The opening ceremony of the XXX Summer Olympics in London was held on July 27, 2012. Often, the organizers strive to make the show at the Games as luxurious as possible in order to outshine all the previous ones, and the British were no exception in this case. Even such traditional events as the lighting of the fire and the parade of athletes were carried out on a grand scale.
Officially, the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in London began at 9 pm local time, but the organizers were well aware that the audience would want to take their seats much earlier, and therefore began to entertain guests at about 20:00. In particular, the guests who arrived in advance were able to see the flight of fighters, which left colored plumes of red, white and blue in the air, i.e. colors of the flag of Great Britain. In the Olympic Park, spectators saw many specially invited actors in traditional English costumes, as well as pets and even small houses. The ceremony began after the Queen's solemn appearance, the raising of the English flag and the singing of the national anthem.
To meet the scheduled time, the organizers had to shorten the program by 30 minutes, but they decided not to give up on a short excursion into the history of Great Britain. They clearly showed how the peasant world changed with the advent of factories and plants, and they drew a line from the good old England of the past to the modern industrialized country. In general, it took about half an hour to demonstrate the stages of British history. Subsequently, the British several times reminded the audience about the peculiarities of their culture, when characters from J. K. Rowling's books, as well as stories about Peter Pan and Mary Poppins, appeared at the stadium.
During the solemn parade, 204 delegations from different countries, as well as a group of independent athletes, who carried the moisture of the IOC, marched through the stadium. By tradition, the parade was opened by a delegation from Greece, the homeland of the Olympics, and a group of participants in the Games from the host country, i.e. England. During the parade, the banner of the Russian national team was carried by Maria Sharapova. She was followed by a total of 436 Russian athletes, as due to participation in the first competitions of the Games, held on Saturday, some were exempted from the need to attend the opening ceremony.
The XXX Olympiad was officially recognized as the open queen of England. After that, David Beckham brought the Olympic torch to the stadium, Steve Redgrave brought it to the stadium itself, and then seven English athletes carried it in and solemnly lit the Olympic flame in the center of the stadium, and after that a flame flared up in 203 copper petals, each of which was presented to the delegations athletes. And finally, a sumptuous fireworks were organized to the song Hey Jude by The Beatles, and the opening ceremony ended.
