The Opening ceremony of the XV Olympic Winter Games held in Calgary, ALberta, Canada, from 13 to 28 February. The ceremony took place in MacMahon Stadium.
i remember the 1988 olympics in calgary very well. they and the 1994 games in lillehammer were in my opinion the best winter games ever. as for this i am looking out to the games in vancouver with great expectations. hopefully with my german athletes in the top 3 again.
Thank you! What a treat to see this again. So many great moments - Brian Orser as flag bearer (I'm an American, but I wanted Brian to win the gold medal - Brian B. was fabulous too - anyway Brian's been a great pro skater and now a great coach), the Olympic Hymn, David Foster's terrific "Winter Games" theme, etc. Wow!!!!
Wow what a difference 22 years make... Both the Vancouver and the Calgary Opening Ceremonies were fantastic in their own ways. Calgary looked fun, and so very 80s haha. And Vancouver was modern and "emotional". Who knows? It'll probably look dated in 20 years too. :)
Interesting to note on the Olympic Oaths: In Calgary, the Athletes Oath (Pierre Harvey) was taken in French, while the Officials Oath (Suzanne Morrow-Francis) was taken in English. In Vancouver, it was the other way around. Hayley Wickenheiser took the Athletes Oath in English, while Michel Verrault took the Officials Oath in French.
The first mega one for the Winter Games for sure. Although Sarajevo 84 had some impressive displays, Calgary was the first one to have a big scale production. For Summer, that started with Moscow 1980.
oh god... c'mon canada, tell me the ceremonies this friday are gonna be way more kick ass. i hope they manage to show off the cultural diversity here, thats really what defines us.
Host country Italy (Torino) had 5 gold medals, Host country USA (Salt Lake) had 10 gold medals. Both "1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, the Canadian team failed to win a gold medal, matching only former Yugoslavia in the dubious distinction of not having won an Olympic winter gold medal on home soil".
I suppose in a certain sense. But their opening was very...militaristic, which while I found very cool, it felt lacking in something. Maybe the it's the "party" aspect of it, but we'll see what happens next year!
Yes I do see! How fitting that that happened, it's too bad that the IOC separated the winter and summer Games after 1992 the likeihood of this happening again would be VERY low now. (Let's hope London picked their mascot already and show it in 2010 Vancouver IN THE WINTER GAMES IN PERSON when they introduce their delagates. That would make someone smile!)
@Beeyatchibus that's what they were! I thought they were some strange mutated cactus. :P Vancouver opening was 10x better even with the olympic cauldron screwup.
Where is the portion of the ceremony where Ian Tyson sang "Four Strong Winds". I can't find it anywhere on all the footage for the 1988 Opening Ceremonies.
haha i agree i am from calgary but i wasnt around to see the olympics but i think that was pretty good for 1988. its really too bad they dont use the ski jump in canada olympic park anymore...if you've never seen it then search it on google images.
No, After this amazing olympics so many rules and regulations we're put in place, AND IT'S NOT THE FANTASTIC 80's ANYMORE! it would not be the same, besides we're in so much debt it would kill us.
i am from calgary, and canada Sort of has free healthcare. At least when I got sick 4 years ago and had to be hospitalized for 6 weeks in intensive care I didn't pay any money...I say sort of because we pay higher taxes to cover it....but from the way you would look at it,,,yes,,,it is like having free health care...When I am sick I just go to a doctor I choose....No payments involved. and remember that canada only has a population of 14 million. much less people to give healthcare to.
I think it is about time Canada has to change its selection rules. Maybe it is time to give more people chances. Have you seen Team USA's gymnasts (mens division)? I just hope Canadian sports committee do something about this rather than hearing lots of 'excuses' during the Olympics for being a "laggard".
Do not expect too much at the Vancouver 2010, you may get disappointed just like what we are seeing with the medal drought in the Canadian contigents in Beijing Olympics. Canada is the only Olympic host country that has never won any gold medal both in Calgary and Montreal.
We missed the opening ceremonies on TV but this video shows that it looked to be a really fun and exciting ceremony. Sadly, the closing ceremony, in our opinion, was the worst one we had ever seen. It had way too much rock and roll music. That kind of music seems out of place at the Olympics.
well....it seemed to be a bitter dispute that ended the 2026 bid for YYC www.calgary.ca/csps/recreation/calgary-2026-olympic-bid/olympics-bid-2026.html
Vacoc wishes there Olympics there were as good as Calgary's. We did not have to hire people to work them, we did not have protests, or spend millions to make sure poeple were safe. Be proud Calgary you did a bang up job and people that want to bash it vs Vancover have no clue what a real party is.
the Calgary Olympic song is a great song unlike the utterly unimpressive and forgettable Vancouver song (but the Vancouver opening ceremony was awesome - at after the athletes came in)
Ah no he's not joking because I think that any 10 year old could put off what was done in Vancouver. The Calgary games were also far more exciting as well. At least they have athletes with personality. After watching the figure skating last night I am reminded of why I stopped watching it when Elivs retired. Not one of them have any personality at all--dull and boring like robots to watch--certainly not like Browning, Orser, Boitano, Stojko, Plushenko etc.
I have been living in clagary for my whole life, and we really dont have any natives here, By the way this was the greatest olympics EVER and if you we're a REAL calgarian who has been here since the begining you would show more respect for our olympics.
Even more insulting to aboriginal Albertans: Daniel Tlen, the token aboriginal they hired to sing the national anthem in Southern Tutchone is from the Yukon.
