing ceremonies. During the 2004 Games, the medal winners received a crown of olive branches, which was a direct reference to the Ancient Games, in which the victor's prize was an olive wreath. The various elements
2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony Ryan writing for the same paper notes that "it was a seismic beginning for an opening ceremony that seemed smaller than its Olympic counterpart one month ago. It seemed lower key, perhaps, with less fanfare and more poignancy than brash spectacle. But by midnight, wonder was literally flying through the air." Ryan states that the ceremony "was beauty, a thrust of anger, and a spotlight on athletes too often in the shade." Ryan notes that the ceremony was thoughtful and combined emotional and complex ideas with the mystical. Concluding Ryan notes that Miranda smashing the ceiling was fiction but "in