Opening Ceremony blunders
There's a reason you don’t see many white doves flying during the Opening Ceremony. During 1988 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, a group of ceremonial doves were released and flew to the nearby cauldron. Moments later as the flame was ignited, the world watched in horror as some of the birds burned alive.
Nine-year-old Lin Miaoke (right) garnered world attention for singing ‘Ode to the Motherland’ at the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony. She got more attention when it was discovered she lip-synched the song. 7-year-old Yang Peiyi (left) who was the true chanteuse was deemed ‘not suitable’ because of her looks. (AP Photo/Zhou Liang)
The Sochi Opening Ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games began so spectacularly, with a young child being lifted into the air amid nine gargantuan floating ships. But it didn’t take long for something to go wrong. As a fog-wreathed chorus dressed in traditional Russian costumes sang, five snowflakes rose gracefully above the stadium floor. Only four out of the five snowflakes transformed into circles to form the Olympic rings.
Torch Bearer Cathy Freeman made a dramatic entrance for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. The sprinter lit a ring of fire in a pool and waited for a saucer-like contraption to rise above her. But it didn’t. For four agonizing minutes, she smiled and waited. A computer glitch was finally fixed and the flame flew up to meet the cauldron. (Ben EltersGetty Images)
President George Bush made a faux pas at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. Bush departed from the Olympic charter by saying ‘On behalf of a proud, determined and grateful nation’ instead of the traditional formula, "I declare open the Games of Salt Lake City." (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
President Bush also got flack for opening the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games standing among the US athletes. Previous heads of state opened the games from an official box. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
A lopsided Olympic flame was lit during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. An arm that was supposed to rise up a meet the other three malfunctioned, leaving one torchbearer with nothing to do. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
During the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, children appeared in costume of the 56 ethnic groups of modern China. Officials later admitted that some of the children did not belong to the ethnic minorities their costumes indicated, but were majority ‘Han’ Chinese. (Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)
Host nation China put on a spectacular fireworks display over the National Stadium for the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony. Too bad it wasn’t all real. Because it was decided it was too dangerous to fly a helicopter to film to spectacle, some of the pyrotechnics were computer generated for Chinese television. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
The pageantry, the spectacle, and the snafus of past Opening Ceremonies. Host nations spend millions of dollars and plan for years but something always seems to go awry.
With all of Rio’s issues leading up to the Olympics, it seems likely that there might be a few mishaps during the Opening Ceremony.
Here are nine memorable Opening Ceremony mishaps.
