Spectacular opening ceremony

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31809, 14 October 1968, Page 28

Spectacular opening ceremony

No Demonstrations Mar Olympic Parade

(Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) MEXICO CITY. Mexico gave the Olympic Games one of the most spectacular opening ceremonies in their history on Saturday.

Stirring marches set the tempo for two hours of ceremony and splendour before a crowd of more than 100,000 in the National University Stadium.

Contrary to predictions, there was no disturbance to the ceremony, and the whole pageant ran to the minute. The Mexicans blended touches of their colourful past with the traditional pomp of the Olympics to form an unforgettable ceremony.

Fifty-nine New Zealanders were in the record Olympic parade of more than 7800 participants from 109 nations. They were the eighty-ninth team on to the stadium. D. Oliver, the team captain, carried the New Zealand flag proudly at the head of his contingent, which entered the stadium between the teams of Norway and Pakistan. Standing Ovation The crowd had no special favourite except the mammoth home team and the Czechoslovakians. Presumably because of their recent

struggle against Russian occupation, the Czechs were given a standing ovation the whole way round the stadium. At this point the electric scoreboard on which the nations were being introduced went berserk. The spelling of Czechoslovakia appeared to be too much for the operators. The name of the next team, Chile, appeared only in Spanish instead of both Spanish and English. After a variety of blips and flashes the scoreboard gave up completely and no more names appeared. The crowd showed no hostility to the Russians and other Iron Curtain teams. The Russian athletes waved small Mexican flags as they marched. Armed Troops A team of lawnmowers moved on to the stadium half an hour before the opening ceremony was due to begin. However, it was a ceremonial cutting begun to the martial strains of "Colonel Bogey.” and was completed for the arrival of the first athletes—the Greek team which traditionally leads the parade. The crowd may have had some uneasiness at the sight of armed Mexican soldiers lining the road between the stadium and the university, but there were no protests or demonstrators. More than 6000 security men mingled with the crowd, and outside the stadium paratroops asked anybody moving within a three-mile radius to identify themselves. Hundreds of armed troops lay hidden behind bushes near the stadium. Ceremony Starts Television cameras carried the spectacle to an audience of millions. A 21-gun salute for the arrival of President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and singing of the national anthem began th ceremony. Giant inflated Olympic rings were released into the sky to signal the approach of the marching teams. The familiar green and gold of the Australians and the scarlet of Canada contrasted with the brilliant blue of the French and the sombre shades of the German and Russian contingents.

At the head of the Russians was their giant weight-lifter holding the flag in an unflinching one-handed grip.

The teams varied in size from the vast Russian, German, United States and Mexican contingents down to a solitary sulued Fijian. National teams in flowing African robes and the multicoloured coats of Indonesia gave added brilliance to the spectacle. Some of the teams waved flags and bright scarves, and others threw flowers to the crowd. The New Zealand girls looked smart but could not match the dash of the blonde Polish girls In their flowered boaters, and the Italians in billowing blue and white capes. The parade ended with frenzied applause for the arrival of the Mexicans clad in fawn suits and carrying tiny flags of all nations.

A Mexican naval party raised the Olympic standard and a choir robed in red and gold sang the Olympic hymn. The handing over of the fading Olympic flag first raised at Antwerp 48 years ago and held in custody for four years by each Olympic host city took place between six kimonoed Japanese girls from Tokyo and a similar group of pretty young Mexicans in national dress. Weird Mexican music from pre-Spanish conquest days, played on conch shells and drums, heralded the arrival of the young Mexican woman athlete, Enriquetta Basilio, bearing the Olympic flame on the final stage of its journey from Greece. She climbed quickly to the top of the arena and lit the flame which will burn throughout the games. Flag bearers grouped about another Mexican athlete as he took the Olympic oath on behalf of all competitors. As the ceremony ended the hosts proclaimed in lights their simple message of welcome: “We offer and desire friendship with all the peoples of the world.”