Olympic Hymn - WikiHQ

The Olympic Hymn (, ), also known as the Olympic Anthem, is a choral cantata by opera composer Spyridon Samaras (1861–1917), with Demotic Greek lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas. Both poet and composer were the choice of the Greek Demetrius Vikelas, who was the first President of the International Olympic Committee.

History

The anthem was performed for the first time for the ceremony of opening of the first edition at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. In the following years, every hosting nation commissioned to various musicians the composition of a specific Olympic hymn for their own edition of the games.

The anthem by Samaras and Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem by the International Olympic Committee in 1958 at the 54th Session of the IOC in Tokyo, Japan. The anthem was performed in English at the 1960 Winter Olympics in Squaw Valley and since then it has been played at each Olympic Games: during the opening ceremony when the Olympic flag is hoisted, and during the closing ceremony when the Olympic flag is lowered. The hymn was also sung during the Olympic flame lighting ceremony before the national anthems were sung.

The Olympic Hymn was also used, along with the Olympic flag, to represent the Unified Team of former Soviet states at the 1992 Winter Olympics and the 1992 Summer Olympics.

Lyrics

Greek original

{|class="wikitable"

!Greek script

!Latin script

!IPA transcription

!Literal translation

List of performances at the Olympics

Before 2016, the anthem had been recorded and performed in many different languages, usually as a result of the hosting of either form of the Games in various countries. However, in the 2008 and 2022 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies, in Beijing, China, Greek was sung instead of the host country's official language, Mandarin. Also in the 2016 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, English was sung instead of host country's official language, Brazilian Portuguese. Since 2018, the IOC requires that the anthem be performed in either English, Greek or instrumentally (although this is optional depending on the organizer of an Olympics).

{|class=wikitable

!Olympics!!City!!Language performed!!Notes

|1896 Summer||Athens, ||Greek|| The anthem was performed for the first time at the opening ceremony.

|1960 Winter|| Squaw Valley, || English || This was the first time that the Olympic Hymn was performed since the Athens 1896 games.

|1960 Summer|| Rome, || Italian ||

|1964 Winter|| Innsbruck, || German ||

|1964 Summer|| Tokyo, || Japanese || The anthem was sung in Japanese.

|1968 Winter|| Grenoble, || French ||

|1968 Summer|| Mexico City, || Spanish ||

|1972 Winter|| Sapporo, || Japanese ||

|1972 Summer|| Munich, || Instrumental || An instrumental arrangement was used during the opening and closing ceremonies.

|1976 Winter|| Innsbruck, || Greek (opening) Instrumental (closing) || In the opening ceremony, the anthem was sung in Greek. In the closing ceremony, an instrumental arrangement was used. In both cases, instead of the third verse, the first verse was performed once again.

|1976 Summer|| Montreal, || Greek || The anthem was sung in Greek.

|1980 Winter|| Lake Placid, || English ||

|1980 Summer|| Moscow, || Russian (opening) Greek (closing) || The anthem was sung in Russian at the opening ceremony then in Greek at the closing ceremony. The anthem was performed by the Red Army Choir and Bolshoi Theater Chorus.

|1984 Winter|| Sarajevo, || Serbo-Croatian ||

|1984 Summer|| Los Angeles, || English ||

|1988 Winter|| Calgary, || Greek || The anthem was sung in Greek.

|1988 Summer|| Seoul, || Korean ||The anthem was performed in Korean.

|1992 Winter|| Albertville, || Instrumental || The anthem was performed instrumentally.

|1992 Summer|| Barcelona, || Catalan, Spanish, and French (opening) Spanish and English (closing) || At the opening ceremony, Alfredo Kraus sang the anthem's first two stanzas in Catalan and the rest of the anthem in Spanish and French. At the closing ceremony, Plácido Domingo sang it in both Spanish and English lyrics.

|1994 Winter|| Lillehammer, || Norwegian || Sung by Sissel Kyrkjebø with the children's choir.

|1996 Summer|| Atlanta, || English || Performed at the Opening Ceremony by the 300 voices of the Centennial Olympic Choir with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and at the Closing Ceremony by Jennifer Larmore and the Morehouse College Glee Club with the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra.

|1998 Winter|| Nagano, || Japanese || Performed by the Nagano Festival Orchestra and sung by the Nagano City Children's Chorus Group in Japanese.

|2000 Summer|| Sydney, || Greek (opening)

English (closing)

| These were the first Olympics in which the anthem was conducted in both languages the IOC require it be performed in.

|2020 Youth|| Lausanne, || English and French (opening) Instrumental (closing) || A bilingual version was sung at the opening ceremony by the children's choir "Les Petits Chanteurs de Lausanne". These were the second Olympics (first Youth Olympics) that the anthem was performed in both of its official languages.

|2020 Summer|| Tokyo, || English || Sung in English at the opening ceremony by both the students of Fukushima Koriyama and Toshimagaoka Girls' high schools and by Tomotaka Okamoto at the closing ceremony.

|2022 Winter|| Beijing, || Greek || The anthem was sung in Greek by 40 children from Malanhua'er Children's Choir from Hebei Province.

|2024 Youth|| Gangwon, || English|| Performed by the Gangneung Junior Choir at the opening and closing ceremony, with 5 alumni of the original choir at the closing ceremony.

|2024 Summer|| Paris, || Greek (opening) English (closing) ||The second Summer Olympics in which the anthem was conducted in both languages the IOC require it be performed in. Performed in Greek by the Radio France Choir and the Maîtrise de Radio France at the opening ceremony, and in English by the Maîtrise de Fontainebleau at the closing ceremony.

|2026 Winter|| Milan–Cortina d'Ampezzo, || English (opening) Greek (closing) || The second Winter Olympics in which the anthem was performed in both of the languages the IOC requires it be performed in.

|2026 Youth|| Dakar, || ||

|2028 Youth|| Dolomites–Valtellina, || ||

|2028 Summer|| Los Angeles, || ||

|2030 Winter|| French Alps, ||

|2032 Summer|| Brisbane, || ||

|2034 Winter|| Utah, || ||

Notes

References

External links

The original score of the Olympic Hymn, transcribed at Wikisource
Philip Barker. The Anthem – Olympism's Oldest Symbol
English lyrics
A collection of recordings of the Olympic Hymn in various languages