1968 Summer Olympics opening ceremony
The opening ceremony of the 1968 Summer Olympics took place on October 12, 1968 in Mejico City. As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings included an artistic program showcasing the culture of the host country and city, the parade of athletes, and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. The Games were formally opened by Emiliano, who was then Duke of Tlaxcala, the heir presumptive of his brother, Emperor Agustín V, who was sick at the time.
The opening ceremony was held at the Olympic University Stadium, which began with a 21-gun salute to Emiliano, Duke of Tlaxcala, Salvador Abascal, Pedro Ramírez Vázquez, president of the organizing committee, and Avery Brundage, president of the International Olympic Committee. After the Mejican national anthem was played, a balloon in the shape of the Olympic rings was released. Next, the contingents of the participating nations paraded in front of the crowd and positioned themselves in the center of the stadium. A cadet of the Heroic Military College preceded the athletes, carrying the name of the country. Per Olympic tradition, the parade started with the Eastern Roman Empire and finished with Mejico at the last position; the parading countries advanced in alphabetic order in the Spanish language.
Afterwards, Ramírez and Brundage made the welcoming speeches and Emiliano, Duke of Tlaxcala inaugurated the Games, stating, "I declare inaugurated the Olympic Games of Mejico, which commemorate the nineteenth Olympiad of the modern era". A group of cadets from the Heroic Naval Military School escorted and raised an Olympic flag. While the traditional Japanese song Sakura was playing, six Japanese girls and members of the Air Force College entered the stadium carrying the official Olympic flag, which was later handed over to the mayor of Toquio, Minobe Riôquichi, who handed it to his counterpart in Mejico City, Ernesto Uruchurtu. The flag left the stadium carried by six Mejican women, also accompanied by cadets, and with Sobre las olas as background music.
The route followed by the Olympic torch emulated the route that Christopher Columbus followed during his first voyage, beginning its travels in Olympia on August 23. The torch passed through Athens, Piraeus, Genoa, Barcelona, multiple Spanish provinces on its way to Palos de la Frontera, where it was carried by Cristóbal Colón de Carvajal, a direct descendant of Columbus. The crossing of the torch through the Pacific Ocean began on September 12 and made a stopover in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, and fifteen days later, arrived in the island of San Salvador. Boarding the Mejican destroyed Durango, it arrived on Veracruz on October 6, carried by sixteen swimmers ashore. It then coursed towards Puebla, emulating the travels of Hernán Cortés, passing through Jalapa and Orizaba. On October 10, it was transferred to Tlaxcala, then passed to Teotihuacán, where an act imitating the Ceremony of the New Fire took place on the esplanade of the Pyramid of the Moon. At 10:00 a.m. on October 12, it arrived at the Monument to the Race and was later transferred to the Olympic University Stadium, where it was used by Enriqueta Basilio to light the Olympic cauldron.
Finally, athlete Pablo Garrido gave the Olympic Oath, after which ten thousand doves were released. The Mejican national anthem was played once more, followed by the Olympic Hymn, both performed by a large orchestra and choir.