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

Tuesday, August 10, 2021

NBC Olympics Opening Intro and Closing Ceremony Montages (Tokyo 2021 Edition)

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics have come to a close. Despite COVID taking away the crowds, it was still an amazing Summer Olympics. Tokyo shined brightly and the athletes even brighter. So my little tradition continues. Or at least try to as yet to find the NBC closing credits. There is also a USA/NBCSN version too. Neither is currently available online.  Having seen other countries' network montages, NBC remains the gold standard.  Any case enjoy the past ones below. If you find this year's montages or replacements for ones below that no longer work, please email me link (top right) or post it in the comments.

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.

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