6 Things You Didn't Know About the Olympics Opening Ceremony

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account is made with every chess opening ceremony ofthe Olympic Games , like that timeHitler presided over the event(boo ! ) , that one whereMuhammad Ali light the flame(yay ! ) , and that bit whereJames Bond chute into a stadium with the Queen of England(boo - yay ! ) . Olympics opening ceremonies are getting more and more ornate , and you could be sure to expect a prodigious spectacle when the Games of the XXXI Olympiad kick off tonight from Rio de Janeiro . While you ’re determine the endless Parade of Nations , check out these eight cool , eldritch , and impressive entertainment factoids relating to opening ceremonies that not even Bob Costas could make boring .

The opening ceremony is two awards shy of an EGOT

The Olympics earned the " G " part ofthe awards - time of year acronymwhen farseeing - fourth dimension Spielberg collaborator John Williams nabbed a Grammy for composing the prescribed music of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics Games . Director Danny Boyle and two co - producers picked up the " E " by winning a primetime Emmy forthe London 2012 Olympic Games scuttle ceremony . Quick , somebody descend up with a musical base on the curtain raising ceremony that wins a Tony and gets conform into a movie that wins an Oscar !

Doctor Whonearly wrote itself into the 2012 ceremony

In the 2006Doctor Whoepisode " Fear Her , " the Doctor ( who was play at that prison term by David Tennant ) finds himself carrying the Olympian woolly mullein into the bowl at the 2012 London Games . ( London had been announce as the 2012 fix in 2005 . ) Six years afterward , the originative squad behind the real 2012 Opening Ceremony drafted upa montagethat featured the series ' composition song and all 11 actors who ’d play Doctor Who , but it was cut for clip . Bummer!Doctor Whofans did get to see then - DoctorMatt Smithcarrying the torch in the day ahead of the Games , as well as the TARDIS sound being play over Queen ’s " Bohemian Rhapsody . "

Doves had to die to bring you the 1988 Olympics

In whatTimemagazine callsthe bad orifice ceremony ever , viewers watched a flock of dove get burned alive when the ritually - released Bronx cheer took roost on the Olympics cauldron rather than beat their wings , fly away and not get burned to a crisp on internal television . Columba would never be used in the ceremony again , which is believably ripe , because their droppings reportedly used to make for some bad vibes in the stadium . And animals are still used at the hatchway observance from time to time ; for instance , 12 horses , three cows , two goats , 10 chickens , 10 ducks , nine zany , 70 sheep , and three sheepdogsmade an appearanceat the London 2012 Summer Games .

Thanks to Nipplegate, even fake nudity got banned in 2004

In homage to their ascendant who bulge this whole Olympics thing and competed in the buff , the 2004 Summer Olympics , held in Athens , featured performing artist preen up as they did in ancient clock time – substance , sans clothing . But the actors were merely wearing nude outfits . While many countries chose to publicise the artistic observance without editing it for television set , NBC did not go there . Held just six months afterNipplegateand timorous of possible FCC fines , NBC deem it necessary to crop out and pixelate the " nakedness " for the U.S. telecast .

EDM was introduced at the 1964 ceremony in Japan

Long before Tiësto was spinning at the raved - up 2004 opening observance , the Japanese brought electronic music to the 1964 Tokyo Games , with an orchestra execute an electronic score using IBM computers . Does Zac Ephron know about this ?

We were promised jet packs in 1984

At this point , we ’ve given up hold back for honey oil inner circle to be made useable to us . We ’ll have to make do with watching Bill Suitor fly through the Los Angeles melodic line in what remains the single most eye - pour down moment in Olympics chess opening ceremony history .