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
State Procession at the State Opening of Parliament State Procession at the State Opening of Parliament A State Procession is a formal display of the Sovereign, dignified by a sizeable entourage made up of Great Officers of State, members of the Royal Family and of the Royal Household. The State Opening of Parliament is one of the few occasions when a State Procession is to be seen; the Coronation Procession is another. The State Procession is now confined to the interior of the Palace of Westminster, but in earlier centuries it followed an outdoor route to and from Westminster Abbey. An account of Henry VII opening Parliament on