2004 Summer Olympics opening ceremony the Opening Ceremonies, for example in the last Olympics before that, in Salt Lake City, where banners of the previous 18 Winter Olympics entered Rice-Eccles Stadium at the beginning of the ceremony. This would also be seen in Vancouver during the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics and on the Televised version of the Olympic Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The first speech came from Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki, the chief organizer of the Athens 2004 Olympics and the first female chief organizer of an Olympic games. She told the athletes: "Welcome home!" and "Greece is standing before
2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony 2006 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony The Opening Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games was held on 15 March 2006 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The ceremony was conceived and produced by Jack Morton Worldwide, which also produced the ceremonies for the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester. The ceremony began with the temporary stage on the playing ground of the Melbourne Cricket Ground lighting up with previous host cities. The flags of Australia (current host), England (previous host) and India (next host) were raised. Surf boats which represented each of the past 18 host cities were on