In the Past Decades the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games Has Developed Into a Cultural Spec
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n the past decades the opening ceremony of the a while a watery sun even shone through "an angry IOlympic Games has developed into a cultural spec- Ruysdael sky". tacle lasting for many hours. When Amsterdam was According to calculations the brand-new elected to host the Games almost eighty years ago, Olympic Stadium could hold 40.000 spectators, but matters were quite different. The opening ceremony as it turned out, the counter stopped at 31,000; a on 28 July 1928 was for the most part restrained. considerable disappointment. Not a mouse could There was a 'dedication speech' of over twenty min- be fitted in at the opening. Ticket prices ranged utes. A choir of 1200 'chanteurs' sang the hymn Wilt from f. 7,50 guilders (€ 3.50) for the grandstand to heden nu treden and ten verses of Hollands Vlag, je 1,25 guilders (€ 0.60) for standing room. Since the bent mijn glorie. Angry with the Olympic mandarins, photo rights had been leased, spectators were not Queen WILHELMINA would not open the Games, so allowed to take their own pictures. Even the small- Prince HENDRIK opened them in her name. est camera had to be handed in. A police inspector The month of July had been advertising summer searched the stands with binoculars for offenders brilliantly in 1928. For weeks nobody had needed to who were then set on by policemen. bother about an umbrella. "It had been too good, ac- Hans Meerum TERWOGT, the leading Dutch tually nothing like Holland, such weather, so steady and sportswriter of his time, was watching the many dependable. We had become unused to rain", accord- celebrities in the grandstand boxes before the start ing to a newspaper report. But in the night before of the ceremony: and on the morning of the day the Games were to "Most of them were dressed in black official at- be opened in Amsterdam, the rain announced itself. tire, crowned by the shine of their top hats, or in With a vengeance. Leo LAUER, the flamboyant editor- colourful uniforms, cocked hats and helmets, gold in-chief of the weekly Sport in Beeld, put it into words epaulettes and white braiding, luxuriant plumes in a colourful way: "In bucketfuls, as if the clouds were and clinking sabres. In between all those solemn torn asunder, the rain poured from an ashen sky, clatter- gentlemen fortunately also the more cheerful and ing and spattering down. The water poured through the fragile spectacle of the ladies, with all the flam- gutters along the tarmac of the streets in waves. It seemed boyance of their graceful and newly-fashionable as if all Gods on Mount Olympus were enraged". costume, dominated by tightly-fitting hats and Amsterdam presented a cheerless prospect on short skirts." the morning of 28 July, its countless flags stuck to Just before two o'clock Prince HENDRIK, who was to their masts. Would the opening of the Games turn open the Games officially, arrived in a state coach, into a dreary Dutch affair? Desperation took hold pulled by four horses. The prince, clad in admi- of the organizers. But lo and behold, towards noon ral's uniform, was led to his seat by members of the weather suddenly cleared. And it was to re- the Netherlands Olympic Committee (NOC) and the main dry during the entire ceremony. Every once in International Olympic Committee (IOC). The Royal JOURNAL OF OLYMPIC HISTORY 15(MARCH 2007)NUMBER 1 27 The Czech Team at the Opening Ceremony 1928 (Private Archives R. Paauw) Military Band and the Royal Navy Regimental Band, Leo LAUER was not favourably impressed with conducted by Lieutenant Walther BOER, performed what he was shown. the Wilhelmus. It was sung by 1200 'chanteurs', "Was this really the parade of human power and belonging to choirs from Amsterdam, Breda, beauty? How disappointing those figures are on close Den Bosch, The Hague, Haarlem and Maastricht, inspection. Only rarely do we see proper marching. conducted by Fred ROESKE. It brought a lump to With most of them it is strolling, no more". Meerum TERWOGT'S throat: Some magazines covered the parade in a rather cu- "Rarely has our beautiful old Wilhelmus sounded rious way, like Henrik SCHOLTE in Revue der Sporten, so strongly and so warmly, so intensely and so actually the leading sports periodical of the time: uplifting as this afternoon. The crowd stood as "The Belgians wore carnival tights, huge Chileans one, silently and devoutly, a shiver of emotion passed by with monkey faces, bursting into three crossing their backs from time to time. The civil- cheers very unexpectedly. Denmark showed up ians bareheaded, the military rigidly at attention, unkempt, looking like a travel club spending the the women moved to tears with lips quivering". kitty, and Austria also looked dreary and untidy. The gates of the Marathon Stand opened and to the The Turks wore half-moon hats on their heads, pos- strains of Einzug der Gladiatoren the parade of the sibly covering full-moon skulls. Spain, Portugal, countries began. For the first time in Olympic his- Mexico, the Phillippines: various kinds of choco- tory Greece opened the parade, a tradition which is late in colourful wrappings. The Egyptians were maintained until the present day. Forty-seven coun- notable for their flat feet, the Germans for their tries had entered the Games, fourty-six paraded in waiters' outfits, Japan first sent in a complete fu- front of Prince HENDRIK. The French team was ab- neral procession with top hats and umbrellas and sent, which caused considerable commotion. One next a coquettish little plague of locusts. Thus one day before the Games began, the French wished to country following another [...]". visit the stadium. An attendant forbade this. An argu- But not everyone made a mess of it. Meerum ment was followed by a fight in which the attendant TERWOGT, normally a rather critically inclined gen- had hit a high French official in the face. The French tleman, loved everything he saw. He waxed lyrical demanded (and received) an apology from the NOC over Lithuania, for they had a female flag bearer, and also requested disciplinary action against the "a maiden of solid build, a magnificent specimen of her man. But on the day of the opening they happened nation's type, leading the way in a green gown, tightly upon the attendant in question who was controlling clinging to the gracefulness of her shapely lines". the gate. This proved too much for the French and The Netherlands, consisting of a very large they turned on their heels. They very nearly returned group, concluded the parade. Dressed in navy to their own country. The Dutch ambassador in Paris jackets trimmed in white, white trousers/skirts, and the French ambassador in Amsterdam had to in- white shirts, straw hats with orange ribbons, white tervene in order to hush up the argument. France did shoes and white socks. (The price for the entire participate in the competitions. outfit amounted to 25 guilders, € 11.50). The NOC 28 JOURNAL OF OLYMPIC HISTORY 15(MARCH 2007)NUMBER 1 Harry Dénis takes the Olympic oath (Private Archives R. Paauw) took care of the costs for the jacket and hat; the treden" from VALERIUS' Gedenckclancken. It became participants had to pay for the rest themselves). To an ear-splitting cacophony LAUER'S satisfaction "Holland kept up a brisk pace and After another speech, this time by the President cut a spirited figure". of the NOC, Baron A. SCHIMMELPENNINCK van der The theologist J.Th. de VISSER, the former OYE, it was Prince HENDRIK'S turn to officially open Minister of Education, next spoke "words of dedica- the Games (in the French language). Why did the tion". He certainly showed courage, standing there. prince do this in the first place? With a single ex- In 1925, still a minister, he had wanted to grant the ception heads of state had opened the Games since NOC a subsidy of a million guilders for the organi- 1896. Queen WILHELMINA, however, had refused to zation of the Games. Protestants (among whom a do so. She had fallen out with the Olympic cardi- large part of his own party, the CHU) and Catholics nals because they had failed to ask her in 1927 (!) had stepped in: no support for heathen stuff. ("In if the opening date was convenient to her. Did she these Games not the Creator is worshipped but the crea- have anything else to do on this day? No, but that tion. It is to be feared that God will not hold back at this was not the issue. evil"). De VISSER had experienced enough trouble In July the queen had gone on holiday to in his own circle and had not returned as a minister Norway incognito. Until the last minute attempts after the elections. With this dedication speech he were made to change her mind. Telegrams went to once again did something his co-religionists were and fro. Minister Beelaerts van BLOKLAND ate loads not thrilled with. De VISSER, who spoke for no less of humble pie to try and win her over. Well, all- than twenty minutes, still firmly believed in the right, WILHELMINA would open the Games, but not Olympic principles: on the 28th; people would just have to wait until "The battle will be determined by incorruptible hon- she got back... esty and good faith. The delicacy of the game will The Telegraaf called it a disaster: "It is a splendid banish all coarseness. And every combatant will be tradition which always had the House of Orange share convinced that the victor will only be endowed with in the great moments in the life of their people.