| English: Olympic Anthem | |
|---|---|
| Official anthem of | Olympic Games |
| Also known as | Greek: Ολυμπιακός Ύμνος French: Hymne Olympique |
| Lyrics | Kostis Palamas |
| Music | Spyridon Samaras, 1896 |
| Adopted | 1958 |
|
The Olympic Hymn (Greek: Ολυμπιακός Ύμνος, Olympiakós Ýmnos), also known informally as the Olympic Anthem, is a choral cantata by opera composer Spyridon Samaras, on lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas.
Both poet and composer were the choice of Demetrius Vikelas, a great Greek Pro-European and the first President of the International Olympic Committee.
The anthem was performed for the first time for the ceremony of opening of the first edition at the 1896 Athens Olympic Games. 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. This happened up to the edition at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
The Anthem by Samaras and Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem by the International Olympic Committee in 1958 at the 55th Session of the IOC in Tokyo. Since 1960, it has been used at the Opening Ceremonies of each Olympic Games.[1]
The anthem has been recorded and performed in many different languages, usually as a result of the hosting of either form of the Games in various countries. The IOC requires that the anthem be performed in either English or Greek.[2]
At the Montreal Olympics in 1976, the Olympic Anthem was sung by a men's choir named Orpheus. The anthem was sung in Greek.
For the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the hymn was recorded and performed in Greek by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Sydney with the Sydney Symphony during the opening ceremony, in recognition of the substantial Greek population of Australia. In addition to its appearance at Athens 2004, the decision was also made to use a Greek arrangement at the 1988 Winter Olympics at Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona opening ceremony Alfredo Kraus sang the first two stanzas in Catalan and the rest of the hymn in Spanish.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canadian opera singer Measha Brueggergosman sang the hymn in a mix of English and French during the opening ceremony, to reflect Canada's official languages,[2][3] which are also the official languages of the Olympic movement. Canadian opera singer Ben Heppner did the same during the closing ceremony. Heppner sang the same stanzas that Brueggergosman sang in English in English and French in French.[3][4]
The hymn was played in Moscow in 2001 prior to the announcement of the election of Jacques Rogge as IOC President. On many occasions the hymn has also featured before the announcement of the winning Olympic bid. One such example was in 2003 before Rogge announced Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada as the city that would host the 2010 Winter Olympics, though on that occasion only the introduction was used. However, a three-person choir performed the song in its entirety in 2005 in Singapore where London won the bid to host the games in 2012. The hymn was played in Copenhagen before the official announcement of Rio de Janeiro as 2016 host city.
| Original Greek | Transliterated into Latin alphabet |
|---|---|
|
|
| English translation (literal) | English translation (free) |
|
|
| English sung version | |
|
|
| Note: This version, although often performed at opening/closing ceremonies, appears to enjoy far less exposure than the original. Hence its words may be determined only by listening to performances; correspondents will most probably disagree on the correct form. An alternate ending to the lyrics (used at the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics) was, "Bestow on us the wondrous prize of honor, truth and love". | |
|
|||||
|
|
Wikis
Quiz
Map
Search
