What is the most memorable Olympic opening ceremony moment?
Arrows, jet packs, cauldrons that behaved and one that did not. Every couple of years a host city tries to top the last.
1Muhammad Ali lights the cauldron
Ali, his hands shaking from Parkinson's, lit the flame at Atlanta 1996 in front of a stadium that had not known who the final torchbearer would be.
2The archer's flaming arrow
Antonio Rebollo shot a lit arrow toward the cauldron to open Barcelona 1992.
3Beijing 2008's 2,008 drummers
Zhang Yimou opened the Beijing Games with 2,008 synchronised fou drummers.
4Cathy Freeman lights the water
Freeman stood in a ring of water as the cauldron rose around her at Sydney 2000.
5The Paris 2024 river parade
Athletes sailed down the Seine in the first opening ceremony held outside a stadium.
6Rio 2016's rainforest pledge
Every athlete planted a seed as part of a ceremony built around climate change.
7The Korean joint march
North and South Korea walked behind one flag at Sydney 2000.
8Yuna Kim lights the flame
The figure skater lit the cauldron at PyeongChang 2018 after skating on a rink built into the stage.
9Vancouver's malfunctioning cauldron
One of the four arms of the indoor cauldron failed to rise at Vancouver 2010.
10The Sochi ring that didn't open
Four of the five snowflakes became Olympic rings at Sochi 2014; the fifth stayed shut.
11Los Angeles 1984's rocket man
A man in a jet pack landed in the Coliseum to open the 1984 Games.
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