The Olympic Games: From Ceremony to Show 1 Thomas Alkemeyer & Alfred Richartz* Not much is actually happening: the teams enter, the Games are declared open according to prescribed ceremony. That’s about it. And yet it creates a worldwide effect, enthusiasm and emotion. This fascinaton is hard to explain. Willi Daume President Munich Olympic Games Organizing Com- mittee S port boasts that it can fascinate as can no other cultural spectacle. And, the Olympic Games, considering the fascination of viewers and spectators worldwide, are unmatched among cultural events. The 1988 Seoul Games, for example, were viewed by approximately 800 million people, many of whom had absolutely no developed taste for active sport. It might be conjectured that the reason for this is the superior performances of the competing athletes. But such performances alone cannot be the cause since world championships in various sports reflect similar spectacular results, yet do not approach the level of fascination engendered by the Olympic Games. Baron Pierre de Coubertin, conceiver of the Modern Olympic Games, envisioned them as more than merely an athletic show. Even after the celebration of four Olympiads, the Baron continued to emphasize that carefully chosen ceremonies should distinguish the Olympic Games from so-called world championships. For Coubertin, a proper ceremonial was absolutely necessary in order to create the solemnity he wished for the display of his modern “muscle religion.” 2 The Games of modern times should follow the ritual significance of their ancestors in antiquity. 3 When it came to defining the “Olympic idea,” Coubertin deliberately formulated general statements which various social groups and systems would be able to identify with and accept. 4 But, when it came to focussing on the “formal planning” of Olympic Games, Coubertin was more than simply general in his pronouncements. In this regard, he was particularly interested in the aesthetic and ritual context of the festival. In deliberate contrast to the intellectualizaton of words and phrases, he envisioned a complete “work of art.” Less important to him was * Alfred Richartz is a recent PhD graduate from Free University in Berlin, Germany. Thomas Alkemeyer is a PhD candidate, also from Free University in Berlin. OLYMPIKA: The International Journal of Olympic Studies Volume II, 1993, pp. 79-89