GAMES OF THE XXI OLYMPIAD, THE {1976 MONTREAL OLYMPICS} {1976/07/17}, PART 3: OPENING CEREMONY (TV)
Summary
This program presents a portion of coverage of the 1976 Summer Games of the XXI Olympiad from Montreal. Highlights of this portion include coverage of the Opening Ceremony, taking place on July 17th.
Anchor sports commentator Jim McKay presides throughout this portion and reports from the Olympic Stadium.
The Opening Ceremony continues as a group of Bavarian dancers enters and performs a polka, after which the mayor of Munich, Georg Kronawitter, presents the Antwerp flag to the mayor of Montreal, Jean Drapeau.
Canadians dancers perform a clothiers dance and are then joined by the Bavarian dancers for a piece set to "Vive La Compagnie," signaling harmony between the nations. Three ceremonial cannons are fired from Olympic Park, and eighty pigeons are released, representing the eightieth anniversary of the modern Olympic Games.
The Olympic Flame is brought into the stadium, carried for the first time by two people: teenage Canadian athletes Steve Prefontaine and Sandra Henderson. They run a lap around the stadium and light the torch as the choir performs the Olympic Cantata, written by Louis Chantigny and Victor Vogel, adapted from the "Rhapsodie Romantique" by Canadian composter André Mathieu.
A group of 1,164 young dancers and gymnasts from various countries perform an elaborate routine with flags and ribbons in the five colors of the Olympic rings.
Sports commentator Curt Gowdy talks with athlete Bill Russell about the rising popularity of basketball.
Canadian weightlifter Pierre Saint-Jean takes the stage and recites the Athletes' Oath in both French and English, and judge Maurice Forget recites the Judges' Oath, after which "O Canada" is again played.
Sports commentators Keith Jackson and Donna de Varona discuss the women's swimming team, on which de Varona previously competed, also briefly talking to sports commentator Mark Spitz about the experience of observing rather than participating. Spitz reflects on having competed on the men's swimming team in the 1968 and 1972 Summer Olympics. All of the athletes then proceed out of the stadium. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: July 17, 1976 4:30 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:41:57
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:01289
- GENRE: Sports
- SUBJECT HEADING: Olympic Games, 1976, Summer, Montreal; Olympics; Sports; Opening Ceremony; U.S. Olympic Archive, presented by Gordon Crawford, The
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV, 1976
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Jim McKay … Anchor Sports Commentator
- Curt Gowdy … Sports Commentator
- Bill Russell … Sports Commentator
- Keith Jackson … Sports Commentator
- Donna de Varona … Sports Commentator
- Mark Spitz … Sports Commentator
- Georg Kronawitter … Guest
- Jean Drapeau … Guest
- Steve Prefontaine … Athlete
- Sandra Henderson … Athlete
- Pierre Saint-Jean … Guest
- Maurice Forget … Guest
- Louis Chantigny
- Victor Vogel
- Andre Mathieu