Part 2 - LA84 Foundation

13. Opening, Closing and
Victory Ceremonies
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72
13.5
Victory Ceremonies
13.5.1
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Overview
The Olympic Charter Article 64 and its
auxiliary rules stipulate that the athletes
winning the first, second and third
places will be awarded gold, silver and
bronze medals, respectively, and all
those taking the first to the eighth
places will be presented citations. At
the same time, the charter provides
that all athletes and delegates officially
taking part in the Games will be
presented the participation diplomas
and medals.
Medals should be presented to the
winners either by the IOC president or
his representative, or by the IF president
or his representative. The national
flags of the countries to which the winners
belong have to be raised, and
their national anthems played.
The SLOOC set the prime emphasis
regarding the victory ceremonies on
the smooth operation with the understanding
that they are important rites
which officially confirm the result of
the games. The SLOOC made every
effort to make the ceremonies a happy
occasion to the winners as they were
completely exposed to all spectators
and the mass media.
Recognizing the need to give the
ceremonies a dramatic effect, the
SLOOC decided to direct its efforts to
endowing a certain uniformity to the
movements, costumes and the facial
expressions of the operation personnel
as well as the music, while emphasizing
the traditional culture of the host
country.
The Organizing Committee also made
it a rule to confirm the national flags
and anthems with the countries concerned
before using them in the victory
ceremonies. Uniform scores were
used at all venues.
National anthems were played with
recorded tapes at indoor venues, while
live music was played by bands at outdoor
venues to increase the festive
mood. All of the national flags, medals,
diplomas, costumes and bouquets
were produced in the best possible
quality.
13.5.2
Formation of Victory Ceremony
Teams
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Organization of the operation
center
The SLOOC started recruiting the
operation personnel for the victory
ceremonies in May 1987. In August,
the same year, it worked out a detailed
plan for operation and in September
began to execute the plan.
The Victory Ceremonies Operation
Center, the commanding office for the
ceremonies, was established as an
independent body under the Games
Coordinator. The center had one director,
two deputy directors and eight division
chiefs. Under each division chief
were 19 officials. A dozen victory
ceremonies teams and two musical
teams were also formed to take up the
actual operation of the ceremonies.
Mobile awarding teams
For the victory ceremonies at different
venues of final competitions, a dozen
mobile awarding teams consisting of
358 personnel were formed. Each
team had the leader, VIP and winners'
guides, medal bearers, national flag
raisers, and fanfare players, and sometimes
the members were decreased or
increased in proportion to the events
and the number of winners.
For instance, a 27-member awarding
team was operated for an event which
had one gold, one silver and one
bronze medalists. The 27 members
were one leader, one VIP guide, three
winners' guides, six medal bearers,
seven flag raisers, six fanfare players,
two materials keepers and one
introducing personnel. When there
were two bronze medalists, two more
flag raisers were added to the awarding
team. When the winner was a group of
two to 20 persons, three winners'
guides were posted and between six
and 12 medal bearers and bouquet
carriers were operated. In other words,
the mobile awarding team had 27 personnel
at the minimum and 39 personnel
at the maximum.
Manpower recruitment and
education
The victory ceremonies operation personnel
comprised administration staff
at the headquarters including registrars,
beauticians, and those handling the
national flags, and the ceremonies
personnel such as the mobile awarding
teams and music bands.
The beauticians were secured with the
help of the Pacific Beauty Academy.
They were responsible for the hairstyling
and makeup of the female
operation personnel. The registrars
were recruited from among the
administrative soldiers and underwent
an education course before being
posted. Those handling the national
flags were selected from the administrative
soldiers and volunteers.
The 138 victory ceremonies personnel
including VIP and winners' guides and
medal bearers were selected, educated
and screened through several phases
of test, because they would represent
Korea. The victory ceremonies would
be entirely open to the spectators both
at the stadium and around the world
as they were telecast worldwide on
some 270 occasions totalling more
than 35 hours. Particular concern was
given to selecting and training the
women personnel because they would
represent the beauty of the Korean
women to the outside world.
The 78 medal bearers were selected
from eight high schools and women's
colleges. Each school submitted the
list of candidates whose number doubled
the estimated requirement. For
the recruitment of 60 guides, the
SLOOC received applications from
those who had done the same job during
the 1986 Asian Games and those
who had been selected in the Friendship
Ambassadors Contest. For the
final selection of the guides and medal
bearers, the SLOOC formed a screening
panel which examined the appearances,
facial expressions, photogenic
beauty, balance, attendance rates and
command of foreign languages of the
candidates.
The SLOOC provided general education
and manners and beauty lessons to
the 138 personnel. Special emphasis
was given to arming the ceremonies
personnel with the right manners; they
undertook eight courses of theoretical
classes, walking lessons and on-thespot
practices.
Victory ceremonies for each sport
were exercised on three occasions
between May and September of 1988
after the formation of the mobile
awarding teams was finished. At least
three rehearsals of the victory ceremonies
were planned for each sport.
Each rehearsal comprised individual
and team practices. All members of
the awarding teams were equipped
with the complete knowledge of conduct
and learned the way to add
beauty to the victory ceremonies.