The athletes entering the stadium. RIAN photo.
Fireworks above the stadium. RIAN photo.

The Closing Ceremony of the 1980 Summer Olympics was held at 19:00 Moscow Time (UTC+3) on 3 August 1980 at the Grand Arena of the Central Lenin Stadium. It was attended by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Leonid Brezhnev. IOC President Lord Killanin closed the Games for the final time and passed the position on to Juan Antonio Samaranch.

As with other Olympic closing ceremonies held before and after, it was also originally planned to include the traditional handover to the next host city for the 1984 Summer Olympics, Los Angeles. However, the United States-led boycott resulted in changes to these elements, initiated by a host nation. Among them, the flag of Los Angeles was raised instead of the flag of the United States, the next host nation; the Olympic Hymn was played in place of the United States National Anthem and the Antwerp Ceremony was also canceled.[1]

A tear in the eye of Misha the mascot during the closing ceremony. RIAN photo.

Sequence of events

  • Countdown of the Kremlin Clock chimes at 19:00 Moscow Time.
  • Fanfare by the Herald Trumpeters: "Moscow Fanfare" by Soviet musician and composer Andrei Golovin.
  • Vertical red flags with the emblem of the Moscow Olympics on them entered, along with marshals and linemen. The card stunt was then showing the Moscow Olympics logo, with rays spreading from it.
  • Flag bearers enter the stadium.
  • Athletes enter the stadium.
  • Athletes gather in the stadium, as gymnasts and performers carrying multicoloured vertical flags enter.
  • Raising of the Soviet national flag, to the Soviet national anthem.
  • Raising of the Greek national flag, to the Greek national anthem.
  • Raising of the Los Angeles city flag, to the Olympic Anthem.
  • Speech by the IOC President Lord Killanin, in English. He closes the Games, with the protocolar phrase "the youth of the world to assemble four years from now in Los Angeles". This was his final Olympic message as IOC President as the position was passed during the Games to Juan Antonio Samaranch.[2]
  • Lowering of the Olympic flag and singing of the Olympic Anthem (in original language (Greek), rather than Russian) performed by the same musical ensemble and using the same arrangement as the opening ceremony 16 days earlier.
  • Extinguishing of the Olympic Flame, with the participation of the Vestal Virgins from Olympia with a depiction (at the card stunt) of a "fading light" sourced from the flame.
  • Exit of the Olympic flag, to the tune of Beethoven's Ode to Joy and amidst fireworks. The flag was set to be raised again in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia on the afternoon of 8 February 1984 for the opening ceremony of the 1984 Winter Olympics.
  • Exit of the athletes, ceremonial assemble, multicoloured flag bearers, and gymnasts. This was followed by the card stunt feature "Misha Crying" which depicts Misha crying and waving goodbye to the public.

Artistic performances followed the ceremonial segment:

Artistic Segment: Memories from Moscow

  • Performances of gymnasts, acrobats and ribbon ballet dancers, eventually forming a picture frame as memories who will lasting forever (with the gymnasts as the frame itself, and the acrobats and dances inside it).
  • Giant matryoshka dolls entered, taking places on each side of the stadium.
  • The same groups who were representing during the opening ceremonies the Soviet Union's ethnic groups and peoples give a last dance presentation giving also the final goodbye.
  • Misha gives a final goodbye: the crying Misha appears again on the card stunt. At the same time, a 6-metre (20 ft) inflatable version of the mascot, suspended by 22 giant helium balloons, is moved to the center of the stadium.
  • Following this entrance: the singing of the finale song "Farewell, Moscow" (Russian: До свиданья, Москва, tr. Do svidanya, Moskva). The song was sung by Lev Leshchenko and Tatiana Ansiferova.
  • The Misha ballon is then released into the sky in the final seconds of the song as the audience gives a loud applause. The balloons rose to a height of 800 metres (2,600 ft), coming down in a meadow near Moscow University after 3.5 hours.[3]
  • All the performers are now dancing in a farewell celebration. The ending fireworks display starts around the Central Lenin Stadium, the second such display during the ceremony. Afterwards, amidst the fireworks lighting up the Moscow night sky, all the performers exit with the song "Stadium of my Dreams" (Russian: Стадион моей мечты, tr. Stadion moyey mechti) playing in the background, along with a highlight video of the some special moments of the Olympics playing on the scoreboard.

Anthems

Legacy

Both the opening and closing ceremonies were shown in Yuri Ozerov's 1981 film O, Sport, You - the Peace! (Russian: О спорт, ты - мир!) covering the highlights of that Olympiad.

A short clip of the 1980 Summer Olympics closing ceremony of Misha's departure was shown in the closing ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics, afterward the polar bear mascot blew out the 2014 Games Olympic torch and sheds a tear (in a nod to Misha's tears during the end of the 1980 Games).[4][5]

References

  1. ↑ Whitney, Craig R. (1 August 1980). "Los Angeles Flag to Fly At Moscow" (PDF). The New York Times. Vol. 129, no. 44662.
  2. ↑ Austin, Anthony (4 August 1980). "Games End on Colorful Note" (PDF). The New York Times. Vol. 129, no. 44665.
  3. ↑ "Misha the Mascot Bears Up Nicely On Return to Earth" (PDF). The New York Times. Vol. 129, no. 44667. AP. 6 August 1980.
  4. ↑ "Olympic News - Official Source of Olympic News - Olympic.org". Sochi2014.com. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  5. ↑ "Sochi Bear mascot 'blows out' Olympic flame to cap off a great Olympics for bears". Yahoo Sports. 23 February 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
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