In 1928 Amsterdam Games for the first time, the parade of nations started with Greece, which holds the origins of the Olympics, and ended with the host country, a tradition which continues today
India began her Olympic odyssey for the first time at the Antwerp Olympic in 1920, and has participated in every Summer Games since then. Purma Bannerjee was elected as the first Flag bearer for India.
In 1997, at a banquet hosted by the US Olympic Committee, a reporter was interviewing Harry Prieste who had won a bronze medal in platform diving as a member of the 1920 US Olympic team. The reporter mentioned that the IOC had not been able to find out what had happened to the original Olympic flag. "I can help you with that," Prieste, a World War I veteran said, "It's in my suitcase." At the end of the Antwerp Olympics, he stole the Flag and kept it with him as a souvenir. For 77 years the flag was stored away in the bottom of his suitcase. The flag was returned to the IOC by Prieste, by then 103 years old, in a special ceremony held at the 2000 Games in Sydney. The original Antwerp Flag is now on display at the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland.
A t-shirt depicting a rioter running away with an Olympic ring on sale in London. The artist has responded to the Games with a cheeky mix of celebration, skepticism and satire.
The Olympic Rings
The symbol's popularity and widespread use began during the lead-up to the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Carl Diem, president of the Organizing Committee of the 1936 Summer Olympics, wanted to hold a torchbearers' ceremony in the stadium at Delphi, site of the famous oracle, where the Pythian Games were also held. For this reason he ordered construction of a milestone with the Olympic rings carved in the sides, and that a torchbearer should carry the flame along with an escort of three others from there to Berlin. The ceremony was celebrated but the stone was never removed. Later, two British authors Lynn and Gray Poole when visiting Delphi in the late 1950s saw the stone and reported in their "History of the Ancient Games" that the Olympic rings design came from ancient Greece. This has become known as "Carl Diem's Stone". This created a myth that the symbol had an ancient Greek origin.
In the traditional ritual, an actress dressed as a high priestess used a mirror to focus the sun's rays and light the torch at the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in Greece, The stamp issued to commemorate the 80th session of IOC held in Athens in 1978, depicts the documentary photograph of lighting of the Olympic flame in 1964.
An independent and unofficial team consisting of 35 members of the ‘Hanuman Vyayam Prasarak Mandal’ from India’s Amravati also took part to showcase the finest ethnic Indian martial arts from Malkhamb to wrestling in Berlin. They proudly carried a Swadeshi saffron flag at the Berlin Olympic. .
After each Olympic event is completed a medal ceremony is held. Citizens of the host country also act as hosts during the medal ceremonies. They aid the officials who present the medals and act as flag bearers. Strict rules govern the conduct of athletes during the medal ceremony.
At a given Olympic presentation ceremony, the gold, silver and bronze medalists, dressed in official suits or sports wears, shall mount the victory podium, facing the officials' stands, followed by the announcement of their names and those of other winners; the national flag of the gold medalist shall be hoisted at the central flagstaff and the national flags of the silver and bronze medalists shall be hoisted at the flagpoles located to the immediate right and left of the central flagstaff; all the medalists shall be facing the flags when the champion' s national anthem is being played.
Symbolic flag-raising ceremonies, the culmination of the grandeur and solemnity of Olympic medal presentations, always make athletes and spectators full of tears of joy and pride.
During the 2004 Athens Games, the medal winners received a crown of olive branches, which was a direct reference to the Ancient Games, in which the victor's prize was an olive wreath.
North Korea and South Korea, the two countries' teams marched together under the Unification Flag in the opening ceremonies of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens,
The squad walked off and could only be persuaded to return when the teams were announced again with each player's face displayed next to the North Korean flag.
To be continued......
I have for acknowledgement a very interesting letter from Myles Garcia as appended below;
Dear Mr. Chakrabarti: