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THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CLOSING CEREMONIES
BY THE OLYMPIC GAMES 1896-1936 1
by Peter ESTOR (GER)
In its rule Nr. 69, the Olympic Charter lays down precisely
the procedure of the Olympic Games closing ceremonies with all
their special elements. It is true the protocol still leaves some
room for a few additional presentations but it not only fixes the
elements which imperatively must be included in the ceremonies
but also their order. Only in this way can major variations in
the ceremonies be avoided today. The first official protocol fixing
the rules of the closing ceremonies was drawn up in 1921 and
was written down in the so-called statutes of the IOC. In the
early Olympic Movement, COUBERTIN as well as the members
of the IOC had to deal above all with formal problems. Among
other things it was important to elaborate a unique programme
and to set up conditions for participation in the Olympic Games.
Only when these issues were settled could COUBERTIN start to
carefully approach the members of the IOC with his major concern
which was the ceremonies' artistic presentation, i.e. his wish for
the words, action and music to match. 2 It was due to the ceremonies
that the Games should lose their character as pure sporting event.
In this respect COUBERTIN remarked the following: "...Through
physical exercises the competitor of the ancient world shaped his
body like a sculptor his statue and thereby worshiped divinity.
While doing the same, the modern times' competitor honours his
mother country, his race and flag. Therefore, I think I was ríght
when I trìed rìght from the beginning to renew Olympism by reviving
1. The author has written his diploma-thesis with the same subject at the Deutsche
Sporthochschule Koeln 1996.
2. DIEM, Ein Leben für den Sport, S. 161.
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