Olympic torch relay 

Olympic torch relay is generally intended to highlight the advent of the Olympic Games. Also, it signifies the transmission of the Olympic spirit as well as the unification of mankind. In ancient times, Olympic Flame was enshrined at the Altar of Hera, Olympia. Despite the fact that flame-lighting were also included as part of the proceedings at the 1928 and 1932 Games, it was during the Berlin Olympic Games held in 1936 that Olympic Flame, in the true sense of the word, premiered in the history of Modern Olympics. The torch relay of the Berlin Olympic Games officially began on 21 July 1936, when the ¡°mother¡± flame was kindled at Olympia. Following the subsequent flame handover ceremony, the flame traveled some 3,075 kilometers to arrive in Berlin. In spite of his absence at the Games the next year due to health reasons, Pierre wrote a letter to the torchbearers and told them to take good care of the ¡°flame of the sun¡± which would benefit their lives with enduring warmth and enlightenment.

The constant global expansion of the Olympics also rendered Olympic torch relay an increasingly internationalized public event. During the Barcelona Olympic Games (1992), at the host' s request, a total of 255 guests participated in the torch relay. Among them, there were Barcelona citizens as well as visitors from 50 different countries and regions worldwide, including six Chinese guests. Naturally, this was remembered in the history of the Olympic Movement as an unprecedented, internationally-oriented torch relay experimentation. During the Centenary Olympics held at Atlanta in 1996, the torch relay was accompanied by the launching of a purpose-made Olympic torch into the space, which was later rerun at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and this time the spaceship-borne torch, together with an Olympic Ring flag, roamed the space for ten days.

Opening ceremony

The Olympic Games is recognized as the largest peace-themed gathering in the world. For instance, the Sydney Olympics was participated by over 10,000 athletes, 5,100 officials and 60,000 volunteers from 199 NOCs and it was given a worldwide media coverage by 150,000 journalists. In addition, the Games attracted some 110,000 spectators and an astonishing 3.7 billion TV viewers. It goes without saying that the opening ceremony of such a grand international event needs to be matched by equally brilliant performances. Generally, Olympic opening ceremonies consist of performances, Olympic Flame lighting and oath-taking by athletes and umpires. The idea of staging public performance at Olympic opening ceremony was first proposed by Karl Tim, a close friend of Pierre. In aspiring to achieve sanctuary-like artistic effects, Olympic ceremonies, by and large, strive to rouse the spectators by exuding an imposing atmosphere created via unusual stage manipulations. Two illustrative examples of this are furnished by the opening ceremonies of the Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) Olympic Games where meticulously arranged performances, apart from being a demonstration of the traditional cultures of the hosting countries, extended a warm welcome to all visiting athletes.

As a rule, Olympic opening ceremonies climax with the lighting of the Olympic Flame at the monumental cauldron. In view of its importance, it is only natural that this part of the ceremony has become the most prolific spot for innovation in previous Olympic Games. In this regard, the Los Angeles Olympic Games adopted Olympic-Ring-shaped gas pipelines; the torchbearer of the Tokyo Olympic Games was a 19-year-old university student who was born on the day of atomic bombing in Hiroshima; during the Seoul Olympic Games, a raising platform was employed to lift the flame lighter to the top of the 21-meter-high monumental cauldron; the flame lighting ceremony of the Barcelona Olympic Games impressed all the spectators with its replacement of the conventional torch with an arrow; the Sydney Olympic Games outshone all its predecessors in terms of the originality of the flame lighting design¡ªthe entire world was enchanted at the sight of the Olympic cauldron emerging slowly from a pool of limpid, angelic water. Having endured all the foregone vicissitudes of time, the spirit of the Olympic Flame is firmly rooted, through the hands of Pierre, in the heart of every single athlete and spectator.

Athlete and umpire' s oath-taking is a sign of the declarants' acceptance of the Olympic spirit and, more importantly, by vowing at the opening ceremony, the athletes and umpires undertake to comply with the codes of ethics prescribed under the Olympic Charter. The notion of oath-taking debuted in 1920 at the Antwerp Olympic Games where the Belgian fencer Victor Bourne, on behalf of all the participating athletes, lifted his right hand and took an oath of allegiance to the Olympic spirit in the presence of the Belgian National Flag. Later, the umpire oath-taking was introduced during the 19th Olympic Games held in Mexico.