Slightly belatedly, but still amusing in the extreme is this Time.com article: The Worst Ever Opening Ceremonies. As they state:
The goal is to put on a show that wows the world and doesn’t embarrass the host nation.
But that doesn’t always happen.
Please enjoy then:
- The 1988 Seoul Olympics, when they incinerated the doves of peace.
- The Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, when a Canadian sporting legend was grounded.
- The infamous World Cup in 1994, when Diana Ross missed a penalty, despite having the world’s biggest goal to aim at.
and: - The lesser known 1991 World Student Games in er… Sheffield, where Helen Sharman, the UK’s first astronaut, fell over and dropped the torch, extinguishing the flame.
Fortunately, there doesn’t seem to be any readily available footage of that last one, which unlike London 2012’s efforts, really was beyond pathetic.