"An era can be said to end when its basic illusions are exhausted." - Arthur Miller

Sunday, August 21, 2016

NBC Olympics Opening Intro and Closing Ceremony Montages From The Past

The 2016 Rio Olympic Games have come to a close. I love watching the Olympics and this year's games were no different. The joy of victory and the pride to compete was on full display.

In the United States, the Olympics Games television rights are owned by NBC (starting in 1988 for Summer Games, 2002 for Winter Games), CBS (1990s Winter Games) and ABC (1980s Winter Games). For NBC, their many hours of coverage always begins with a poetic introduction that shows off the host country and ends with their Olympics Ceremony credit montage that summarizes the games in spectacular fashion and while it has the expected focus on the US, it doesn't remain entirely there. As have done in previous Olympics here are the ones I could find. I have also added closing credits from 1980s games which are not that good.

I tried to identify the music where possible besides NBC's traditional use of John Williams's "Olympic Fanfare and Theme", Leo Arnaud's "Bugler’s Dream" and Randy Edelman's "Theme from The Adventures of Brisco County Jr". Some of the videos are crap quality since NBC and the Olympic Committee isn't willing to post their versions online. If you find better copies, missing copies, or identify music gaps, please post in the comments.

As always thank you to the Olympians for bringing two weeks of joy, peace and the competitive spirit. Looking forward to the next Olympics.

Olympic Closing Credit Montages